Candidates talk to AFT
Meeting the presidential hopefuls is a part of the AFT endorsement process

The AFT has invited the major Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to meet with the union’s executive council. The AFT also has sent questionnaires on the union’s priority issues to each candidate (see below).

“We’ve got a great group of candidates this year,” AFT president Edward J. McElroy says.

The AFT endorsement process for 2008 also includes candidate meetings with McElroy, other meetings with labor leaders and input from AFT members.

Here are reports on the comments made by the seven Democratic candidates who met with the council during its meetings in May and July. So far, none of the Republican candidates has accepted the union’s invitation to meet with its executive council.


Sen. Joseph Biden

The Democrat from Delaware used his time with the executive council to connect the military situation in Iraq with a stalled agenda at home. Sen. Biden, who has earned respect on both sides of the aisle for his foreign policy expertise, said “the war in Iraq is the boulder sitting in the middle of the road that prevents us” from moving forward on all essential domestic initiatives.

“We’ve lost flexibility at home and credibility abroad” because of the war, Biden noted.

The senator said he would break with the Bush administration’s current efforts to bring together different ethnic groups in a strong central government in Iraq. Better prospects for peace lie in a “Bosnia model,” with important government functions resting in regional governments, he said.

The country also needs a chief executive who will be an unabashed ally in helping turn back “the war on labor’s house”—the well-funded, systematic efforts to weaken union strength in the legislatures and the courts, Biden said.

He told council members that, as president, he would offer new early childhood education incentives to states and support after-school programs.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton

Sen. Clinton is running for president to help the United States “renew our greatness at home and abroad,” and make us a nation that sets common goals and has a sense of a shared mission, she told the council. Among the goals she wants the country to focus on: universal healthcare coverage, energy independence, and education opportunities from preschool through college and beyond. The senator called education “the passport to opportunity” and noted that the country has a lot of work to do to improve in this area. On No Child Left Behind, she declared that the AFT will get “no argument from me that we need to change it drastically,” and she vowed to oppose any NCLB reauthorization bill that doesn’t address the shortcomings in areas such as funding, testing and supplemental educational services.

Addressing both ends of the education spectrum, Clinton said she supports universal preschool and efforts to make college more affordable. She also wants much more attention paid to training non-collegebound students to fill the many well-paying jobs that are available.

“We can’t get anything done unless we find the money to do it,” she noted, adding that one place to find some of that money is by ending the war in Iraq.

Sen. Christopher Dodd

Sen. Dodd, who has represented Connecticut in the U.S. Senate for 26 years, emphasized his long history of working with the AFT on labor and education issues. Dodd said he is running for president because “new leadership to change the direction of this country is crucial” to reverse the damage that has been done by the current administration over the last six years.

In addition to strong opposition to vouchers and merit pay, Dodd’s education platform includes specific plans to reform No Child Left Behind. While he agrees with the AFT’s position that some of the law’s general goals are worth embracing, “the issue is the details.” And that’s where the law needs to be improved, including adequate funding, better testing to measure students’ academic progress and more flexible means of certifying teachers as fully qualified, Dodd told the council. He also supports school improvement approaches that “don’t condemn schools but help them get back on their feet again.”

Like most of the presidential contenders, Dodd wants to expand health insurance to ensure universal coverage. His plan would mirror what federal employees and members of Congress have. “There’s no reason why every American can’t have the same plan that members of Congress have,” he said.

Sen. John Edwards

Former North Carolina Sen. Edwards invited AFT leaders to envision a president who will walk out on the White House lawn and talk to the public about how important unions are to the survival of the middle class, to economic security and to preserving democracy. “I will be that kind of president,” he said, “because I believe it to my core.”

Both of Edwards’ parents were union members, as is his brother today. “The only reason they got healthcare is because they were in a union,” Edwards said. He articulated a cohesive vision for an America with labor law reform,  universal healthcare, affordable higher education and meaningful tax reform.

He would improve education by fixing the “dysfunctions” of NCLB, investing in early childhood education, providing better pay and training for teachers, and ensuring affordable college education for all qualified students.

And “America needs to be getting out of Iraq,” he said, regarding the war. He advised Democrats in Congress to continue what they’ve started: Submit a bill to the president with timetables for withdrawal. If it’s vetoed, they should do it again. “We ought to stand our ground. We are right about this.”

Rep. Dennis Kucinich

Rep. Kucinich, a former mayor of Cleveland who has served in Congress since 1996, said his campaign is built around transposing the traditional motto of “peace through strength” to “strength through peace.” For Kucinich, a consistent critic of the war in Iraq, that translates into a plan to cut the defense budget by 15 percent and put that money into education, healthcare and other domestic programs.

“Our democracy is in trouble because we’re not paying enough attention to public education,” Kucinich said. “What kind of country have we become when our children’s education is crying out for resources?”

Specifically, Kucinich said he wants to provide universal prekindergarten, offer more services at the elementary and secondary level for “the whole child”—such as health, nutrition and tutoring services—as well as allow teachers and schools many more options beyond standardized tests for measuring student outcomes.

Kucinich also talked about his desire to reverse trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he said have created a “race to the bottom” for workers’ wages and benefits.

 
Sen. Barack Obama

It was Sen. Obama’s first meeting with the AFT executive council. “But,  we feel from your background that we already know you,” McElroy told the former community organizer, adding: “You’ve brought a tremendous amount of excitement to the race.”

His chief goals as president, Obama said, would include enacting universal healthcare, overhauling education policy, strengthening national labor law, shrinking the gap between rich and poor, and stopping the war in Iraq.

Opposing NCLB isn’t an education policy in itself, he said, “but it’s a good start.”

Obama noted that the half a trillion dollars spent in Iraq could have helped education. “We’re going to have to act like grownups for a change,” he cautioned. Otherwise, we’ll create “an America that’s a little poorer and a little meaner than the one we inherited.”

Like the other Democratic candidates, Obama complimented his opponents. “We’re all on the same team,” he noted, but he did try to differentiate himself.

“The question for this union,” he said, “is who you think has the best opportunity—not just to win an election but to transform the country. We need someone who can change how America thinks about itself, inspire our country to reimagine itself. That’s something I think I can do.”

Gov. Bill Richardson

The New Mexico governor said that if he is elected in 2008, he will be the “real education president.”

“That would be my legacy,” Gov. Richardson told the council. As president, Richardson said he would increase teacher salaries, establish a national preschool program and create special academies to emphasize the importance of math and science.

Richardson’s other priorities would include withdrawing troops from Iraq, making the United States energy independent and creating well-paying jobs to stimulate economic development.

The governor, who restored collective bargaining in his state shortly after taking office, said he would be a pro-union president. “I believe the American workforce is stronger if it is allowed to unionize,” he explained.

He also pledged to unite what he called “a divided country.”

“I’ve worked all my life as a diplomat; I can bring people together to solve problems.” Richardson served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President Bill Clinton.

“I know how to deal with foreign countries. I know how to get us out of Iraq,” said Richardson.

You Decide!

As part of the union’s You Decide 2008 endorsement process, the major Democratic and Republican presidential candidates have been invited to meet with AFT leaders. In addition, the national union has sent questionnaires to all of the candidates.

■  Responses to the questionnaires are posted at www.aft.org/youdecide/
questionnaire_responses.htm as they are received.

■  The AFT has established an online forum where members are encouraged to offer opinions and ask questions. Visit www.aft.org/youdecide. The site also features video clips of the presidential candidates’ meetings with the AFT executive council.

■  At www.aft.org/legislative_action_center, you can become an AFT e-Activist and receive political and legislative alerts from the national union, and respond to an online survey.

Members Quiz Candidates

Three AFT members had a chance to question the presidential hopefuls during the AFT executive council meeting this spring. Here’s what our members wanted to know:

“How will you ensure that our healthcare, pension, and our right to be part of a union and negotiate fairly with our employer will be protected and preserved?”

—Richard Charap
United Federation of Teachers
New York City

“How will you assist states in providing quality early childhood education programs for all children so that they can begin school ready to learn?”

—Allan Grant
Education Minnesota-Osseo

“The current administration has entangled the United States in a war in Iraq that seems to have no end. At the same time, domestic programs that receive federal funding are being cut. How will you end the conflict in Iraq, at what cost, and when?”

—Jim Close
Public Employees Federation
 New York State