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Bush said at a press conference where he emphasized his support of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Bush allow nearly 13,000 students, about half of them blacks and Hispanics in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, to skirt the requirement that they pass the test to graduate this year, and say that the governor is setting the bar too high. Months before most other Democratic constituencies began organizing, the NEA was in the field. Now, in the general election, Comer and the NEA are organizing again to help Gore try to beat Texas Governor George W. Baker, a Rutgers University political science professor. And Tom Loveless, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said that if Gore wins, there will be a payoff for teachers unions. But I'm not sure that anyone with kids in the failed experiment called government schools will really care. They seem bent on making the worst possible choice for their kids while pretending it's all good. With the prospect of more of the latter, we'd have less of the former. If it's as easy to abuse down there as it is up here, I'll bet a lot of money is being siphoned out of the state's coffers. Jesup 127 Post Reply | 128 Private Reply | 129 To 1 | 130 View Replies To: Cincinatus' Wife What's the beef here? Why he can spend as much money on lavish things he wants just as long as he represents the serfs I mean the teachers he touts for. So many teachers would rather teach communism than the Constitution. They won't have any money to give the dems next year, except for the cash they extract from the stupid sheeple teachers' paychecks, of course. Back then, it was little more than a parochial, all-white social club. After negotiating a merger with the black teachers bargaining unit, Tornillo broadened the power and reach, forming the United Teachers of Dade. Attorney General Janet Reno for the gubernatorial nomination. At the same time, Tornillo's shop charges the highest teacher union dues in Florida. The rates are needed to cover $4 million in annual payroll, with a dozen administrators earning six-figure salaries. Critics point out that Tornillo has used the UTD's clout to reach into nontraditional union ventures such as buying real estate, running charter schools and getting involved in big-money school district contracting. Tornillo demanded that the board give a nine-figure contract to HIP HealthCare in 1996 and again in 2001 against a consultant's advice. The company's lobbyist, and Tornillo confidant, Ric Sisser, pocketed at least $4 million on the deal. The union also ensured, as part of its contract, that only one supplemental insurance broker could come to schools and sell products to the county's largest workforce: the Public Employee Services Company. PESCO, whose office is in the ground floor of the UTD building, was founded by a Tornillo associate, Mike Sheridan. It doesn't sound as if he's done that much for the teachers either. Pat Tornillo, who built the United Teachers of Dade (UTD) into a behemoth union overseeing all 27,900 teachers and support staff in Dade County over four decades, placed himself on indefinite leave on April 30. He will continue to take in an annual salary of $243,000. The takeover occurred the day after federal investigators raided the UTD's headquarters, seizing Tornillo's expense reports, reimbursement forms, credit cards records, appointment books and tax returns. Tornillo is under suspicion for using members' dues -- at $1,008 a year for full-time teachers the highest in Fla. But Tornillo's critics point to more open deals between the union and the school board as evidence of mismanagement. Since 1996, the contract Tornillo negotiated with the board has allowed only one supplemental insurance broker, the Public Employee Services Company (PESCO), to sell its services to school employees. That company's office is on the ground floor of the UTD HQ, and the union owns 19,000 shares of PESCO stock. Federal agents are also investigating Tornillo's role in selecting Raul Suarez del Campo to supervise the construction of the union's $20 million HQ. Last November, Tornillo and his wife moved into a $375,000 condominium owned by del Campo. In one case, union officials wired $450,000 to stave off the call. In another, Miami-Dade school district officials have frozen the dues they collect for UTD from its members. Since Florida is a Right to Work state, more than 100 teachers have resigned from the union since the scandal surfaced in news reports. Miami Herald 4/30, 5/1, 5/2, 5/3 QUOTABLE QUOTES / TEACHERS (AFT) Fed. It seems everyone in a responsible position fell asleep at the switch. He was shocked to hear AFT lawyers say that while the AFT requires audits from its affiliates every two years (which the WTU failed to do), it had no legal responsibility to even verify that the audits had been filed. This one I'm sending to my sil, a retired teacher-(Florida) who doesn't appreciate President or Governor Bush. Does the membership know that their leader is paid over $40,000 in a stipend for expenses each year? Will Joe Lieberman and the other pols who sought blood with Enron descend on Dade County for this? It's listed on Yahoo under Pat and Donna Tornillo 195 28 posted on 05/18/2003 5:01:13 AM PDT by 196 Cincinatus' Wife 197 Post Reply | 198 Private Reply | 199 To 25 | 200 View Replies To: Cincinatus' Wife Unfriggin' believable! I've long been convinced everyone in the uppercrust of the United Way was a crook. Guess it's too much to ask that this guy serve some jail time? TEACHER'S are too stupid to do anything but complain about Bush for their money problems. I'm trying to remember what he taught, I keep thinking 'shop'. Subsequently, he taught at the junior and senior high levels and in the adult education program. IN 1991, Tornillo was appointed to serve on Florida' s Budget and Tax reform Commission. In that capacity, he is helping to reshape state policies and practices with respect to education funding. IN 1994, Tornillo was appointed to chair the American Federation of Teachers Technology Committee. He remains the chair of AFT's Futures Task Force which has established guidelines to help shape the goals and objectives for AFT's next 25 years. Also in 1994 he was reappointed to the Federal Reserve Bank Board for a new three-year term. IN 1995, he was honored by Florida International University for his devotion and leadership in education. FOR THE PAST several years, Tornillo has served as a Trustee of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. FIRST AND FOREMOST, he has always been a teacher advocate. Presently, in addition to his roles in Dade County, he is president of Florida Education Association/United (UTD's state affiliate) and vice president of the American Federation of Teachers (UTD's national affiliate). He is also a member of the AFT Executive Committee which includes 10 elected AFT officers including President Sandra Feldman and Secretary-Treasurer Edward McElroy. The money that goes into education is much more than the ENRON scandel and scam took from stockholders. And beyond that, the potential and productivity that is lost from Americans going to public schools is beyond calculation. They had a huge role in picking the last Demo candidate for governor over Janet (the Torch) Reno. I remember reading a lot about Tornillo in the months prior to JEB's election, and what a nasty crook he seemed to be. Some of the comments that have come from his mouth made me want to stick a bar of soap in it. I also remember checking out his salary, and wondering why the teachers have allowed this man to sell them out so blatantly. Then ask why they would belong to a union where the top guy makes 5 times as much as the highest paid member. Only the feds can stop this garbage, if Sisselman had gone to her instead of the FBI , he would have been the one investigated. She has a policy of not investigating Democrats, period. They are not even smart enough to see a crook when it is in front of them. From the article: between September 2000 and this March This crap has been going on for a loooooooong time. Tornillo and his crooked...
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