DISQUS

John · 1 year ago

I got a kick when I read in the bird-cage liner that Jon Meyer's election night party was at a bar. Great example for our schoolchildren, and maybe a bit hypocritical.

Dan · 1 year ago

John,
Did the article say that Meyer was sloshed and passed out against the steering wheel in the middle of the intersection (a la Ellis)? The man is a responsible adult who cares deeply about our city and our children. You should be thankful that he cares.

John · 1 year ago

I'll give you that one, I would agree that he cares deeply. A party in a bar though? C'mon, you have to see the irony, especially after what Meyer has said about Ellis' drinking.

Now for gordon, claiming that the voters are tired of a small militant group of teachers, and that people are telling him all about the Lowenthals. He's a bullshit artist, aside from being a first class hypocrite. He's not worried one bit about the students, otherwise he'd be promoting doable legislation that might not poison them so much. But he's too excited with trashing TALB to bother with that.

Members of his union are going to tire of his garbage when it gets to hot for them, which will be his making, and undoing.

lbwhiner · 1 year ago

Isn't that the way Schipske was elected to the council's 5th district seat - by packing the Democratic party endorsement meeting with teacher union members?

LBRez · 1 year ago

John, "his union" consists of business owners, business managers and business people. From small businesses run out of living rooms to corporate giants like Boeing, they belong to The Chamber. They are far from tired of what Gordon has done for the business community and his relentless energy to fight anti-business legislation and environments (see many postings on this site for evidence as to what attitudes are). He cares about the students because they are the children of his membership and also the future employees of his membership or better yet in his view his future members as they matriculate and start their own companies. Unlike TALB which takes hundreds of thousands from its members every year, The Chamber donates and fund raises tens of thousands to be put back into the district. He is definitely a polarizing figure in our community--but the business community strongly backs him.

Whiner: Schipske also won with tens of thousands of dollars of support from TALB--for whom she still draws a paycheck.

D.Peeve · 1 year ago

Dave,

Your articles on this issue remind me of the story of the late night drunk (not a school board member) looking for his car keys under the streetlamp -- not because he lost them there, but because that was where the light was better.

Would a California Teachers Association-backed takeover of Long Beach schools be inconsequential for area families and children? It's a big union, Dave, far vaster in scope and power than the LB Chamber. Are our schools good? Bad? Based on your reporting, I have no idea. I don't think you do, either, and your articles suggest the topic doesn't interest you. Shouldn't it? Shouldn't you actually investigate whether or not Randy Gordon has a valid point, and either validate it or invalidate it?

Please stop with the sideman's easy riffing on spotlight hogs like Randy Gordon and start spreading some journalistic light on the sunshine-averse waterbugs who aren't nearly as forthright. If I haven't misjudged you, you're good enough to do stories on people and organizations who WON'T return your calls. (If you need a model, Steve Lopez in the L.A. Times does this routinely, and well.)

I luv ya, Dave, and I'll continue to read every word you write. But honestly . . .

Dave Wielenga · 1 year ago

Hey Mr. Peeve... There is certainly much more to this story, and I am in the process of looking at some of it. But my entry into the story of the School Board election began with the Chamber because this was the first School Board election in which the Chamber took an active role--and because it marked the latest expansion of the Chamber's pretty-significant influence in local politics. It followed the Chamber's successful repudiation of the city council's Big Box Ordinance and its Labor Peace Agreement--achieved by gathering signatures for a referendum that would have forced an election, and then criticizing the city council for "wasting" the money the election would have cost. There is nothing illegal in any of this, but I certainly think it's worth examining the political power of a group like the Chamber, especially if it intends to continue using this tactic to challenge the decisions of political officials who have been elected by the people. Thanks so much for writing and keeping me on my toes.

D.Peeve · 1 year ago

Dave,

You're right about the Chamber's pronounced entry into local politics, and your coverage of it (yep, read every word) was valuable, important, unmatched by any other media outlet (daily or otherwise) and critical in every good sense of the word.

What's dismaying to me about your coverage of school board politics to date is any balance about the California Teachers Association's entry into our local politics. It is, and was, massive. The 2006 elections in which two CTA-backed candidates made the board, and a third narrowly missed (which would have given CTA control of our local schools) came about with massive CTA infusions of cash and an avalanche of outrageously deceptive campaign literature of a slickness and mendacity never before seen in Iowa by the Sea.

The CTA local here is still mired in financial doo-doo over this (and why hasn't the local district attorney looked into the financial mismanagement of the Long Beach teacher's union? The CTA babysitter comes here, orders up an audit, says there's nothing wrong here, and everyone believes it? and isn't it time by now for the babysitter to go home?)

Just frustrated with what looks from these seats like a blind spot in coverage. And I think it would make a fascinating Wielenga-type story. Are alternative weekly writers eligible for Pulitzers?

John · 1 year ago

Who needs the DA when mayor randy gordon has assigned himself the job of controlling TALB? Thank god we have this pillar of the community looking after the welfare of our schoolchildren, oops does that include their health problems due to the port related pollution? And the pillar and his kool-aid drinkers are fighting legislation to responsibly reduce this pollution?
Are we talking about the same guy?