By Harrison Blackmond, DFER Michigan State Director
A recent article in the Detroit Free Press reported that Michigan Democrats and independents that generally vote for Democrats, blame the party’s dismal performance in the 2010 election on “bad candidates, bad messaging and leadership.” The poll by Dennis Denno, described as “a longtime Democratic Party activist,” reflected the thinking of a growing number of party members who are concerned about the Michigan Democratic Party’s disconnect with its broader constituencies. When asked whether organized labor is the party’s future, forty-seven percent said no while forty-three percent said yes. Further, the poll also found that fifty-six percent said the party is out of date.
The disconnect between the party and its nonunion constituencies was painfully obvious during recent education reform debates in the legislature’s just completed session. Party leadership in the House and Senate were in lockstep with the Michigan Education Association and the Michigan Federation of Teachers. Together they placed enormous pressure on Democrats who represented school districts where the schools are clearly failing their students. Instead of representing the interests of the children and their parents, forty-two of forty-seven House Democrats (most of whom represent schools on the state’s Persistently Lowest Achieving Schools list) voted against their constituent’s interests by supporting positions advocated by union bosses.
Historically, union interests and the interests of the poor and the powerless have been joined, except when it comes to education reform. Those interests seem to be diametrically opposed. While one could argue that it is in the long-term best interest of the teachers’ unions to support real education reform, their union bosses don’t always see it that way. Instead, some have used fear to position their membership as defenders of the status quo, a failed education system. A position many teachers find abhorrent along with many voters, some of which are lifelong Democrats. During the recent debate Representative Tim Melton (Auburn Hills) urged his Democratic colleagues to support changes in tenure, teacher and administrator evaluation, and how teachers are recalled from layoffs. The emphasis was on ensuring that only the most effective teachers obtain and maintain tenure, and only the most effective teachers are recalled during layoffs.