The Apple Has Worms

The most important endorsement to have in the Democratic primary in liberal MoCo comes not from the party bosses over in Kensington or left activists in Takoma Park and beyond. Rather it is in getting the Apple Ballot endorsement.

Having worked the polls the past six years for a series of candidates time and again I have seen voters not take the Democratic materials or even liberal materials in democratic stronghold. But they will almost always take the Apple Ballot.The results are evident at the ballot box. In the last election cycle all but three of the Apple Ballot nominees won.

As part of full disclosure here at Maryland Politics Watch (MPW), I am a District 4 Resident and I support Don Praisner. I came to that conclusion after sitting down with 2 of the candidates personally (Navarro and Ryan) and having brief conversations with the other two (Praisner and Kanstoroom).

Why The Apple Ballot is the Biggie
One of the reasons people select the Apple Ballot over other material is the perception that being for the schools is good AND that the MCEA endorsement is above board and beyond party politics. Our citizens, who are in favor of good schools, also see hope in providing a bright future for its children with a solid education. But there is also an element of good government in the using the Apple Ballot as the metric for selecting one's candidate.

The Apple Ballot is really a union endorsement put out by the MCEA. It is not a good schools endorsement though it can be. Nor is it a good government endorsement though it has in been the de facto one in recent times. But the people who use it consider both a good school and good government endorsement as much as it is a union one. Teacher's Union (MCEA) does this endorsement under a hugely successful PR blitz with a bright red apple on everything. I mean who is against apples for teachers. It hearkens back to the days when giving an apple was considered a nice gift, whereas now that might be an ipod.

Fellow Blogger Adam Pagnuccio wrote about the MCEA calling them the 800 lb gorilla of MoCo politics. The strength of the Apple Ballot causes politicians to bow before the owner of it, the teachers union. The problem lay not in the Apple Ballot itself. I tip my hat to MCEA for creating an effective PR tool. I have used the ballot to help my candidates when I thought it would make the pitch better than me.

The real strength of the Apple Ballot lays in the voters who use it as their voting guide, much like previous generations of MoCo-ers may have used the Gazette or the League of Women Voters. The strength is not in the teachers' union itself. There are not enough teachers in the county to make that type of impact. Also the number of teachers who are politically active are on par with the rest of the county. So it is not that teachers are more active than the rest of us.

That strength comes when voters from non-union households and non-teacher households who think this endorsement embodies the ideals of both good education and good government as much as it is a pro-union selection.

It is that second value -- being is viewed as above party politics -- that is the real strength of the Apple Ballot. MoCo residents, much more so than other parts of the country, do not take kindly to backroom deals when exposed to the light of day. It is the reason other endorsements be it from party bosses or insiders have limited impact compared to other parts of the US. In MoCo, those type of endorsements lost their impact because voters saw through it and what remained exposed was a blatant political agenda.

If the voter who use the Apple Ballot thought that the MCEA was using the Apple Ballot solely to advance a political agenda then its strength in non-union households would diminish greatly and getting the Apple Ballot would become another endorsement right up there with who Amway Reps endorse.

Is the MCEA really above politics?
First the unions, MCEA along with their ally SEIU, had private meetings on the "budget" at King Jerry's Castle, where only one elected member of the School Board, President and candidate Nancy Navarro, was invited. They did not invite the rest of the duly elected School Board. Also the School Budget chief was not invited. Humm... there is a meeting on the school budget and only one person from the School Board is there and the key staff budget person is also missing. And to make sure everyone can come over let's have it in a private home away from the school resources that could help in making good budget decisions.

The MCEA sends out emails to its teachers in District 4 on the school system list. And the teachers are saying that this is ok. Really? Most of us tend to think that electioneering using public resources is not kosher.

Was the MCEA fair and open in its endorsement process?
The MCEA also went to great lengths to tell us how open and transparent their endorsement process would be. They even posted ads in the Gazette, saying the deadline for endorsements would Monday March 3, when they had already had private meetings at King Jerry on March 2 and February 29 to select a candidate who would give them what they wanted -- more money for union contracts, regardless of whether or not the county had the money for it.

The unions can and should endorse but then don't tell everyone how fair you are going to be and then select your candidate before you get a chance to interview all of the candidates. But to have your endorsement set while you tell the public it is still being decided that is just plain wrong. Unless of course you only care about #1, money. But if you do then the impact of the Apple Ballot diminishes to being one of the many endorsements candidates seek rather than the most important endorsement to have.

Why is the MCEA doing this? Simple. As blog father David wrote it is about money. And more money. The MCEA is practicing the original sin of politics. They want COLAs in excess of what others Moco residents are getting in a down market. And they will support anyone who will get them their money. There are other candidates in the race who are just as supportive of teachers and good schools. Some of them even have family members as teachers. But having family members as teachers is not the trump card. It is who will provide the union with the most money. And that is what the Apple Ballot really is -- a union endorsement for more money. It is not for better schools though it can be and it not for good government, at least this time.

So tomorrow when you go to the polls and someone hands you an Apple Ballot remember this time the Apple Ballot has worms.