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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTeacher: Cuomo staff asked me to remove pro-union button
Sean Crall with the NYSUT pin he says a Cuomo aide asked him to remove during an event at the governors mansion in Albany on New Years Eve.
http://nypost.com/2015/01/06/teacher-cuomo-staff-asked-me-to-remove-pro-union-button/
By Leonard Greene January 6, 2015 | 1:44am
What does Gov. Cuomo have against a union button urging respect for public education?
Thats what an upstate activist teacher wants to know after he said a Cuomo aide asked him to remove a button supporting public education and the teachers union during an event at the governors mansion in Albany on New Years Eve.
East Greenbush English teacher Sean Crall said he was shocked last week when he was asked to remove the button which says, Respect Public Education, It Works from his lapel before he and his family could meet Cuomo during an open house at the mansion. The button also said NYSUT, for New York State United Teachers.
I was stunned that the concept of respecting public education would be offensive to the governor, said Crall, a union leader in his upstate school district. I was with my family. I didnt want to create a scene, so I complied.
FULL story at link. Remember this is the NY POST, not the NYT.
CincyDem
(6,281 posts)What Would Mario Do ?
Probably put his are around the teacher and say "thank you".
bullwinkle428
(20,626 posts)LiberalArkie
(15,686 posts)I think there are not enough liberal Democrats in the US anymore to count on one hand. They flip the coin 1. Help the people in the middle and lower levels and the nation grows and prospers or 2. help myself, my frat buddies and wall street buddies and to hell with everyone else.
RKP5637
(67,030 posts)the most $$$$$'s and the most votes. There should be no such thing as professional politicians. They often serve themselves as a life time job. Term limits should be imposed on ALL political wins, positions and appointments including SCOTUS.
brooklynite
(93,847 posts)When I was invited to a White House holiday party, I'm fairly sure everyone there had a political connection, but nobody was wearing buttons of any sort. It would have been tacky.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,149 posts)The button is harmless. It supports a concept that every governor ought to support (it's at least as universal as "support our troops" , and a nominally Democratic governor should have no problem with the name of a teachers' union being on it too.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)and unless you are actually giving a pin or a t-shirt to wear or instructed to wear something specific you don't show up with your own personal billboard.
Ask yourself how you would feel if a person showed up at Cuomo's event wearing a pin representing the New York City police union.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,149 posts)Public education belongs to everyone. Do you need the definition of 'public'?
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)saying "Respect the Police" to a DeBlasio New Years Eve event? Or would you see that as a political message crassly expressed at a primarily social event?
My flag pin was given to me by the President I served. I still wear it proudly.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,149 posts)which would be the equivalent to 'respect public education'. I think you can wear a flag pin proudly, if you also respect others' respect for public education.
HappyMe
(20,277 posts)Sorry, but that word has little to do with cops. For that matter, neither does the word 'respect'.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,149 posts)and that's the point - 'justice', like 'education', is a worthy goal. Governors, from any party, should not object to it. Just like police should not object to calls for justice.
"Justice For All" is an admirable slogan. So is "Justice for Tamir Rice". I disagree strongly with people who object to such slogans - or to 'Respect Public Education'.
This is the point - several here seem to think that a slogan in favour of a good that everyone ought to support is 'political', and equivalent to supporting dubious cops. You are conceding moral ground to those cops, and to people who don't like public education.
HappyMe
(20,277 posts)to wear the button to this function, when the invitation specifically stated not to do so.
Just because he was asked to remove it, does not mean that people don't respect public education. I also don't think that people have to like public education.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)censoring their free expression. and substituting your own judgment.for theirs regarding their union activity.
And I'll wear my flag pin proudly, regardless of your authoritarian conditions.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,149 posts)such as the real-life example of 'Respect Public Education'. I am not censoring free expression of your hypothetical police union rep.
If you don't respect public education, then you should be thinking about what it is about the USA that you think is worth displaying. If you think me saying that is 'authoritarian', then what on earth do you see the official telling the teacher to take the button off as? it would seem to be a gross violation of human rights that should be reported to the ICC, compared to an anonymous person on the web saying Americans should support public education.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)find that controversial, but other folks might not. What if the pro-lifers decided that little babies were uncontroversial, so they wanted to wear little plastic fetuses? (Yes--seen that!) I think you are dodging the issue here---guests were asked not to wear signage. That means ALL guests, not just the ones you may happen to politically like.
Rudeness is when you think the rules of social convention simply do not apply to you, because your reasons are more important that others.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Much ado about nothing ... but he did get in print!
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)anywhere he can.... it's always a fun time at Thanksgiving
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)trumps all!
... So long as what you are expressing comports with what I want to hear.
Game winner with the point about the Police Union button.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)we are supposed to make an exception for the guy with the "right" viewpoint.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Thanks ... I didn't know of the signage.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)I don't have a real problem with that.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)by one of Zephyr Teachout's acolytes.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)msanthrope
(37,549 posts)HappyMe
(20,277 posts)As you said in another post, what if it had been a pro-life or 2nd amendment pin. I suppose then people would have been applauding the fact that the pin had to be removed. No buttons means NO buttons - period.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)political symbols. I fly the flag on the traditional days and solute it in parades. But you would have to pay me a great deal to wear a lapel pin. That is an R symbol.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)not Old Glory.
mountain grammy
(26,568 posts)but, in my opinion, asking her to remove it was even worse.
RKP5637
(67,030 posts)NewDeal_Dem
(1,049 posts)jtuck004
(15,882 posts)msanthrope
(37,549 posts)are specifically invited to endorse a political message, you don't show up with your own personal billboard.
HappyMe
(20,277 posts)There is a time and a place for message type buttons. I don't think a New Year's Eve gathering is the right time or place.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)I wonder how people would react.
George II
(67,782 posts)Ash_F
(5,861 posts)Thespian2
(2,741 posts)but don't mention Gov. Cuomo, the Republican.
Kind of surprising how many here defend him
marmar
(76,982 posts)...... and sadly, reading some of the responses, there are DUers ready to defend this.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)it isn't a question of free speech.. its a question of maintaining etiquette and decorum in a place where people of varying interests and viewpoints have come together. This was a social event at the governor's mansion. How would you have felt about a police union rep wearing a pin saying "Respect the police."
marmar
(76,982 posts)...... I would not have cared one bit about somebody wearing a button to express an opinion.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Gracie wearing a "Respect the Police" pin?
I don't know what social events you go to where people walk around with buttons expressing their opinions.... but that sounds like the worst fucking party ever.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)means working with people from ALL sides of issues.
And making EVERYONE feel welcome at a social event.
HappyMe
(20,277 posts)buttons and such were not allowed. The article also said that the guy did not vote for Cuomo. He may have worn it for spite rather than anything else.
marmar
(76,982 posts)...... I'm just saying as governor, I wouldn't care.
HappyMe
(20,277 posts)'respect the house'. If I get invited to a black tie party - I won't wear jeans. If I get an invite to a party where the hosts don't drink - I'm not going to bring a bottle of vodka. Since the invite said no political or issue buttons - I wouldn't wear one. I usually toss any political buttons I get anyway.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)you like to be at a party where some people felt it was okay to wear pictures of fetuses? Would that make you feel uncomfortable? How about a party where there was open carry?
No--you'd expect your host to enforce some type of broad rule that attempted to respect the fact that you were at a social occasion where everyone should feel welcomed, and not bludgeoned by other people's political viewpoints. It's called being a host.
marmar
(76,982 posts)Orsino
(37,428 posts)Did the teacher remove the button? Did the teacher meet Cuomo?
A fine anecdote, but did it actually happen?
JimDandy
(7,318 posts)"I didn't want to create a scene, so I complied."
Orsino
(37,428 posts)Teacher comes off the picket line, possibly gets a chance to talk to the governor, and...?
One of the 99
(2,280 posts)He is a disgrace. He is not half the Governor is father was.
mopinko
(69,804 posts)The invitation to the event prohibited signage and like articles.
yeah, new year's eve party. not the place for this. i presume anyone else who had a similar button was also asked to remove it. unless that is not the case......
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)Politicians get to make back door deals while partying all the time, but workers who have no say in those deals can't even wear a button?
mopinko
(69,804 posts)maybe somewhat, grip and grin and all that. but the fat cats dont need to do it at a social event.
but the wearer would have been better off just doing the same. buttonholing people, and saying his piece.
JimDandy
(7,318 posts)and probably has a lot of say, hence the invite to the Governor's New Year's Eve 'political party'.
It generates more eyeballs and raised hackles, though, to initially emphasize in the title and at the beginning of the news article that a 'teacher' ('worker' was your emphasis) may have been maligned, as opposed to a 'union leader' with the power that title implies.
At the end of the article they disclose that this union leader had attended his union's protest event that was staged in front of the Gov's mansion immediately prior to the party.
Just goes to show all the political players (newpaper, union, Governor) generate spin that is in their best interest. I am pro-union, especially pro-teacher's union, but spin does get tiresome.
mtasselin
(666 posts)What would you expect from someone who has had it handed to him his whole life. Has know idea what working and poor people go through in their everyday life, because he had the silver spoon.
TNNurse
(6,911 posts)"mansion" is not political. Hell, the Easter Egg Roll at the White House probably has political effects. The governor does not own the house and does nothing that is "purely social". Having said that, I do understand that some find this tacky at a "social" event, I just doubt that it is was one.
George II
(67,782 posts)He was INVITED to the event, it wasn't an "open" event.
I didn't see anything in the article that said he was asked to remove the button BECAUSE it of what it said. Does Mr. Crall know if anyone else was asked to remove any "signage and the like"?
Damn, people are trying to make issues about anything these days!!!!