Seven Stops in Seven Virginia Locations for Deeds Educational Opportunities Bus Tour

Photo: The first bus stop on the Deeds Educational Opportunity Bus Tour
Charlottesville, VA, October 19, 2009

I have just finished three of the more intensive days of my presidency so far. I stumped around the Commonwealth traveling almost 1000 miles in those three days trying to reach out to our members and the state's secondary media markets with the message that we have less than two weeks before the Virginia election for statewide offices and all 100 House of Delegates seats, and we are in need of pumping a little excitement and enthusiasm into our otherwise voter fatigued citizenry.

My appeal is especially to my VEA members and education colleagues who have much riding on this gubernatorial election. We have two clear choices. Creigh Deeds who has been a proven friend of public education and the 93.5% voting record to prove it, or his opponent, who is a champion of merit pay, vouchers and tax credits, and whose own voting record from his days in the House was only 52%.

Hmmm. 93.5% = A. 52% = F.

Could our choice for electing a friend of public education--one who believes in the opportunities to be afforded to Virginia's citizenry through public education--be any clearer? I don't see how.

I started out our statewide trek in Charlottesville on one of the most beautiful autumn mornings we have had so far this fall. From there, we headed back east to Petersburg for an afternoon stop in front of the Petersburg Courthouse. We wound up the first day of our tour with a stop in Richmond.

On the bus, we had First Lady of Virginia, Anne Holton, who is committed to helping Creigh Deeds become our next Governor of Virginia. We also had Creigh's son, Gus, with us in Charlottesville before he peeled off for other campaign duties.

While Gus needed to be somewhere else, we met up with others throughout the day who helped us to carry our message from differing perspectives. In Charlottesville, for example, we had Dr. Fred Diehl, a professor from the University of Virginia with us. He spoke to his understanding of Creigh's commitment to higher education in Virginia as well as his well-known record in K-12 education over the course of his 18-year history in the General Assembly both as a Delegate and as a Senator.

In Petersburg, we were joined by parent, Stella Edwards, a long time friend of the VEA, and Senator Henry Marsh who shared his own experience working with Creigh over the years.

In Richmond, we continued on with the First Lady and Senator Marsh, and we were joined by Mayor Dwight Jones and several other city and state officials and candidates for office. The neat thing about the Richmond stop is that we were joined by school-aged children who attend the Peter Paul Development Center's after school program. How appropriate to have children with us since it is for the children that we teach that this election is the most critical regarding its outcome.

Immediately upon the conclusion of the Richmond bus stop, I took off for northern Virginia where I stayed in Falls Church in order to be positioned for the first stop of that day at the VT Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church. By Wednesday, I was the only person on the tour who had completed the first day of traveling. The First Lady had to deal with other responsibilities, and Gus Deeds and Dr. Diehl and the others were replaced on the tour by former Delegate Jim Dillard, Republican, from Fairfax.

Many of our members know Delegate Dillard not only as a retired delegate from the House and a long time friend of public education, but he is also a retired educator from the Fairfax County Public Schools and FEA-Retired. Jim's message was powerful because as Chair of the House Education Committee while he served in the House, he had opportunities to work with both of the candidates for Governor. In spite of his long time standing with the Republican party, Delegate Dillard supports the Democratic candidate, Creigh Deeds, and he laid out clearly the reasons for doing so.

In addition to having Delegate Dillard join me in Falls Church, we were privileged to be joined by Congressman Jim Moran who also spoke quite eloquently and forcefully to the reasons for electing Creigh to be the next Governor of Virginia.

From Falls Church, we traveled to Leesburg where we were joined by Senator Mark Herring and House of Delegates member and candidate for re-election, David Poisson. Both men joined me and president of the Loudoun Education Association, Sandy Sullivan, in speaking to why we need to work hard between now and November 3 to get out the vote for our candidate.

From Falls Church, we traveled to Winchester and there, in front of the Charlotte Dehart Elementary School, we were joined by former Senator Russ Potts, a long time friend of the VEA and a fierce advocate for education. Senator Potts chaired the Senate Health and Education Committee. He, too, is able to speak straight from his experience in working with both candidates for Governor, and in spite of his long time stance in the Republican Party of Virginia, Senator Potts is endorsing Creigh Deeds for Governor.

It should be hugely telling to our moderate Republican friends and Independent voters that the judgment of Delegate Dillard and Senator Potts along with the endorsement of former Senator John Chichester and others that they are backing Creigh Deeds for Governor. They are crossing party lines and breaking ranks with their own party for the good of Virginia. We at the VEA need to help them get that message out. It is an important message that has been largely lost in the campaign rhetoric until now, but we still have over a week to get the message out among our members, their families, and their neighbors.

From Winchester, I headed south on I-81 and spent the night in Roanoke where I wound up our three-day, seven-stop tour in front of the Jefferson Center, joined by Sarah Patton, NEA Director from Covington and former Delegate and current Chair of the Virginia Democratic Party, Dick Cranwell. We were also joined by parent activist and public education advocate, Butch Johnstone.

For my closing remarks about just how critical I believe this election is, please click on the link below and you can hear first-hand my plea to the assembled crowd to help get out the vote. Time is running out, but it's not too late for us to make a difference in spite of what the polls say.

The only poll that matters is the one that is taken on Election Day, and we can make the critical difference if we turn out in sufficient numbers!

Kitty Boitnott appearing in Roanoke, Virginia, October 22, 2009 with a message to Virginia voters.

As I write this post, we have 11 days to make a difference. Everyone who cares about the future of Virginia is turning out from President Obama to Governor Kaine to Senators Warner and Webb along with Creigh's Republican supporters and dozens of other organizations that have committed themselves to Creigh's success.

No one is more committed to Creigh's success, however, than I am, as president of the Virginia Education Association. I understand the significance of this election on the three core values that I have and that drive me as I perform the duties of president of the largest association of educators in the Commonwealth of Virginia--preserving public education, promoting the education profession, and advocating for the students we teach every day.

I know that Creigh shares those goals and values with me.

I urge you to get out and help Creigh in these last days of the election.

Volunteer in these last days and you could win an opportunity to meet President Obama when he makes his Virginia appearance at ODU Tuesday, October 27th. For more information, click here.

I'll be leaving Richmond again in just a couple of days. I have a breakfast scheduled with members in Staunton Monday morning, October 26 before my VP, Meg Gruber, and I head west for Abingdon for our fourth Pre-Legislative Dinner and budget and resolutions hearings. From Abingdon, we'll head back to Salem for the Pre-Legislative Dinner scheduled there, and then back to Staunton where we will complete the sixth of our nine scheduled Pre-Legislative Dinners combined with the hearings on the 2010-2011 budget and resolutions.

From there, I will be heading to the Tidewater area next weekend, I think, to help with the GOTV efforts for some of our friends in the region as the last days of the election season wind down.

I'm doing all I can to help our friends finish a successful bid for their respective offices. Please join me.

The VEA CAN make a difference in this election--I just know it.

Until next time.

Kitty

VEA Members Walk for Friends of Public Education

Saturday, October 17th was the day that the Virginia Education Association selected to walk for our friends who are running for office in the General Assembly, for Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General. We might have been able to pick a worse day weather-wise, but we would have had to work at it. In spite of the drizzly rain and chilly temperatures, however, dozens of our members turned out to canvas neighborhoods for our friends.

In Fairfax, we kicked off the day with a Rally for Creigh Deeds, our recommended candidate for Governor. Creigh joined us at the FEA Office and dozens of volunteers were there to cheer him on and gear up to either walk neighborhoods or work phone banks.

A huge thank you goes out to the FEA for their offering of the FEA office for the event. It was a great collaborative effort as not only did the FEA step up, but I was able to attend representing the state affiliate, and we were honored to have our Immediate Past President and current NEA Executive Committee member, Princess Moss who joined us for the event.

In addition to having Princess with us, another NEA officer also volunteered his Saturday. NEA Executive Committee member, Len Paolillo of Massachusetts walked with House of Delegates representative, Paul Nichols and members of the Prince William Education Association. I know that there were other walks that were being conducted all over the state, and I look forward to receiving reports from folks as to how their day went.

In addition to attending our own Rally for Creigh Deeds on Saturday morning, I also attended a rally at the Mason District Park in Fairfax where Governor Tim Kaine was traveling with Creigh and Jody Wagner, the candidate for Lt. Governor. We are also recommending Jody for that office along with Steve Shannon who is our recommended candidate for Attorney General.

The day was miserable weather-wise, but the good feeling being generated by our hopes that Creigh can come from behind one more time and prevail in this election was palpable. As Creigh himself said yesterday, we have 17 days and he's only 7 points down. As I have been saying for weeks now, I believe that our VEA members can make the difference in this race. We must make the difference. We know that Creigh is committed to taking Virginia forward--not taking us backward. We know that Creigh is committed to making Virginia's public schools the best in the nation. We know that his rhetoric matches his record. We know we can count on Creigh.

The day was topped off with the great news that the Washington Post has also recognized that Creigh should be the next Governor of Virginia. They offered an endorsement for Creigh in their "Mr. Deeds for Governor" article late last night.

We have just over 2 weeks to go.

Election day is November 3, 2009.

We have a lot of work to do, but we CAN do it.

Until next time.

Kitty

Pre-Legislative Dinners Begin Along with Budget and Resolutions Hearings

The past couple of weeks have been such a blur of activity that I can hardly remember everything I have done and everywhere I have been. This week, Meg Gruber, VEA Vice President, and I started our round of the state in conjunction with VEA Director of Government Relations and Research, Robley Jones, and his Assistant, Doris Boitnott for the purpose of gathering input on the budget and resolutions and presenting the VEA's 2010 Legislative Agenda. We were in Hampton on Monday night, Norfolk on Tuesday night, and in NOVA on Thursday night. I would like to thank everyone who turned out for these important events. It's always appreciated when our members take time out of their busy schedules in order to demonstrate their commitment to the association.

I am proud of our Legislative Agenda. We have worked hard to create a balance of issues that are important to all of our members. We address funding, we continue to address parity and the lack of it for our ESP members, and we are committed to opposing legislation that would be detrimental to public schools. We have also come to recognize that we need to prepare to fend off any and all attacks on our Virginia Retirement System (VRS). We are very concerned that the downtown in the economy is going to serve as too great a temptation to our legislators who may see that pot of money as a convenient fund to raid. We at the VEA will not allow that to happen, but our members need to understand the importance of protecting that benefit for the educators of Virginia.

Today, we held our All Committee Day at the Crossings in Glen Allen. We hosted just under 100 of our committee members and staff who convened for the purpose of reviewing their various committee's charges and creating recommendations that will be taken to the VEA Board of Directors for consideration.

We also got an update on the upcoming election. It is only a few weeks away, and I am increasingly concerned that our members are suffering from election fatigue. We worked so hard last year for President Obama, and it has been hard to work up the same kind of enthusiasm this year even though the state election in Virginia in 2009 is a critical one.

It hasn't helped that both campaigns have taken a negative turn. Unfortunately, negative campaigns work which is why candidates use them.

At the VEA we have stuck to the facts, and we are proud of the ads that the VEA sponsored and aired in the Richmond and Tidewater regions. The polls have demonstrated that our ads have been effective, and they have stuck to the facts.

I wish I knew what magic words to use to get our members energized enough to work as hard as they can in these final days. I also wish I could count on everyone going to the polls on November 3 and taking their family, friends, and colleagues with them to vote for Creigh Deeds, Jody Wagner, and Steve Shannon along with our other friends of education.

Somehow our members have got to start making the connection between politics, education policy, and the association's political power. We have talked about it to some degree, but we have a long way to go before we are ready to fully embrace our full potential as a political power player. Our friends and opponents see it...but our own members fail to understand and/or appreciate their own important part in developing the political landscape of Virginia.

Having said that, I urge every individual who is reading this post to volunteer to do something for one or more of our recommended candidates between now and November 3.

Next Saturday, October 17 would be a great place to start. All over Virginia, the VEA will be sponsoring walks for our candidates. In Fairfax, I will be joining Past President and current NEA Executive Director Princess Moss at the Fairfax Education Association building in downtown Fairfax for a rally for Creigh. Others will be convening at different locations around the Commonwealth for walks, canvassing, and drumming up support for our recommended candidates. Please consider participating. It will only take a few hours, and it could be the effort that we need to turn the tide on the polls and tip the advantage toward our recommended candidates.

No matter what you do, please plan to vote for our recommended candidates on November 3. For Governor, we recommend Creigh Deeds. For Lt. Governor, we recommend Jody Wagner. And for Attorney General, we recommend Steve Shannon. For specific targeted races, please check out our election related web site at http://www.veaelection09.com.

Until next time.

Kitty