Teacher union vows to oppose Dems, no criminal probe underway

When is a threat so threatening that the Washington State Patrol gets called in?

A few days before the flap on the Washington State Labor Council e-mail broke out, the Washington Education Association chapter in Snohomish County delivered an ultimatum to Democratic lawmakers – if you back the big education reform bills under consideration, we won’t back you.

A resolution passed Feb. 23 by the Pilchuk UniServ Council, states in part that it will “actively oppose the re-election, in 2010 and 2012, of any Representative or Senator who votes in favor of HB 1410 or SB5444.”

It goes on to say they will “communicate” their position to lawmakers.

The full resolution is attached.

While those bills are dead (did Democratic leadership get scared) there are slimmed down versions very much alive in both chambers.

According to this article in the Seattle Weekly the council leadership dislikes them just as much.

House Speaker Frank Chopp, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and Gov. Chris Gregoire aren’t coming unglued over this resolution.

Maybe that’s because Chopp and Brown recall a similar threat was made in 2003 by unionized teachers. They didn’t endorse Democrats who voted for the final budget that did not include money to carry out Initiatives 728 and 732. But they’ve patched things up since then.