Election victory makes a clean sweep!

By Sherry Posnick-Goodwin

As CTA President Barbara E. Kerr and fellow leaders of the coalition that brought down the governor's ill-advised special-election agenda waved brooms in the air and declared an election sweep, she called the governor to task.

"This governor wasted $50 million of our money on this election. And he does not have the courage to apologize to all of you for the trash he said about us."

"Shame on him," chanted the crowd gathered in Sacramento for the Election Night vigil, sponsored by the Alliance for a Better California.

"We — the workers of California — are the real heroes," continued Kerr. "The real winners are the children." Pandemonium ensued.

"The governor, the corporate special interests and the wealthy ideologues backing Proposition 75 have been dealt a decisive defeat tonight," said Lou Paulson, president of California Professional Firefighters. "They learned once again that Californians won't be tricked by a power grab masquerading as reform."

By rejecting the governor's agenda on Election Day, Kerr said, the voters joined CTA and its coalition partners in sending the governor a blunt message: "Your agenda is wrong for California."

"The people of California want real solutions that include adequately funding our schools, protecting our minimum school funding guarantee and ensuring affordable health care for all," said Kerr. "It's time for the governor to keep his promises to our students by giving our schools the resources they need so all children can succeed."

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, CTA Vice President David A. Sanchez told a packed ballroom that the governor's attack on teachers, students, and other working men and women had unintended consequences. "He brought us all together. And when the night is over, I'm confident we'll be saying 'hasta la vista' to the governor's bad ideas."

Earlier that evening, when the numbers did not yet look good, campaign workers gathered at the alliance's election vigil in Sacramento. There was plenty of food, but nobody seemed particularly hungry, and some confessed they were tempted to bite their nails instead.

"It's too early," said Curtis Washington, a member of the San Mateo Union High School District Teachers Association, dismissing the numbers projected onto two large screens in the room. "I have walked all over San Bruno and every person I've talked to believes that we are going to win this."

By 9:45, the numbers began to shift. In excitement, someone screamed, "We're closing the gap."

At 11:10, alliance leaders took the stage and declared victory on Props. 74, 76 and 77. The momentum was trending in the right direction, announced Kerr, thanking coalition members for all their hard work.

But there was still one laggard on the agenda. "Prop. 75 is going to be our cliffhanger, but ultimately we will win it," said Pittsburg Education Association member Eric Heins.

"It's like watching a horse race," mused CTA Board member Larry Allen. "You keep rooting for it to pull ahead — or in this case behind — and asking yourself, 'Will it make it?'"

"Proposition 75 has to go down," said Rio Linda Education Association member Julieanne Neal, who made 2,000 telephone calls at her local phone bank. "If it doesn't, the governor won't stop until we're working for Wal-Mart wages with no benefits."

The governor made a mistake when he took on teachers, she said. He encouraged the average teacher — "teachers like me" — to jump in and fight back.

CTA Board member Mikki Cichocki was watching the numbers when returns from Los Angeles came in and the screens registered a switch in voter sentiment on Prop. 75 from yes to no. Her scream let the room know about it. "That was the most exciting election moment in my life," she said later.

Watching the initiative numbers move was "exhilarating, especially since they were going in the right direction," even in her part of the state — San Bernardino — which is normally "very red."

As Prop. 75 inched toward defeat by tenths of a point at a time, Neal started dancing a jig. Alliance members started hugging friends and strangers alike.

"Oh my gosh, I'm cautiously optimistic," said Mount Diablo Education Association member Liane Cismowski, who has been featured on CTA ads chiding the governor for "breaking his promise" to California schools. "I'm almost afraid to look."

As the noise level increased in intensity, alliance leaders waved their brooms in the air and declared an election sweep.

Campaign workers went wild. Cheers of "It's over, it's over" echoed through the crowd.

"There has been so much hard work for everyone, but the real thrill of it all is that our members have become energized and have hung in there until the very end," said CTA Board member Bob Nichols from San Jose. "It's been especially thrilling for me to see young members walking precincts. It's energized us as never before."

"We had people phoning, doing media, walking precincts and driving people to the polls in an unprecedented get-out-the-vote effort," said CTA Secretary-Treasurer Dean E. Vogel. "I have seen CTA work in a way that is very connected and cohesive. A synergy has developed that has lifted every one of us up.

"Today we proved something," he added. "We are a well-oiled machine."

The election should lay to rest any doubt that CTA and its 335,000 members "have the will and the resources to stand up for our students, our public schools and our profession," said Kerr. "The teachers of California will not be silenced when the future of our public schools is at risk."

"We are proud to have joined nurses, firefighters, police officers and all public employees in turning back these attacks," she added. "We found out we can work together, we found out we have a common agenda, and we found out we like each other."