Jonathan Pelto supported Dannell Malloy in the last election,but is now running against him as a third-party candidate.
Pelto was not invited to address either the AFT or the AFL-CIO, but finally got his chance to speak to the Working Families Party.
Will WFP in Connecticut follow the example of its counterpart in New York, which toyed with a progressive candidate but then endorsed Governor Cuomo (aka Governor 1%)? Or will WFP-CT take its stand with a candidate who mirrors its values?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The CT WFP will endorse Malloy. When they do, they will lose complete credibility as a progressive political party. The vast majority of voters that have supported them in Bridgeport will drop the WFP like a hot potato. I have worked tirelessly for Bridgeport WFP candidates but I will not raise one dollar, knock on a single door or make a single phone call for another WFP candidate once they endorse Malloy.
I agree with you.
WFP has already lost all credibility in any state. Is there still a possibility of a primary challenge to Malloy?
And speaking of primary challenges, meet Zephyr Teachout’s NY running mate, Tim Wu.
http://www.buffalonews.com/columns/bob-mccarthy/zephyr-making-political-waves-in-new-york-20140622
This is big. Tim brings a powerful anti-Wall-Street base with him, and he could well win. I think maybe he’ll turn out to have coat tails, and the Eric Cantor scenario might even come to pass. I know, we all want Brian Jones for LT Governor, but lets mobilize for the primary battle. Tim and Zephyr need signatures.
Of Wu’s 6365 twitter followers, only 5 are known to me at this time. The rest are following a hero of the anti-Wall-Street movement to guard the Commons against corporate invasion, and we need them all in the movement to defend public education. C’mon, get moving, agrupemonos.
Diane, thank you so much for your activism and your voice. I was hoping you might consider writing about TNTP and TFA’s current role as the contracted staffer for various urban school districts. The “Teach [insert city here]” programs are owned and operated by TNTP …
I recently spent the hours and hours filling out an online application through searchsoft, which is what TNTP’s HR arm uses to screen teaching candidates, and at the end of it had to agree not to contact principals directly. Despite being a fully-certified, experienced, high-performing teacher, I’m told that I’m not allowed to contact potential employers myself. Instead, my application lands in the pile that gets looked at AFTER all of the TNTP and TFA “teachers” have been placed. I can understand if they don’t wnt non-certified teachers contacting principals — they *should* screen those candidates before burdening building administrators — but this is stupid. The whole thing reeks.
There is no teacher shortage, but it seems to me that TNTP/TFA (they really are basically the same organization) have a vested interest in making it appear that way, and as long as they control staffing functions in urban districts, they can say “Well, look how many TNTP and TFA teachers were placed in St. Louis. OBVIOUSLY there’s a teacher shortage or we wouldn’t have to place those people.” I seriously beg to differ. The TFA and TNTP applicants I know have jobs LONG before highly qualified teachers like myself. They should not be permitted to control the candidate-to-principal flow like this.
I’m so so sorry to post this off-topic comment here, but I wasn’t sure how else to contact you.
I often read posts at this site and I was interested in reading John’s perspective.
A few months ago Lowe’s was listed as a corporate sponsor of TFA. Was that information correct? And, do they still contribute?
Organizations that claim to be “do-gooders” and receive funds for their goals, wouldn’t mind scrutiny. The companies that support them, surely welcome input from the supposed community beneficiaries.