All but one of the twenty-one NEA recommended GOP candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives were elected to Congress in the 2008 Election.  This result dramatically illustrates the fact that Republican candidates who participate in the association's endorsement process often end up with a true friend in the NEA and its members.
     

My Congressman, Rep. Mark Kirk IL-10th, earned our union's support and truly values his relationship with the IEA & NEA.  He is an outstanding leader for our district and the nation; Kirk will continue to gain influence in Congress and in the Republican Party.  NEA grassroots political activists made thousands of member-to-member telephone calls and the IEA/NEA sent an incredible three mailings to the almost 10,000 members living in the district.  The bi-partisan leaders of Illinois supported five Illinois Republican representatives in Congress.  They have forged is a constructive friendship and that has served our members very well.

What saddens, shocks, embarrasses and even angers me is that the five Illinois GOP members alone comprise just shy of one-quarter of the entire list of 2008 NEA recommended Congressional candidates.  If you add in the five NEA GOP members from Pennsylvania and the three from New Jersey, three states account for almost two-thirds of the national Republicans recommended.  Only eight other NEA state affiliates endorsed Republican congressional candidates, including Idaho, Kansas, Florida, Michigan, New York, Missouri, Washington and Delaware.  So where are all the RED and PURPLE states in this mix?  How can it be that seventeen of the recommended Republicans come from solidly BLUE states while only two from purple and pathetically only two from reliably red states.  This reality is appalling and NEA members in red and purple states ought to be outraged at their NEA state affiliate leaders who have accepted this quasi Democrat Party affiliation.  It must be a top priority for our state affiliates to develop relationships with Republican members to cultivate more leaders from within the GOP who will in turn compete for and appreciate our union's political endorsement.  Think of how positive a post-election celebrate would be knowing that most all of the winning members of Congress on both sides of the aisle all valued the role of NEA in improving educational policies and therefore had earned NEA's recommendation.

No Republican Senatorial candidates were recommended during this election cycle.  Despite the fact that Maine Sen. Susan Collins, admired as a friend of education, sailed to victory, the Maine Education Association couldn't see past their desire for another Democrat and recommended her opponent.  Will the MEA learn from this mistake next time when Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe seeks re-election?

Here is the list of NEA Recommended U.S. House of Representatives who won election (only Rep. Phil English of PA was unsuccessful) on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008:

ILLINOIS:  Judy Biggert, Mark Kirk, Aaron Schock, John Shimkus, Tim Johnson

PENNSYLVANIA:  Jim Gerlach, Tim Murphy, Todd Platts, Charles Dent

NEW JERSEY:  Leonard Lance, Frank LoBiondo, Christopher Smith

DELAWARE:  Michael Castle

FLORIDA:  Gus Bilirakis

NEW YORK:  John McHugh

MICHIGAN:  Fred Upton

MISSOURI:  Sam Graves

WASHINGTON:  David Reichert

IDAHO:  Mike Simpson

KANSAS:  Jerry Moran

The task of expanding this list in the 2010 Election must be a crucial goal of NEA- REC.

After state caucus meetings, the NEA's 2009 Midwest Regional Leadership Conference kicked-off this evening with a nicely produced video re-capping Election 2008.  While it featured many NEA recommended winners and highlighted our union's successful support of candidates and issues, it made no mention of bi-partisanship.  It is an especially odd omission as the promise of bi-partisanship was such an essential theme expressed by the Obama campaign.  

Considering the fact that twenty NEA recommended Republicans were elected in 2008, you would think that the video would at the very least acknowledge so many successful NEA GOP Members of Congress?  Now more than ever, NEA ought to continue making progress in its Republican outreach efforts.  New attendees to the regional leadership conference may not recognize all the work that has been done in recent years and need to know that NEA's commitment to expanding bi-partisan support is still a top priority.