Spitzer: Empower teachers, pay them more

April 9, 2005

New York State Attorney General and expected gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer told RA delegates Friday morning that education in the state is in jeopardy because of a failure of leadership. "We are on the cusp of a crisis," he said, "because the leadership in the state has been dithering."

Without mentioning Gov. George Pataki by name, Spitzer accused "the leadership" of invoking Teddy Roosevelt's reputation as a progressive leader while turning against his principles. Roosevelt's greatest tradition, he said, was protecting labor but they have turned against the labor movement.

Spitzer charged: "They are cutting back on labor rights, they don't believe in the right to organize, they do not believe in enforcing the laws that we have. We passed a law … that said that public money should not be used in anti-union campaigns. That's a smart law. But the Republican leadership in this nation is going to court to overturn that law."

"There is no chance that Teddy Roosevelt would be a Republican today," Spitzer said.

The country is "being left behind" by competitors overseas, he argued, and the only solution to the problem is better education. Yet, he said, for the last decade in New York state, the leadership has said that education funding was adequate. This, he said, despite the fact that the state is 35th in the nation in education spending.

The state must do better, Spitzer said, "because we have no choice." He told the delegates that higher standards must be maintained while paying teachers better salaries and letting them make the the key decisions on education. "You know what is best," he told the cheering delegates.

Spitzer, who has made a national reputation by indicting Wall Street figures for illegal practices, gave retiring NYSUT President Tom Hobart a laugh when he started his speech. Many of the previous speakers had presented Hobart with a plaque or other memento. Spitzer did not. "I have no document for you, Tom, because people get nervous when I serve them with papers," he said to a roar from the crowd.