Thinly veiled anti-union smear campaign runs its course

Andy Warhol was correct when he said “Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes,” and we can only hope Chet Zarko’s 15 minutes are about up.

The Oakland County rightwing extremist is connected with racist and extreme causes, and his latest rightwing cause is smearing the Howell Education Association (HEA), the union representing the district’s 475 teachers. You may recall that earlier this month Zarko submitted a Freedom Information Act (FOIA) request for emails from union leaders. After receiving emails he was not supposed to receive, he made the ridiculous claim that HEA leaders have "conducted a large amount of union business on public time by using public resources for union business, specifically, the email server. But when that attack failed after the district said the union has a “recognized right" to use the server he took another tack and used the emails to cherry-pick a few sentences to claim union leaders were mean to a few members.

Wow, what a crime.

He has now stumbled onto a bigger issue. Because the emails are private and contain subject matter that should not be disclosed under the law, and the emails constitute information or records subject to attorney-client privilege, as well as personal information about students, the HEA filed suit to stop the illegal release of the emails. On May 10 Livingston County Circuit Court Judge Stanley J. Latreille gave the HEA and Howell Public Schools officials up to two weeks to review thousands of email to identify which e-mails, written by union leaders on school computers, contain verbiage "regarding politicking" so that he can review them for relapse.

Yesterday, the rightwing Detroit News editorial page editorialized that the emails should be released. Any newspaper that has Nolan Finley as its Editorial Page Editor is suspect. It calls Zarko a “political consultant and activist,” but it failed to mention his extreme rightwing stance.

“Zarko says he was searching for information on whether there had been an abuse of taxpayer resources in Howell and several other school districts on political or other issues.”

Well, he has found nothing, and he is now using the emails to simply smear the union and HEA President Doug Norton, going so far as to falsely claims Norton “doesn't like the "United States system" of elections.” I’m not sure what the internal workings of the union by the elected union leader has to do with anything, but it proves Zarko’s true intention is simply an anti-union smear campaign. Zarko has also refused to tell us who is paying for this witch-hunt.

The editorial’s position is “Private student information or sensitive teacher personnel information should be off limits. But other than that, e-mails produced and sent on the district's computers should be open to review by the public.”

I also agree Norton when he told the News earlier this month that Zarko "has an ideological bent to attack unions,” and the facts have shown that to be the case.

As a journalist, I support transparency in government, and I think they should be released, even to a person with such low motives. Zarko has shown he will take whatever he gets and takes things out of context to attack the union anyway. There is nothing we can do to prevent that, so the larger principal of open government has to apply, even for such low and despicable intentions. Let him have his 15 minutes so he can find another district's union to attack.

Judge puts breaks on anti-teacher and anti-union smear campaign

Livingston County Circuit Court Judge Stanley J. Latreille is giving the Howell Education Association (HEA) and Howell Public Schools officials up to two weeks to review thousands of email to identify which e-mails, written by union leaders on school computers, contain verbiage "regarding politicking" so that he can review them following a hearing Thursday, according to a story in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus.

Rightwing operative Chet Zarko of Clawson attacked the HEA, the union representing the 475 Howell Public School teachers, claiming they are abusing taxpayer-funded resources to promote union causes based on e-mails he received under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Earlier in the week Latreille signed an injunction that prevented HPS from releasing more e-mails by leaders and members of the teacher’s union after a joint circuit court petition by the school and the union until Thursday’s hearing.

Some emails were released that should not have been released before the injunction was signed. HEA President Dough Norton has said that some of the e-mails are inappropriate for disclosure under FOIA because they are private and contain subject matter that should not be disclosed under the law, and the emails constitute information or records subject to attorney-client privilege. I don’t know the scope of the FOIA request, but it makes you wonder if Zarko also has his hands on sensitive information from union leaders – who, by the way, are also teachers – to parents talking about student grades or behavior.

To be honest, I was surprised that the school district even has access to all the teacher’s emails. Perhaps the school district can be like the White House and claim they just lost the emails.

As a former journalist who supports open and transparency in government, I strongly support FOIA, but this is nothing but an attempt to smear a group of dedicated professionals and smear the union by an anti-union, rightwing zealot. I am happy that Latreille is the judge reviewing the emails for “discussion about election candidates, officials in office or ballot proposals to determine if the correspondence should be released under FOIA.” He is a former reporter, and he knows how important FOIA is.

Basically, Zarko’s smear campaign comes down to allegations that teachers are using their school email accounts for personal reasons and they allegedly passed or talked about passing out pro-HEA flyers at a parent-teacher conference in March. Zarko claims the union violated state law, and I say then file a complaint.

He has a very receptive audience in Lansing in the form of Republican Attorney General Mike Cox and Secretary of State Terry Land, and there is also a marked campaign against worker unions. Zarko’s past endeavors with the shady campaign to end affirmative action ensures him he has contacts to Cox and Land or knows other Republicans who do. The recent witch-hunt of Democratic Rep. George Cushinberry for alleged campaign violations that were thrown out of court proved that fact. I would not bet against Cox taking this case up, but the good news is there are sane judges out there.

Norton has said the union has a "recognized right" to use the district e-mail server for union business, and the district is backing that claim up. The district's attorney, Raymond Davis, said it is not against district policy for employees to use the district's server.

Where there’s smoke there is a smokescreen from rightwing operative

The unfounded accusations by rightwing operative Chet Zarko became a little more clear with a follow up article Wednesday by the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus.

Zarko - a self-described metro-Detroit, Michigan-based, political and marketing research consultant, focusing on conservative and “moderate” candidates and other clients – accused the Howell Education Association, the union representing the 475 Howell Public School teachers, of abusing taxpayer-funded resources to promote union causes based on e-mails he received under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

It appears where there is smoke there is nothing but smoke, or in Zarko’s case a smokescreen. According to the Press & Argus, Zarko alleges HEA leaders have "conducted a large amount of union business on public time, including trying to retain MEA (Michigan Education Association) affiliated MESSA health insurance, and using parent-teacher conferences to recruit parents (to) their side of a collective-bargaining debate."
Zarko also claims the teachers used parent-teacher conferences to "illegally lobby" in getting teachers to attend the March 12 school board meeting and advocated speaking on behalf of the teachers. He also claims that one e-mail implies the union used school resources to make copies on behalf of union business.

But further investigation by reporter Lisa Roose-Church, revels the alleged smoking gun that proves Zarko’s inflated case only says "I can make copies after school."

When asked how that statement proves improper conduct, Zarko said whether copies were made is not important. The real question, he said, is whether union members used school computers paid for with taxpayers' money for union business. Say what?

However, the union officials say they have a "recognized right" to use the district e-mail server for union business, and no one but Zarko has disputed that claim. I’m not familiar with the HPS email server, but the Michigan House of Representatives, for instance, has a portal where you can work at home from your own computer and that includes receiving and sending emails at home. This is an accepted practice everywhere.

HEA President Doug Norton said, according to the P & A, that the e-mails were "mistakenly released under FOIA" and that the district official who released the e-mails acknowledged "it was a misunderstanding that led" to the release of the documents." Livingston County 44th Circuit Court Judge Stanley J. Latreille signed an injunction Tuesday stopping any further release of emails, and a hearing has been set for 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Judicial Center, 204 S. Highlander Way in Howell.

Despite people like Zarko and the anti-teacher stance of the anti-gay hate group known as the “Love” PAC trying to sabotage the effort, the district and the HEA reached a tentative agreement yesterday after a year without a contract.

According to the Detroit News, the three-year contract addresses working conditions, salary and medical coverage for the duration of the contract. The HEA Board will consider the contract on May 14, and the full HEA membership will consider it on May 21. The School Board will consider the contract next month.

Rightwing extremist hired gun takes shot at Howell teachers

The assault on the Howell teachers union, Howell Education Association, is getting some help from an Oakland County rightwing extremist connected with racist and extreme causes.

Chet Zarko, “a metro-Detroit, Michigan-based, political and marketing research and consulting service, focusing on conservative and moderate candidates and other clients” is accusing the HEA of abusing taxpayer-funded resources to promote union causes in a front page story in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus. That description is from his web site, and there is nothing moderate about Zarko.

Zarko was the communications director for the California group headed by Ward Connerly that came to the state to push the racist Michigan Civil Rights Initiative on the November 2006 ballot that did away with affirmative action. Zarko is a dirty trickster in the tradition of Saul Anuzis, Kyle Bristow and Bill Nowling, and his most well known stunt is when he tried to goad Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer into a confrontation by sticking a video camera in his face at public meeting in October of 2005.

We have to wonder who is paying Zarko, and we see the fingerprints of the anti-gay hate group known as the LOVE” PAC (Livingston Organization for Values in Education) and specifically “LOVE” and school board member Wendy Day. Zarko first contacted Day on her blog, as far as we know. And we wonder why the teachers have no contract?

According to the article, “Zarko alleges Howell Education Association leaders have "conducted a large amount of union business on public time, including trying to retain MEA (Michigan Education Association) affiliated MESSA health-insurance, and using parent-teacher conferences to recruit parents (to) their side of a collective-bargaining debate. bases his claims on union leaders' e-mails that he received through the Freedom of Information Act. He has posted several of the e-mails on his Web log and commented about them in a press release issued Friday.”

“Doug Norton, union president, calls Zarko's claims "absolutely erroneous on all counts."
"It's obviously timed to throw mud to affect the school board election and to derail what are positive signs for bargaining," Norton said Monday. "Mr. Zarko is connected with (a) statewide campaign to attack MEA and MESSA. In fact, he and others are working to get other for-profit insurance companies in across the state."

In a further development, Genoa Township radio station WHMI is reporting a temporary restraining order has been signed by Livingston County Circuit Court Judge Stanley Latreille that prevents Howell Public Schools from releasing more e-mails by leaders and members of the teacher’s union.”

A hearing has been set for Thursday to see if more emails can be released under FOIA.