Tax Credit Missteps

I saw this item over at he Politicker last week, referencing a meeting between president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten and government affairs leader of Agudath Israel of America, Dovid Zweibel. Evidently, this discussion seems to many insiders to be about a possible quid-pro-quo between the teacher's union and the Agudah. Presumably, the idea being that the Agudah would support the teachers' Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit against NY State, in exchange for the teachers' union's support for the tax credit proposal. Teach NYS, a lobby supporting the tax credit proposal, apparently did not appreciate the Agudah linking these two issues, and Teach NYS's Michael Tobman blasted off an open letter in response to the Politicker's report of the meeting:

TO: Agudath Israel
FROM: Mike Tobman

I am terribly, deeply shocked and disappointed.

Meeting w. Randi to discuss Education Tax Credits – regardless of whatever else was discussed – was wildly inappropriate.

Agudath Israel, an institution for which I still have deep respect, is in no position to speak for larger coalition efforts.

Linking CFE w. Education Tax Credits is simply wrong.

CFE is a $5 billion statewide school-funding discussion involving all courts, public officials and players.

Education Tax Credits are a $400 million helping-hand for lower through middle income parents. It is absurd to link the two.

The politics of relevance notwithstanding, your work this past Friday jeopardized a statewide effort that would benefit Agudath’s constituency more than any other non-public school group. Of course, public school parents would benefit more than any other group.

That having been said, it occurs to me that you were spun good and we may all suffer for that.

Tobman comments further in a piece in this week's Jewish Week:

“This is consistent with [the UFT’s] ongoing efforts to mischaracterize tax credits,” said Michael Tobman of TEACH NYS, the pro-tax credits lobby, who insisted his movement is supported not only by Jews and Catholics but by public-school parents who stand to benefit from school expenses like tutoring or test preparation.

It seems to me that the Agudah has been making a muck of this tax credit proposal. First, they called a meeting with elected officials to proclaim their support for the tax credit proposal - and at the same meeting, they announce that they will not allow the students in their community to attend a rally in support of the same proposal (relevant post here).

In my opinion, which seems to be borne out by these missteps on the part of the Agudah, the Agudah has always been more of an advocacy type of outfit. They are the place to go if one needs help defending their religios freedoms, such as bris, sabbath observance, or shechita. But to attempt navigation of the evidently treacherous world of hard-nosed lobbying in New York politics, without a good grasp of the hyperactivity of the New York press may not be the Agudah's calling. Perhaps the internet ban has prevented them from having an accurate read on how fast news like this travels in the blogosphere. But they may have to consider upping their level of savviness (fast), or stepping away from this type of involvement. Because mistakes like these, made by our very representatives, are the last thing we need when it comes to the uphill battle for tuition assistance.