More Gasbaggery from the American Federation of Teachers

When we received a threatening letter a few days ago from the American Federation of Teachers over AFTexposed.com, we knew it was little more than bluster – the typical bullying that the AFT has come to be known for.

I mean, who else could loge personal threats at a “Rally for Respect” (of all things!) against the chancellor of DC Public Schools, Michelle Rhee, right in the heart of the city, and get away with it?

Needless to say, the baseless threats continue from the country’s second largest teachers’ union.

Now comes another letter from October 21, in which the union has apparently dropped its demand for us to stop using the acronym ‘AFT.’ They’re also no longer calling for us to turn over the domain registration to them. Hopefully the General Counsel of the union, David Strom, saw how absurd and downright pathetic his demand was.

But, they do want an AFT-drafted disclaimer on the site. We currently have:

Welcome to AFTexposed.com, a website exposing the agenda, finances, and tactics of the American Federation of Teachers. As a result of a threatened lawsuit by the AFT, let us be patently clear: the American Federation of Teachers does not like this site.

If that isn’t clear enough, I don’t know what is. And as our excellent attorney from the Institute for Justice, Clark Neily, said in response: “…the [Education Action Group] Foundation declines your invitation to reword it.”

Neily finished the October 22 response letter by saying:

Finally, it appears that we have much different understandings of the law in this area. I would therefore appreciate it if you would provide citations to relevant case law in future correspondence, as I did in my October 16 letter to you. Otherwise, this begins to look less and less like a good-faith dispute over the contours and limits of federal trademark law and more like a naked attempt to intimidate and punish an ideological rival for exercising its constitutionally protected right to free speech.

In my personal view, it is time for the AFT to put up or shut up. Sue us or leave us alone.

The Institute for Justice has been spot-on throughout this goonish ordeal. I liken it to the nerd has not only just beat up the bully, but he’s also said, “Oh, and by the way, I’ll take your lunch money now.”

We do look at this harassment as a good thing. Every minute the union is pestering us over our website that apparently is embarrassing to them (ie. 2009 funding to ACORN), it’s one less minute it is strong-arming school boards, stifling parental choice or putting employees’ needs first.