It’s been said you can judge a person’s character by the company he keeps. The same can be said of organizations. That’s why it’s so troubling that a national teachers union – the American Federation of Teachers – continues to employ such radicals.
The latest example is Shaun Richman, the deputy director of organizing for the AFT. It was first reported at EAGnews.org.
Richman’s previous organizing experience? The Socialist Party-USA. In 2001 he was quoted discussing the party’s plans to run candidates for office and in 2005, he was running the party’s national convention. In 2006, he was producing the party’s magazine. He’s a socialist true believer.
So he’s a socialist – what radical union staffer isn’t, right? But it gets much worse. He’s also an apologist for Osama bin Laden. In a 2008 article, CNSNews.com reported:
The Socialist Party-USA does not believe that bin Laden is responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
‘I refuse to believe that Osama bin Laden…is behind all of these things he’s been accused of,’ said Shaun Richman, the co-vice national chairman of the Socialist Party USA.
…
‘Most of the people who planned it (Sept. 11 attacks) died in the execution of it,’ he said.
‘At best, there were a couple of fly-by-night meetings between representatives of al Qaeda and these terrorists,’ Richman contends. ‘There certainly is no smoking gun connected to Osama bin Laden, at least from what’s been presented.'”
Van Jones, call your office! You have someone else to add to your Truther petition!
So what is the socialist teachers-union organizer doing today? He’s trying to unionize charter schools.
And what does one get paid to do such a thing, given his staunch socialist beliefs? A cool $212,746, and there is no evidence that he’s sharing his handsome income equally with his fellow comrades. How capitalist!