by Jaxon

There’s no place for racism in this day and age — especially not in our State Capitol.

Yet on Februrary 26th, at a meeting of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, State Senator Jim Honeyford of Sunnyside said: “The poor are more likely to commit crimes, and colored most likely to be poor.”

Later he doubled down on his offensive language, clarifying “that’s not just the negro.”1

Can you believe it? Not only is this language incredibly offensive, it’s spreading the worst stereotypes about people of color.

And here’s the irony: People of color make up the majority of Jim Honeyford’s district. With attitudes like these, how can he truly understand and fight for the people he’s supposed to represent?

While voters across the state immediately demanded that Honeyford leave office, his Republican leadership remained silent. Not a peep.

Even worse, instead of proving that there is no room for the attitudes of Jim Honeyford in their party, Republicans turned and blocked a vote on the state Voting Rights Act THE VERY NEXT DAY. This simple bill is targeted to address unfair aspects of our elections system — breaking the stereotypes and ignorance perpetuated by people like Jim Honeyford.

Republicans need to understand that it’s 2015, not 1965, and they cannot condone this behavior within their party.

Join us in demanding Republican Majority Leader Mark Schoesler and State Senate leadership ask Senator Jim Honeyford to step down.

These students were in Olympia on Friday to call for Jim Honeyford to resign

Saturday was the 50th anniversary of the Selma march, where 600 brave souls risked their lives and marched for the right to vote.

While we celebrate how far we’ve come, we are reminded by Republican leaders how far we still have to go.

The Yakima Valley – and our state – deserve better. It’s time to open the door to a new generation of leadership.

Send a message to Senate Republicans. Add your name and tell them to call for Jim Honeyford to resign today.

In solidarity,

Jaxon

1 http://www.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/2015/03/05/21834324/republican-state-senator-caves-to-pressure-apologizes-for-clueless-racial-comments

By CAP Action War Room

Principles To Guide The Reauthorization Of Federal Education Policy

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) into law to ensure all kids, no matter their family’s income level, zip code, or background, receive an education that gives them an opportunity for success. Since then the legislation has gone through changes, but at its core it maintained a federal role in education that focuses on promoting equity and ensuring that disadvantaged students receive the resources needed for a quality education.

The latest version of the ESEA, more commonly known as No Child Left Behind, has been long overdue for reauthorization, and it looks like this year Congress may actually take action. There is no question that NCLB is outdated and broken, but it must be changed in a way that puts students first. In that light, the Center for American Progress has joined with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to highlight key principles that should be included in the new version of the law.

Far from outlining a complete set of recommendations for the reauthorization of this critical legislation, these share principles are rather a statement of what good education policy should be in some of the core — and controversial — areas of debate. They are intended to encourage Congress to work together on a bipartisan basis to improve the legislation. And the hope is that, with these shared principles in mind, new federal policy will ensure that all students — and especially those who have traditionally been the most disadvantaged — are prepared to compete in a global economy.

Below is a summary of the shared principles that CAP and AFT have released, and click here to check out the full statement.

• Address funding inequities to improve teaching and learning;
• Give parents and communities useful information about whether students are working at grade level or are struggling, and allow teachers to diagnose and help their students. This means maintaining the federal requirement for annual statewide testing in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school;
• Disaggregate assessment results by subgroups, including race and income level, and use these assessment results to identify where learning gaps exist;
• Provide a system of multiple measures for accountability and relieve some of the unintended pressure of tests on students;
• Design accountability systems intended to identify and target interventions for schools with large achievement gaps or large numbers of low-performing disadvantaged kids;
• Raise the bar for entry to and through the teacher pipeline including at least doubling the investments for states and districts to elevate the teaching profession and support educators.

BOTTOM LINE: The goal of federal education policy should be to prepare future generations for success and ensure that disadvantaged students have access to the resources they need. With the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind under consideration, now is a critical time to make necessary changes to strengthen our education system. These shared principles should serve as a guide to doing so — our children deserve no less.

When we were commissioned in the United States Army over forty years ago, pay equality was not an issue. Both of us were paid the same $450 a month paycheck we all received as no time in grade Second Lieutenants.

Pay was published in multiple formats and every soldier knew what America paid its men and women with zero discrimination for the youngest Private or Lieutenant to the oldest Command Sergeant Major or General.

But when our Soldiers leave the Army and enter the civilian workforce, life changes. And it changes more for our female veterans than for our males. Women on average receive about 25% less for equal work than their male counterpart.

We need your help fixing that.

Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), one of our great Senators, introduced S.84 – Paycheck Fairness Act on 23 January, 2013. In short, this act gets after the pay challenge for all American women, and our Veterans. It further goes after bosses who retaliate against employees who reveal their salaries to colleagues in an effort to produce the transparency in the civilian world that works so well in our Armed Forces.

But on multiple votes, the GOP has defeated the passage of this bill.

For that reason, VoteVets requests your support for Senator Mikulski’s Paycheck Fairness Act. Add your name to our petition in support of this important legislation.

Thank you very much for reading. After you’ve sounded off on this issue, please share this email with your family and friends.

We’ll be in touch as the legislation moves forward.

All the best,

Major General (Ret) Paul Eaton & P.J. Eaton
VoteVets.org