Teacher Union Doubles Republican Count on Recommendation List

The Michigan Education Association appears to have doubled its number of recommended Republican candidates for the Michigan Legislature and Congress from three to six less than a week after Michigan Capitol Confidential pointed out that state's teachers union had recommended voting overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates.

The MEA "recommended" 111 Democratic candidates for 114 races in its October magazine. The three Republicans were Michigan House candidates Mike Callton of Nashville and Peter MacGregor of Rockford, and state Sen. Roger Kahn of Saginaw.

Michigan Capitol Confidential's article highlighted the highly partisan recommendations of 97 percent appeared to conflict with National Education Association president Dennis Van Roekel's message of non-partisanship when tackling school issues.

The MEA's October magazine also included a NEA survey that 45 percent of teachers under 30 classified themselves as conservative and 63 percent of teachers age 40 to 49 classified themselves as conservative. The MEA represents more than 157,000 teachers, faculty and education support staff.

It appears MEA updated its "recommended candidates" list on Friday to include incumbent Republican Congressman Fred Upton of St. Joseph, and state Sen. Mike Nofs of Battle Creek, and Bradford Jacobsen, who is running for the 46^th district in the state House of Representatives.

The MEA recommendations were lasted updated Oct. 22, according to its web site.

Steve Sachs, campaign manager for Nofs, didn't know about the MEA endorsement when first contacted by Michigan Capitol Confidential early Friday afternoon. He later checked and confirmed that they were notified recently.

"They just literally made the announcement today or late last night," Sachs said.

Doug Pratt, MEA Spokesman, didn't return an e-mail seeking comment.