John Boehner, August 13, 2004

The author Joseph Conrad once advised, "You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends." Though he wrote this in a literary context, it’s amazing how true it is with regard to all walks of life. Hollywood. Sports. The workplace. And of course, politics.

For example, the President is judged in large part by those he chooses to serve in his Cabinet or by those international leaders with whom he forms strong friendships. Politics is about more than just our leaders and representatives, however. More and more, special interest groups are having a major impact on the political process. In fact, in the midst of this election year, I’d venture to say that never before have so many non-party affiliated organizations been this involved in political campaigns.

One such organization that recently became even more involved in the process is the National Education Association (NEA), the lobbying organization that claims to represent the views of most American school teachers. Teachers here in the Eighth District may be interested to know just how involved the NEA has gotten. Recently, the organization’s lobbyists announced a partnership with a handful of other special interest groups. Together, they have dubbed themselves the "National Mobilization for Great Public Schools." Their stated agenda: to raise the profile of national education issues.

Teachers may be surprised to learn that one of the groups working with the NEA on this campaign is MoveOn.org -- an organization that has received a great deal of national attention this year. Why? For starters, the group opposed a military response to the September 11th attacks on our nation, and it brazenly has called for "regime change" in the United States.

But the most infamous reason for MoveOn’s newfound attention is because it placed two advertisements on its "Voter Fund" website comparing President Bush to Adolf Hitler. According to a published report in the Washington Post from earlier this year, "One ad begins with Adolf Hitler making speeches, until a picture of President Bush appears. Another also uses Nazi and Bush images, with the tag line: ‘What were war crimes in 1945 is foreign policy in 2003.’ The videos appeared on the Web site of MoveOn.org’s Voter Fund as part of a nationwide contest for an anti-Bush television ad on which the liberal group plans to spend a considerable sum."

Make no mistake: I have no problem with anyone who disagrees with a policy position the President takes, I take, or any other public official takes. That’s the democratic way, after all. But when a group compares a leader from either American political party to someone who exterminated eleven million innocent human beings, it’s nothing less than a disgrace. Sure, MoveOn pulled these ads from its website after a while, but the fact that they were housed on their website in the first place is very telling.

It’s concerning to me that a group claiming to represent teachers would align with an organization like MoveOn. I’m sure many teachers across Ohio and the nation are just as concerned -- especially since they pay dues to become NEA members. The truth is the NEA’s Washington, DC leadership has opposed President Bush from the very moment he sent the No Child Left Behind Act to Congress. No Child Left Behind’s core principles of accountability for taxpayer funds and flexibility for teachers and school districts represent a shift in power from the DC-based education establishment to teachers, parents, and local communities.

The NEA’s opposition to education reform is not necessarily what’s most troubling. The group has the right to support or not support any proposal it chooses. However, the tactics it takes in expressing that opposition -- and the organizations it aligns itself with in the process -- are troubling. In a year when so many groups on both sides of the political spectrum are joining forces, we’d be well-served to look beneath the surface and discover exactly what these partner organizations have said -- and how they’ve gone about saying it.

Congressman John Boehner, a Republican, represents Ohio's Eighth Congressional District, which includes Miami, Butler, Preble, Darke, and Mercer Counties.