Republican teachers uneasy at Obama-themed union convention

It had all the trappings of a re-election rally: thousands
packing a convention center, Barack Obama T-shirts, videos celebrating
the health care law, and a wall-size banner with encouraging messages to
the incumbent president.

"You are our knight in shining armor -- Sarah C., Norman, Okla.," read one inscription.

But this Obama love fest in Washington was not a campaign event. The
nearly 9,000 gathered were teachers in town for the National Education
Association's weeklong annual convention.

For the Republican teachers in attendance, the digs at their political views were impossible to overlook.

"What I don't like is the harassment going on for people to be an
`EFO' -- an educator for Obama," said Maureen van Wagner, a special
education teacher from Anchorage, Alaska.

In interviews with The Associated Press, roughly a dozen teachers who
identified themselves as Republicans said they felt pressure from union
leaders and the rank-and-file to support Obama's re-election -- and
felt marginalized when they wouldn't. Some interviewed said they were so
worried about retribution from their colleagues that they wouldn't
provide their names for publication.

National unions such as the NEA -- it's the largest teachers union in
the U.S. -- have long been stalwart supporters of Democratic
candidates, and to be effective, they must speak with a unified voice.
But teachers, like other professional groups, are not monolithic in
their political views, prompting inevitable tensions when the union
mobilizes its political machine.

NEA leaders have been urging members to hold house parties to educate
their friends about why Obama, who addressed the convention Thursday by
telephone to thank teachers for their support, deserves a second term.
So it wasn't really a surprise that the union showed its support for
Obama so overtly at the convention. After all, 72 percent of delegates
at last year's NEA convention voted to endorse Obama for re-election --
the earliest the group has ever endorsed in a presidential election
cycle.

But what did take Republican teachers off guard was the criticism they received for expressing support for Mitt Romney.

A Republican teacher speaking at the convention was booed for doing
just that. The incident prompted NEA President Dennis Van Roekel to
intervene, saying that everyone had the right to speak. And when the
union invited delegates to the Democratic National Convention in
September to a special meeting, no such invitations went out to
delegates to the GOP convention until a Republican teacher complained to
Van Roekel -- an error the union said resulted from a missed newsletter
deadline.

Then there were the T-shirts. Some Republicans said they were
presented with NEA T-shirts featuring Obama's name -- and that it felt
like being forced to choose between their profession and their
politics.

"I'm not here representing myself, I'm here representing other
teachers," said Chris Cvijetic, a first-grade teacher and Republican
from Palm Springs, Calif. "That's the only way I can get through the
day."

NEA officials said the union, which has never endorsed a Republican
for president, makes every effort to ensure all its members feel
welcome. The union holds a Republican Leadership Conference the same
week as the annual convention. Union dues are kept separate from the
NEA's political action committee, which spends donated funds to promote
candidates such as Obama. And the NEA has endorsed GOP candidates who
are pro-public education.

Despite the complaints, the NEA has no plans to shy away from a full
embrace of what Mary Kusler, the union's director of government
relations, called "the incredible legacy and vision of this current
administration."

That's not stopping NEA members who disagree with Obama from making their voices heard.

In the convention center's basement-level expo center, squeezed in
between the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender teacher's caucus and a
stall selling designer handbags of questionable authenticity, sat a
small, two-person table for the NEA's Republican Educators Caucus. The
group has about 160 members, although it has seen its ranks grow in
recent years, said Davina Keiser, the caucus chairwoman.

"For Republican teachers, it's almost like we're stepchildren in NEA,
and then in the Republican Party we're also stepchildren, because we're
public schoolteachers, and that's not part of their focus," said
Keiser, who teaches high school math in Long Beach, Calif.