The Democratic Party is a wide coalition of different interests groups; ethnic and religious minorities, organized labor, civil libertarians, social justice activists, environmentalists, progressives, moderate liberals etc. But there is one strange slice of the Democratic Party pie that has come to greater prominence in recent years - particularly after the Reagan Revolution - soulless careerists.
These people see politics merely as a stepping stone to a Corporate windfall and approach politics from a technocratic, dare I say sociopathic perspective. There are no principles or values worth fighting for just the next rung up the greasy pole of political and financial power.
Hari Sevugan is one such careerist. After making a name for himself in "rapid response" for the Democratic National Committee during the triumph of the 2010 midterm elections he is now moving on to bust unions with Michele Rhee in exchange for Corporate Cash. His previous expierience with education was teaching for a tremendous 2 years in the rough district of Upper Manhattan (cue Coolio) so he really "gets it."
Democratic National Committee national spokesman Hari Sevugan will move to a top post at the former Washington, D.C., school chief Michelle Rhee's new advocacy group, Students First, a move aimed at strengthening its hand in the complex and high-stakes politics of education policy.
(more after the jump)
Yes, that Michelle Rhee, the one who made a name for herself by bashing teachers. Rhee then further raised her profile by appearing in a documentary called Waiting for Superman which was not nominated for the Oscars due to staging scenes. Rhee's biggest achievement was instituting a corporate incentivized system for teachers or "merit" based system where teacher's would be rewarded with extra pay for higher test scores. Not surprisingly the carrot designed to appeal to greedy people... appealed to greedy people who simply faked test scores for the cash. WOOPS.
Rhee was also caught paling around with uber-reactionaires and hyper-partisan Governors Rick Scott and Chris Christie which removed a lot of the previous nonsense that she was bi-partisan union buster.
But while Sevugan's role includes setting up a rapid response operation and press shop for a group that didn't have a full-fledged communications operation, the move also sends a political signal: Michelle Rhee's push to weaken the hold of teachers unions has won her enemies in the labor movement and among some Democrats, and allies on the Republican right, and Sevugan will aim to clarify her attempt to establish a bipartisan profile, the source said
And yes Hari union-buster Sevugan's job will be to try and con Democrats that Rhee is somehow not what she is.
The move is intended to bring "the reputation of the group back to a non-partisan place after being seen, undeservedly, as overly friendly with Republicans," the source said.
It's only "undeservedly" partisan if the Democratic Party is actually pro-union and public education which, given that its former spokesman is taking corporate money to bust unions and privatize public education - one wonders.
The politico story also raises other questions:
The hiring of a Democratic Party official is a reminder that Rhee's push against union rules has allies among many Democrats, including Barack Obama, though many Democrats remain deeply suspicious of her work with anti-labor, anti-spending Republican governors like Florida's Rick Scott and Nevada's Brian Sandoval.
It was bad enough Obama was virtually silent on the Wisconsin Union Busting, we can only hope he isn't being given bad advice by careerists in the administration about busting unions and privatizing public education.
And a Special message to Hari from the working and what's left of the middle class - sooner rather than later we're going to be on our feet again and we'll remember careerist scum like you who betrayed us and tried to step on our throats when we were down.
So cash those corporate checks and enjoy your union busting. Make some nice Republican friends while you're at it, they will be the only ones you have when things come back around. Then again, tokens are only good for the subway.
Aren't we done with people using their public service as leverage to get privately paid off?
