I spoke with former State Senator Frank Antenori last week. Actually, that’s not entirely true. He spoke to me—really fast and for what seemed like a really long time without a break. I wonder if Army Special Forces training is like what the Navy SEALs get, because he can go a long time without taking a breath.
I was writing about Arizona’s teachers and I called him to ask him about something he had said on Emil Franzi’s radio show. Antenori used to be in the State Legislature, but he tried to go from the State House to the U.S. House in about a week-and-a-half. Like a political Icarus, he flew too close to the Sun and crashed to Earth.
(I’m going to have to paraphrase here because he talks so damn fast, there’s no way I could take down every word. He talks with that self-assured East Coast Italian-American swagger, but every now and then, he reminds me of how Richard Pryor described pimps on cocaine—”Be talkin’ all the time but don’t be sayin’ sh-t!”)
Anyway, here we go:
• On why Arizona’s teachers are struggling: They’re not. I reject that argument. They’re like anybody else. They bring a certain set of skills to the marketplace and they get paid whatever the market is willing to pay. Capitalism can work for you or against you; that’s the chance we all take. There’s no difference between a teacher and a truck driver, really. You get paid what the market can bear.
• On why esteem for teachers, in the Legislature and in the state, has declined so much since the passage of pro-teacher Prop. 301 in the year 2000: It’s all the fault of the teachers’ unions. They ruined it for their members. (He went on for a long-ass time about the unions, but, after a while, it started sounding like Charlie Brown’s teacher.)
• Explaining why pay for Arizona teachers has stagnated or even gone down over the past few years: It’s because of the fixation on small class size. They kept clamoring for smaller class sizes, a smaller teacher-to-student ratio, and they finally got it. But then (when the economy went south and funding declined), class size went back up and they had a glut of teachers. Supply is up, demand is down, wages go down. Simple economics.
• On why he despises the ruling of Judge Katherine Cooper, who ordered the State Legislature to pay at least $317 million (and possibly five times that amount) that is owed to schools under Prop. 301: The Legislature doesn’t owe the schools a penny. The schools got a significant bump in funding during the (flush) years when the economy was doing well and Janet Napolitano was the governor. It was well over the two percent that the law says is owed for inflation adjustment. In one year, they got an 8 percent bump. That should count toward the 2 percent for four years. Plus, the judge had the nerve to suggest that the interest should be compounded.
• Well, mathematically speaking, it should be compounded: But it isn’t owed! Compound interest on zero is zero.
• Why doesn’t the legislature just pay the $317 mil and negotiate over the rest?: (Here his voice got kinda’ high and he started talking super fast like that John Moschitta guy who used to do the FedEx commercials. In my mind, I came up with my own analogy for what he was saying.)
There was an episode of “M*A*S*H” in which Hawkeye Pierce and B.J. wanted to get an incubator for the hospital unit so that they wouldn’t have to send germ cultures down to Seoul and wait for a response. They finally ended up in front of a supply sergeant who had five of them in stock. When they got turned down by the sergeant, they asked why. He said, “Because then I would only have four.”
That’s what’s happening here. The Legislature was able to sock away a half-billion dollars when the House shockingly decided not to follow the orders of the Goldwater Institute in an attempt to turn all of Arizona into VoucherLand. That money is currently designated as a “rainy-day fund” by House Appropriations Committee Chair John Kavanaugh. He says that they need to hold onto that money just in case the state runs a deficit next year due to the Legislature having cut capital gains and corporate taxes, and having given generous tax breaks on investments.
In other words, the state may need that money to make up for the shortfall caused when the people in the Legislature gave away a bunch of money to their already-rich friends. Kavanaugh didn’t say that, exactly, but like The Beav’s mom in “Airplane,” I, too, speak jive.
• On why, exactly, the hate for the judge: She’s overstepping her bounds. We have a separation of powers in this country. She’s trying to allocate funds, but that’s not her job. If I were in the Legislature and they ordered us to pay that money, I would take it out of the Judiciary funding. See how she likes that.
Speaking of which, the word is that Antenori is thinking of moving out of the “hippie haven” in which he now lives and looking for a redder spot from which to launch a political comeback in 2016. You’ve been warned.
This article appears in Sep 4-10, 2014.
I wonder why the market can bear to pay teachers what doctors and lawyers earn in some countries but not in the richest nation on earth? Is it really about being a capitalistic society, or is it really about what a society values?
Buh bye Frank. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. I think Mississippi or maybe Louisiana would suit your 18th century agenda.
Perhaps he should try teaching a class or two with 27 or more students in it?
I do that as an adjunct every semester and it is hard. When you have a half dozen students that need one on one help, you have to ignore the rest of the class while you get them back on track. Everyone suffers as it cuts down on the amount of time you have to cover a topic.
In some classes in the past, we have had two instructors at half pay and it lets the primary instructor carry on with the lecture while the secondary instructor helps the struggling student(s). The whole class moves smoothly and everyone gets to stay on track.
I’m not suggesting that we cut teachers pay by 50% and have two for every class but in some situations it works. And how many teachers would want to teach for half of what they get now?
Let’s put Frankie in front of a class of 27 8th graders to see how long he lasts…
Why even bother speaking with a has been discredited troglodyte state senator? How is this drivel germane to the real problems facing teachers in the state today?
No one else in elected office or running for office would speak with Tom?
Leave commentary on education to Safier who’s been in the trenches and has the experience and knowledge to make his points at more than a sophomoric level (giving Danehy credit). I don’t always agree with David but I respect his command of the issues and his hard won experience as a teacher and advocate for his colleagues.
Let’s put Frank in that same class, and see how long it takes the students to either shape up or run off whining to the nearest TV camera about how hard it is to learn.
When Antenori was (sadly) in the Legislature, I was thrown off of the AZ Star comment board when I described Antenori as a Neanderthal (with apologies to Neanderthals everywhere — who were probably MUCH better people than Frank could ever be.)
His fact-free right-wing mindless rant described here pretty much validates my opinion of him then.
He got his “world view” from the back of a fascist, libertarian, mindless-war-monger cereal box and parrots his venom wherever he’s given the opportunity. It’s too bad there are rabid, content-free radio channels in this town that continue to “give him the opportunity”…
Former state legislator? I guess that says all anyone has or needs to know about this fellow, he is a regular shill phone call to the local right wing shock jock right winger propagandist here in Tucson, on 104.1 FM radio!;-) These folks from up in Phoenix, Michigan/California seem to think they are going to convert us all down here in Tucson to right wing lunatics!
I’ve insulted my intelligence by reading this. Kudos to you, Tom, for actually listening to this stupidity.
Antenori simply wants to forget about the people of the state of Arizona. He conveniently ignores the fact this entire issue revolved around a vote of the people. The legislature did not simply back away from one of its own projects. They turned their back on a vote of all the people. And, yes, Frank, when the people vote they do get to tell the legislature how to spend money.
Ever since John Marshall was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, more than two centuries ago, courts in this country have had the power to overrule decisions of the legislative branch. That is not a violation of the separation of powers. Part of the balance of power among the three branches of government is the authority given the courts to overrule questionable legislative action.
By his own words he flaunts his disrespect for the people of the state of Arizona. Elected officials are…and should be…accountable to the public, not the other way around.
Antenori is just showing his true colors as usual and that is why he will never be an elected official again unless he moves. So teachers are being paid what the market can bear and they are the same as truck drivers; (no disrespect to truck drivers) some truck drivers make more money than teachers without having any degrees and they don’t have to put up with all the crap from the legislature, the state, the district, the admin, and the students. Teachers put up with so much abuse from other people’s kids that they would never take from their own children. Maybe it is time for teachers to go on strike so Antenori can see how the market bears that. He can bring his buddies along to teach classes in economics while using the strike as a learning experience to teach the students how the market, capitalism and civics works.
I guess the teachers’ unions ruined it for their members by following the votes in the Legislature on educational issues, and allocating their political action committee funds based on how the legislators actually voted. No wonder few Republicans can get endorsed by the unions. They keep doing debacles like this one. Go away, Antenori, far, far away!
He is a non-entity. Why give him a forum?
That’s right. We’re all against free speech aren’t we?
The problem is there are still lots of buffoons like Antenori in the one party dictatorship in the Arizona legislature. Their education policy actions are just plain wrong. Their education solutions are just wrong. No data supports their policies. Yet they keep doing what apparently Moses brought to them from the mountain. And their policies are wrong. Unless their actual goal is resegregation of schools, and the complete turnover of public schools to for profit corporations.
The other party is the one that allowed Tesla to get away. Who is the bigger buffoon?
Antenori = carpetbagger. Or some sort of -bagger.
Plain and simple folks, Tesla nor any other legitimate corporation is not going to locate anything in a state that routinely elects buffoons who can’t stop shooting themselves in the foot and make national news doing so. We can’t afford the circus to continue.
NYJD check yourself with the Phoenix and Prescott area landing one company after another.
Tucson is the problem. Os should I say liberal democrats are the problem.
He’s a tool, but a useful tool. He has work to do to secure the boarder. Simply play that chalk board screeching voice night and day over loud speakers and nothing will want to cross.
Rat,
We feel your hatred. “liberal democrat, ptooo!, (spits on the ground)”. Funny thing is, that used to be just a label to distinguish one’s political leanings, and not a synonym for “devil incarnate”.
America is a diverse country and fundamental to our democracy is reasoned, intelligent debate. If we start with the premise that anyone who disagrees with us is the devil, and hence no debate possible, you’ll be relegated to the sidelines, which is where extremists belong. “Conservative republican” used to mean people like Everett Dirkson or William F Buckley, reasoned, intelligent men who knew compromise was part of the game. Now these men couldn’t run for dogcatcher because they won’t pledge allegiance to extremism, can’t pass the litmus test.
Some think the dinosaurs all died in a great cataclysmic firestorm. I prefer to think their might was overcome by those treacherous little mammals who lured them into the tar pits
Teachers are no different than truck drivers? I would like to see the average Teamster entrusted in the company your average high school (16 or 17 year old) girl.
Nice sermon NJYD. Please explain Phoenix and Prescott. Leave the hatred out of your explanation.
You can not fix a problem until you identify the source. How long are you willing to wait?
Rat… that all ya got. Same old same old. Take no blame or responsibility and pass it along to someone else.
No wonder the right wing is dying out.
Rat…. the source is the far right wing Az legislature.
The problem is folks like you who keep them in office.
Blah, blah, blah Republicans. Blah, blah, blah Democrats. Blah, blah, blah Obama. Blah, blah, blah Bush. It all sounds like a broken record.
Dreamers. After reading the attacks on the legislature for cutting education funding, I see TUSD had been lying about the amount per student. They received $8400 per student which was $1300 more than other similar size school districts. But they only spent 49% in the classroom.
Go ahead and blame others, but it doesn’t wash.
Would you consider any limits on spending/taxing? What would they be?
What would these out of work right wingers do if they cannot win another entitlement government job and feed off the government cheese? This fellow is a joke!
This fellows pal Russell Pearce is now doing radio talk jock, right wing hate monger snake oil salesmen duty, has got a entitlement job on side from his pals in GOP controlled state government, these folks talk a good game but are frauds, hypocrites!
Frank Antenori was defeated because of his radical views and bills he passed. So why are you even talking with Frank. Guess your not looking for votes from the people. Frank is an extreme radical and AZ doesn’t need anymore. We need law makers who make real laws in AZ. And not laws created by ALEC. Voters get smart of the politicians, The Tea Party and Republicans have nothing new to offer but more extreme messages and bills. They are the real ISIS we in the USA have to fight against.