Dem Civil War: Public Unions vs. Gentry Liberals

From Michael Barone:

Here at The Washington Examiner we have read with interest editorials written by our friends at the Washington Post denouncing the greed of the Montgomery County teachers’ unions. Unfortunately, their editorials (and ours) don’t seem to have cut much ice with the county’s gentry liberals, who either stayed home (turnout was a record low) or did the bidding of the unions.

But the most stark demonstration of the public employee unions’ power came in the District of Columbia, where Mayor Adrian Fenty was defeated in the Democratic primary by Council Chairman Vincent Gray. There’s no Republican candidate, and Gray is as good as elected.

Four years ago, Fenty carried every precinct in the city. In office he has drawn national attention for his appointment of Michelle Rhee as school chancellor. Rhee’s reforms have produced higher test scores, stable rather than declining enrollment, a teacher evaluations system that has resulted in dismissals of dozens of incompetents, and a union contract giving administrators greater flexibility in assignments.

Rhee won national acclaim but antagonized politicians like Gray with deep roots in Washington’s black community. Blacks here as in most large cities have been more likely than average to work in public-sector jobs — a legacy of the days half a century ago when governments, at least north of the Potomac, didn’t discriminate against blacks as many private firms did.

As a result, Gray struck a chord with black voters when he denounced Rhee’s teacher layoffs — the same layoffs that gentry liberals hailed as eliminating bad teachers who hold back children from poor families.

This divide is apparent when you look at the election returns. Gray won citywide by a 54 to 44 percent margin. Fenty won 72 percent in Ward 2 (Georgetown and West End) and 79 percent in Ward 3 (west of Rock Creek Park), both dominated by gentry liberals. Gray won 82 percent in Wards 7 and 8 (east of the Anacostia River), both heavily black.

Gentry liberals and public employee unions were allies in the Obama campaign in 2008. But now they’re in a civil war in city and state politics. This raises the question of whether the Democratic Party favors public employee unions that want more money and less accountability, or gentry liberals and others who care about the quality of public services. Right now the unions are winning.

Read the whole thing here.