A Project Veritas undercover investigative series revealing the corruption within teachers unions in the New York City area now turns to expose a local teachers union president in Wichita, Kansas.
“Do you really think I’m a motherf***er?” Steve Wentz, president of United Teachers of Wichita (UTW), describes to the undercover journalists what he asks his student. “Son, go for it and I’ll give you the first shot…I will kick your f***ing ass.”
In the latest video by James O’Keefe, an interaction takes place between several Project Veritas journalists and Wentz.
The first meeting between Wentz and the journalists takes place at the National Council of Urban Education Associations (NCUEA) between June 26-29, 2015 at the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista in Buena Vista, Florida.
As the video shows, the Project Veritas journalist talks to Wentz at the bar, where Wentz says:
Wichita State asked me to come out and talk to their new teachers in education about classroom discipline and I went… I mean, ex-military, I’m sure you… I mean you know, there were times in my class where I had a kid do something crazy and you know… I told him when the bell rings, I said hang on, hang on a minute, I want to talk to you. So the bell rings everybody leaves and I go over, shut the door, lock it, pull the shades down, take all my shit out of my pockets and I go, do you really want to kick my ass? Do you really think I’m a motherf***er? Son, go for it and I’ll give you the first shot.
The journalist can be heard in the video asking Wentz whether he did this to a student, and Wentz replies, “I’ve done this more than once and I said, but I will guarantee you, I will kick your f***ing ass.”
As the video progresses, Wentz says that the union would punish him for his actions if it discovered them, and acknowledges his actions are “over the line.” However, the Project Veritas investigation probes further to determine whether Wentz would admit to the same actions while in his role as union president.
Another Project Veritas journalist poses as the uncle of the student whom Wentz bragged about threatening. The undercover journalist confronts Wentz in Kansas at a coffee shop. Project Veritas states the journalist had attempted to speak with Wentz at the union office where he worked, but was told by a union employee that Wentz was out at a dentist appointment.
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PV JOURNALIST: So, I’m here visiting relatives and I have a nephew and he’s concerned… My family is concerned that, and he’s been having problems with this, that you took him aside and said that you were going to kick his f***ing ass.
WENTZ: Well, first of all I have no idea what you’re talking about, Dan and second of all, it concerns me of the kind of cryptic nature of all this…
PV JOURNALIST: Okay. We’re just trying to keep the name of the child out of it, and…
WENTZ: Well, certainly, I’ve spent 25 years looking out for the welfare of children and my own included. So, I’m confused as to who in the world would make an allegation like that?
PV JOURNALIST: So, you’re saying it didn’t happen?
WENTZ: I have never said that to a kid at school
PV JOURNALIST: His folks are talking about going to the union or going to the police, one of the two.
WENTZ: Okay, go for it. I mean first of all, I’m the president of the union, so…
PV JOURNALIST: Oh, so they’re going to have your back?
WENTZ: Well, no, not if I’ve done something wrong…
Wentz continues to deny what he originally admitted in Buena Vista, and the PV journalist presses him:
PV JOURNALIST: I am just asking about whether this specific occurrence occurred, whether you said you know, I’m going to kick your f***ing ass to a kid? You’ve never said that?
WENTZ: Oh, I’ve said that before.
PV JOURNALIST: To a kid?
WENTZ: To my own kids.
PV JOURNALIST: How about to your students? How about to your students?
WENTZ: No, why would I say that to one of my students? And Dan…
PV JOURNALIST: So, you said it to your own kid… It’s okay to say it to your own kids? I’m going to kick your f***ing ass?
WENTZ: What I say to my kids is my f***ing business, Dan. This conversation is over and I tell you what? If you show up again, I’m gonna call the cops.
PV JOURNALIST: I gave you my name, I gave you my phone number. If something changes and you want to come clean…
WENTZ: The guy you need to talk to next, his name is…
PV JOURNALIST: If you want to come clean about it, let me know
WENTZ: His name is… Well I’ll let you talk to my attorney, okay? Let’s do that. I’m not going to sit here and have somebody make an allegation like that…
PV JOURNALIST: Alright. Is that where you were this afternoon when you were supposed to be at the dentist appointment or…? I mean I drove all the way down here to talk to you, I show up at your office, you’re supposed to be dentist at 10, I show up 2…
WENTZ: What are you, my f***ing mother?
PV JOURNALIST: Well, you’ve got to post in and post out. Don’t you feel responsible to your constituents?
WENTZ: You’re a piece of work, Dan. You are a piece of work…
PV JOURNALIST: Nobody punched you out, nobody punched you in back at the… Did you punch out at the office?
WENTZ: I don’t have to punch out.
PV JOURNALIST: We’ll probably get in touch with the union here.
WENTZ: Okay.
PV JOURNALIST: Maybe the NEA as well, talk to them. Talk to… Because when there’s a specific allegation we have, you know specific allegation.
WENTZ: No, no…
PV JOURNALIST: My nephew has said that you took him aside and said, I am going to kick your f***ing ass.
WENTZ: I heard what you said.
PV JOURNALIST: And you say you did not say that?
WENTZ: I’m saying I did not say that.
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In the other videos in the Project Veritas series on teachers unions, the journalists uncover union officials who advise them on how to hide child abuse and excessive absenteeism, and admit to refusing to report teachers who abuse drugs.
“We’ve been contacted by parents and students across the country reacting to our last few teacher’s union videos about similar experiences they’ve had,” says Project Veritas president O’Keefe. “Now we strongly encourage any students who have been threatened by Mr. Wentz to come forward and contact us at Project Veritas.com.”
“It’s clear Wentz doesn’t want to own up to his own actions and will use his ‘union president’ position to protect himself,” he adds. “Wentz admits that what he did was wrong and if the union found out, he would be in trouble. But he isn’t worried. Why? Because Wentz is the union.”
“The lengths these unions will go to cover up even the most horrendous actions of teachers isn’t isolated to this incident in Kansas,” Project Veritas spokesperson Stephen Gordon also tells Breitbart News. “As you will see in videos we’ve yet to release as well as those we’ve recently released, this is a systemic problem which plagues the major teachers unions around the country.”
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