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Another big teachers union to back Smith

By ADAM C. SMITH
Published May 9, 2006

Rod Smith is gaining ground in winning one of the biggest prizes in Democratic politics: the endorsement of the Florida Education Association.

United Teachers of Dade, the largest affiliate in the statewide union, is expected today to announce it is endorsing Smith, a state senator from Alachua, for governor over U.S. Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa. That follows the Broward Teachers Union, the statewide union's second-biggest affiliate, throwing its support to Smith last week.

The state union will decide on candidate endorsements in Orlando Friday, but many observers had expected it to avoid taking sides in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Since bankrolling Bill McBride's unsuccessful campaign against Jeb Bush in 2002, many union leaders are skittish about playing too hard in the governor's race, and leaders have revised their rules to make a statewide endorsement much tougher to receive.

"We've tried to put our resources in other areas. We realized that in 2002 we committed a lot of effort to one specific candidate, and we would rather deal on an issue-based campaign," said union president Andy Ford, acknowledging that it would be unlikely to pump a lot of money into the race.

But with an estimated 110,000 Democrats in the Florida Education Association, the endorsement could be a huge coup in the Democratic primary.

Neither Davis nor Smith is well known statewide, and even the local endorsements could play a big role in getting them known among primary voters.

Davis and Smith are both ardent critics of how the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test is used in public schools, and both promise to fight for higher teacher pay. As a state legislator, Davis in 1996 crafted the first law to reduce class sizes in Florida, while Smith last week was widely credited as playing pivotal role in killing efforts to preserve school vouchers in Florida and water down the state's class size amendment.

Both Smith and Davis will interview with the union's screening committee this week, but Ford said neither of the Republican gubernatorial candidates, Charlie Crist and Tom Gallagher, accepted an invitation to talk to the heavily Democratic group.

"Jim Davis will make his case to the FEA screening committee as the author of Florida's first class-size reduction law that he successfully worked to pass 10 years ago, while state Sen. Smith will base his pitch on a Democratic legislative victory 10 days ago," said Davis spokesman Josh Earnest.

[Last modified May 9, 2006, 00:41:15]