When he wasn't bullying union members into sending students home with notes endorsing Democrat candidates and causes, Tornillo oversaw a disastrous spending binge on real estate and used the union's political and economic clout to secure lucrative construction and insurance contracts for cronies. Miami Herald reporters unearthed records showing "how Tornillo lived the life of royalty on the union's dime, expensing everything from round-the-world vacations, $20,000 hotel bills and antique furniture. The union also paid for his phone, cable and power bills, his housekeeper and his home insurance."
While teachers pleaded for pay increases and fought layoff measures, Tornillo used their union dues (at $843 per year, they're the highest in the nation) to buy tailored suits from Hong Kong and python-print pajamas from Neiman-Marcus. The Herald also reported that after Tornillo returned in 1995 from an extravagant African safari junket with executives of a troubled health maintenance organization, Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York, he awarded the company a $195 million insurance contract against the recommendation of union staff.
Rank-and-file educators and parents have demanded federal disclosure rules to stop future teachers' union plundering. Damaris Daugherty, founder of the Teacher Rights Advocacy Coalition in Miami, testified before a Senate committee in June:
"We need federal legislation that will wrest from (the United Teachers of Dade) and similar corrupt unions the power they have inappropriately usurped from the workers. We need you to come to the aid of workers in this country so that workers can reclaim their organizations and return them to their lofty goals. Without federal intervention, corrupt union executives will continue to manage dues monies as their personal expense accounts."
Will the New York Times editorial writers -- never ones to miss drum-beating about disclosure when it comes to corporate looters -- support the workers? Or will they stand aloof with the union thugs in snakes' pajamas?