EAG Tonedeafness on Public Relations

Months ago, Kyle drove up to Gladstone to get involved in the bargaining between the school and its teachers. He posted a YouTube video featuring a clueless schoolboard member who later took some abuse for playing ball with EAG.

He also did the same in Grand Rapids, a got a bunch of bad press there too. The WOOD-TV report labeled EAG as "anti-union." Finally a report that doesn't pussy foot around the plain truth.

Now Kyle has emailed his fans promising more of the same. I'm sure he thinks people fight to be the first to view whatever he comes up with, but he's dreaming.

His Gladstone video grabbed all of 2,864 views. Sounds like a lot until you look at just about anything else from Gladstone.

Like for example a video of highschool girls dancing in Lake Superior, on a golf course and in a cemetary.

Really. And the view count: 27,009. This is what grabs Gladstone's attention.

"Ok Go In Gladstone Dancing"

Birds of a Feather

“So if you hear someone pontificating that the Mackinac Center is biased, ask them to explain what their bias is.”—Lawrence Reed

The Mackinac Center gets tangled up in the EAG through blood ties (Kyle Olson’s brother) and philosophy. They also tag-team body slams against the MEA and MESSA quite regularly. So it wasn’t surprising that when the Oakland Press ran a softball editorial praising the Mac Center that Kyle (or one of the other alleged two EAG people) posted snide and snippy remarks in the reader comments under editorial.

Birds of a feather…

The Mackinac Center claims to be non-partisan and, given the above quote from Mr. Reed, claims to welcome dialog and discourse that debates that claim. But one of our members learned this past week that appears to be lip service.

In a public commentary forum at the Mackinac Center website, our member asked if the Center would consider publishing any positive stories about MESSA saving districts money—you know, the balanced stuff unbiased media should be interested in promoting; you know, the novel concept of giving all sides of a story.

Our member was asked to go for it by Jack McHugh. He did. Jack’s response was to cut a portion of the response, insert his last-word rebuttal that was at best a red herring, then shut our member out from further participating.

When our member then took Lawrence Reed at his written word and provided links to scholarly reviews of the Mackinac Center’s scholastic work by PhD s at the Great Lakes Center for Education and Research, Jack got busy with the delete key.

delete.

delete.

delete.

delete.

Actions do indeed speak louder than words. And birds of a feather do indeed flock together.

Oh, and those positive stories about MESSA? We would advise against looking for any to show up any time soon at the “unbiased” Mackinac Center (or at the EAG). But we’ll continue to ask the hard questions and provide substantive, public criticism of these entities.

Our good members—parents, teachers, taxpayers—don’t deserve the ambushes and the attacks that come from Kyle or others like him.

Who's Getting Ripped Off

Kyle Olson bravely filed Form 990 with the IRS on November 9, disclosing how much donors pay him for his myriad services as the big shot of EAG. The documents show that Kyle alleges he made around $30k this past year, with about another $9K in benefits. The expense report is impressive for such a small operation--over $20 K for things like travel, lodging, dining, office supplies, and the proverbial "other" category so popular with diligent itemizers.

And what do his donors get in return for their investment in these tough economic times? About 108 short blog entries, 13 opinion columns, a couple of YouTube videos, and about a half-dozen mentions in news stories. Oh, and he got his picture taken with Sarah Palin.

And Kyle thinks MEA teachers have it good?! How does one sign up for such a cushy gig as the one Kyle has?! That's a pretty good living for someone who writes a couple of blogs a week and about once a month gets a conservative newspaper to run a 400-word opinion piece. Taxpayers are indeed getting ripped off alright, Kyle--namely the taxpayers contributing to your personal bottom line.

Kyle says EAG isn't focused on the MEA. Hello Google...?

Kyle recently wrote an op ed in which he responded to a comment (mine)that the EAG was charged with opposing the MEA on all fronts: "He provides no basis for the statement as there is none."

I did provide basis, I said have a look at the EAG website. But to save you the trouble, 30 seconds of Googling will set the matter to rest...

Number of times these phrases appear on the EAG site:

AFT/MFT 4
AFL-CIO 1
UAW 1
MEA 206

And if there's any doubt about in which direction Kyle's criticizms fly:

Bush 0
Obama 59

Kyle drops the Commie Bomb

Kyle's blog is an endless source of amusement. This time he calls anyone bold enough to demonstrate a communist, equating a candlelight vigil with propaganda. He's talking about a demonstration held last week where a couple hundred people, including those that lost their jobs, stood outside a Southfield School Board meeting. Only Kyle would miss the obvious reaction Castro would have if such a thing happened in Cuba.



But that's okay, because he can't control himself. He probably really thinks he's reaching new believers with this kind of raving.

But then this is the guy who picked Dick Morris as an effective front man for EAG. Rave on, Kyle!

EAG and FOIA

Word is in the Kyle has come up with a new line of attack on Wayne Westland. He's got it in his head that the recall there is secretly driven by the MEA, so he wants to look thorough the emails that teachers have written, hoping to find mention of the recall. Or maybe any kind of union talk, who knows?

Trouble is, the recall is run by an actual group of locals who are apparently pretty annoyed at how the board has handled things. This story says Shawnn Maxwell is spearheading the recall effort. I Googled her/his name, and all I can find is a chicago saxophone player. If that's the right Maxwell, then Kyle's really got something to run with.

Kyle gets a little defensive...

Last week the Wayne Eagle ran a story that referred to EAG as "a non-profit organization promoting school spending reform". I wrote the reporter to give him the very Republican nature of the EAGuy, and they ran it as a letter to the editor.

Yesterday, they ran a letter from Kyle that suggested I had injected partisan politics by running through his Republican past and present, and the EAGuy's links to the Mackinac Center. He corrected me by pointing out that he has no twin.

I had made the mistake of saying that his brother Ryan was his twin. Ryan, it turns out, is two years older than Kyle. Woops. Of course Kyle was careful not to repeat the rest of the passage: that his brother ran the Mackinac Center's education operation for years. 

Kyle, feel free to point out any spelling errors I make. And I'll assume you'll continue to avoid the real issue: EAG is a tool of the right wing and is all about softening the ground for a Right to Work (AKA: Right to Freeload) ballot proposal.