There must be plenty of puppets in the General Assembly and city and county councils throughout Indiana. But at least Hoosier puppet masters are smart enough to stay in the background and keep the strings hidden:
Chastened officials with the United Federation of Teachers yesterday promised never again to put words in the mouths of City Council members after the union's cheap stunt -- giving scripted questions to lawmakers at a hearing -- caused a furor.
"We certainly don't plan on it happening again," said a contrite Ron Davis, a spokesman for UFT president Randi Weingarten. "This is the first time, at least in our staff's memory, that this type of communication occurred during a hearing."
UFT reps were caught red-handed passing out the cue cards with leading questions for council members to ask Department of Education officials at a hearing on charter schools Tuesday.
Mayor Bloomberg decried the tactic yesterday, saying council members should have been clear about the origins of their queries.
I can just hear the Indiana State Teachers Association gritting their teeth: "Fools! Don't they know enough to memorize the script ahead of time?"
