WASHINGTON, DC - The National Education Association (NEA) has released a 144-page report attacking what it calls a concerted effort by a "Conservative Network" of "far right" organizations to carry out "a state-by-state assault on public education." The report is verbosely entitled "The Real Story Behind 'Paycheck Protection,' The Hidden Link Between Anti-Public Education Initiatives: An Anatomy of the Far Right."

It characterizes initiatives such as the failed Proposition 226 in California - which would have required unions to get members' permission to spend their mandatory dues for political purposes - as attempts to dismantle public education and "choke off the funding" of organized labor.

Observers have described the NEA booklet as "an attempt to rally the NEA's troops, not to persuade outsiders." Mark Wilson, a labor economist for the Heritage Foundation, commented in the Oct. 2 edition of the Washington Times: "It's a shame the NEA is spending their members' dollars this way rather than directly addressing the issues." He added that the report "looks more like a fund-raising attempt."

The NEA booklet implicates dozens of individuals and organizations as part of the "Conservative Network" (read "conspiracy"). Wal-Mart heir John Walton, Pittsburgh philanthropist Richard Mellon Scaife, retired insurance executive J. Patrick Rooney, Howard Ahmanson Jr., a founding director of the Rutherford Institute, and Texas businessman James Leininger receive prominent mention, as do the Heritage Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Council for National Policy, the National Right to Work Foundation, the Alexis de Tocqueville Institute, and Americans for Tax Reform (ATR).

ATR President Grover Norquist told the Washington Times that "the only 'conspiracy' is that 65% of the American people support paycheck protection, and 65% of them also support school choice." The ATR has released its own report called Unprotected Paychecks: The Truth Behind Big Labor's Campaign Against Proposition 226.

Apparently, the mainstream media recognized the booklet as merely NEA campaign and fundraising material because it was barely mentioned by the press. The Associated Press did cover the report's release. AP Reporter Robert Greene noted: "If there is evidence, other than by association, that supporters of dues restrictions are motivated by a desire to dismantle public schools, it was not clearly laid out in the NEA's booklet."