'It’s an extraordinary conflict of interest,' Romney says. Mitt: No cash from teachers' unions

NEW YORK CITY — Mitt Romney called for the end of political contributions by teachers’ unions, arguing that it was a “conflict of interest” for the Democratic-friendly groups to be allowed to influence campaigns.

At the same time he offered praise for Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan.


“We have a very unusual system in this country. It’s not just related to teachers unions. It relates more broadly. But people are able to give — in the case of the Democratic Party, I don’t mean to be terribly partisan, but I kind of am — in case of the Democratic Party, the largest contributors to the Democratic Party are the teachers unions, the federal teachers unions,” Romney said at an NBC Education Summit here Tuesday.

“It’s an extraordinary conflict of interest. That’s something I think is a problem and should be addressed,” he said.

The GOP nominee delved into a topic that normally gets little attention while he’s out campaigning. Romney offered opening remarks — repeating much of what he said in an education policy speech earlier this year — and fielded questions from moderator Brian Williams and summit attendees.

It’s not unusual for Romney to echo Republican talking points that students should come before the teachers’ unions when it comes to education reform. His stump speech includes a oft-repeated riff about reforming education.

But on Tuesday, the GOP nominee offered a broader critique of the role campaign contributions play in education reform.

It’s not unusual for Republicans to advocate limiting or eliminating campaign contributions from public employees unions. But in an election cycle where both candidates are raking in large fundraising hauls and super PACs backed by unlimited contributions from wealthy donors are surging, Romney offered a more robust criticism of the campaign finance system.

Romney argued that teachers’ unions energetic giving to Democratic officials compromises them at the negotiating table.

“That person is supposed to be representing the public, vis-a-vis the teacher’s union but actually most of their money came from the teachers’ union,” Romney said. “This is an extraordinary conflict of interest. That’s something I think is a problem and should be addressed.”

Teachers unions, led by the National Federation of Teachers and National Education Association, have given about $11 million so far this election cycle to Democratic candidates, committees and outside groups, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

President Obama has been the top recipient of those donations. He has received nearly $31,000 specifically from teachers’ unions and $12.6 million overall from the education industry.

Romney, on the other hand, has received about $2 million from the education industry and none from teachers unions.

Romney has previously advocated for a system that allows unlimited donations to candidates and parties, but requires immediate public disclosure.

“My own view is now we tried a lot of efforts to try and restrict what can be given to campaigns, we’d be a lot wiser to say you can give what you’d like to a campaign. They must report it immediately,” Romney said on MSNBC in December.

He would make a distinction for teacher unions, spokesman Kevin Madden said when asked about the discrepancy.

“They are directly negotiating over a contract with a mayor or a governor who is going to be approving that contract, that’s the distinction,” Madden said.

While not at the top of polls asking voters about their most important issues, education remains a topic voters say they want to hear candidates discuss. It’s also an issue that on which women voters — a constituency both candidates have been working hard to court in swing states — frequently focus on.

Breaking from his regular attack lines against Obama, Romney offered praised for Duncan and the Race to the Top program, a centerpiece of the White House’s education plan.

“But what I like about him is [Duncan] said, ‘Look, I wanna have this Race To The Top program which will give grants to states that encourage innovation and specifically that say we’re gonna compensate teachers based upon their performance,’ which I think is the right thing,” Romney said.

Williams pressed Romney on whether he would consider keeping Duncan as part of his own cabinet.

“I’m not putting anybody on my cabinet right now, Brian,” Romney said, prompting laughter. “It’s a little presumptuous of me, but just a little.”

Williams also asked the GOP nominee about the cost of his own education, asking whether every student should have schooling equivalent to the cost of Romney’s private secondary education at Cranbrook Academy.

“I don’t know if a dollar number always equates to how effective the teacher is,” Romney said. “I was delighted to have a terrific education at what was a private institution. That’s not going to be available for the entire nation but I know that there are teachers in the public system who are every bit as good as those in the private system.”

Romney made the case that total dollars spent doesn’t determine the quality of education.

“I reject the idea that everybody has to have, if you will, a Harvard-expense level degree in order to be successful,” Romney said. “I find a lot of people have degrees from a lot of different places public and private that are highly successful. Some of the most successful [people] in our nation didn’t even complete high school. It’s a remarkable thing.”

While explaining the education policy changes he would make, Romney also argued that schools should be run on the state, not federal level.

“If I’m the next president of the United States, as I hope to be, than I don’t want to step in and try to run schools for local school districts or for states,” Romney said. “Education is largely run at the state level. But I do believe that there is action I can take at the federal level that will have an impact on improving the quality of education.”

Democrat pounced quickly on Romney’s remarks Tuesday, with the American Bridge super PAC launching a ClassSizeMatters.com, a website attacking them.

And Obama’s campaign criticized Romney’s remarks as inconsistent with his record as governor of Massachusetts.

“He wants to bring these policies to the national stage, where his drastic spending cuts could gut education funding, leading to as many as 65,000 teacher layoffs and larger class sizes,” Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a statement. “Cutting education to pay for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires might make sense in Mitt Romney’s world, but it’s not a recipe for growing the economy or strengthening the middle class.”

During the question-and-answer portion of the event, Romney dismissed a teacher from the audience who cited a poll that New York City parents support the union.

“In NYC, the parents here support the union to protect our kids 3-to-1 over the mayor and the chancellor, that’s a recent poll,” the teacher said. “So to say that the union are holding back our kids as a parent, it’s the opposite. They believe actually that the unions are fighting for our kids and that a lot of the reform has been holding back our kids.”

Romney quickly responded that he didn’t believe the poll, citing his own experience with polling.

“I know something about polls and I know you can ask questions to get any answer you want,” Romney said. “I do know this, that having looked at schools that the teachers’ union have a responsibility to care for the interest of the teachers and the head of the national teachers union said at one point, ‘We don’t care about kids. We care about the teachers.’”

Tarini Parti contributed to this report.