By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

SNOW HILL, Md. – Labor union leaders like to portray themselves as tough-talking, no-nonsense people who stand for the middle-class values of honesty, hard work and fair play.

They’ve carefully cultivated this perception that they’re the great defenders of the American Way.

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But that reputation is being eroded by the daily trickle of news stories that show labor unions not only tolerate highly questionable (and sometimes illegal) behavior from their members, but they attempt to shield misbehaving members from proper punishment.

A good example of this can be found in New York, where the United Federation of Teachers works tirelessly to keep sexually troubled teachers in the classroom.

But the latest example of union corruption comes from Maryland, where police say Worcester County Teacher’s Association leaders attempted to cover up an embezzlement scandal involving a former treasurer.

The Daily Times reports that Denise Inez Owens “was responsible for the taking of more than $433,000 from accounts belonging to” the local teachers union.

Police say WCTA attorneys had arranged for Owens to pay restitution to the union, but that nobody notified police of the crime.

When detectives met with WCTA leadership, ‘they denied any involvement with what was going on,’ Detective Kyle Clark said, according to the Times.

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“They didn’t want to talk about it. They weren’t cooperating,” Clark said.

When Owens was arrested on Friday, she was still employed as a middle school special education teacher for Worcester County Public Schools, the paper reports.

The police began their investigation in February, after the Daily Times “published IRS tax filings that claimed Owens – then going by her former married name of Denise Tull – had oversight of more than $110,000 in WCTA losses for tax year 2009.”

Without the newspaper’s investigative story, it’s quite possible the union would have let Owens slink off into the night unpunished – after it worked out a restitution agreement with her.

If the union had gotten its way, it’s conceivable that Owens might still be in some classroom in some district for the upcoming school year.

Not only did the WCTA fail the community by not reporting Owens’ alleged crimes to the authorities, it utterly failed its members. More than $433,000 of hard-earned dues dollars are down the rat hole, never to be seen again.

If teacher unions don’t look out for the best interests of students or their own members, remind us again: Why do we need them in our schools?