Following the release of two damning Project Veritas videos, the New Jersey Senate is planning to hold hearings on the conduct of the state’s teachers’ union, NJ.com reported on Monday.
State Senate President Stephen Sweeney has officially called for a joint legislative hearing to investigate New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) presidents who were caught on camera explaining how they defend abusive teachers from allegations of potential crimes.
More hearings were announced an hour later, although no dates have yet been set.
A source told New Jersey 101.5 that Sweeney was extremely disturbed by the “outrageous behavior” seen in the videos, which were released by Project Veritas last week.
As PJ Media reported, Dr. David Perry, president of the Hamilton (Mercer) Teachers Education Association, was recorded admitting that his union was willing to “bend the truth” to “defend even the worst people” and hide alleged abuses:
HTEA President seems to be suggesting that he would not only help cover up physical abuse but sexual abuse as well. Says he "would never hurt a union member." @NJEA
FULL VIDEO: https://t.co/YgUmUDKN87 pic.twitter.com/kmlb5Drcs8
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) May 2, 2018
In his second video in the series, an NJEA official was recorded advising a Project Veritas journalist posing as a physically abusive teacher on how to cover up the beating of a “scumbag” student.
Kathleen Valencia, president of the Union City Education Association, can be seen telling a Veritas journalist that she knew of a district teacher who had been accused of having sex with a student but who would not be charged because there was no proof:
WATCH: Union City Education Association President advises physically abusive teacher how to cover up the beating of "scumbag" studenthttps://t.co/facFbZ6KaK
— Project Veritas (@Project_Veritas) May 3, 2018
Both Perry and Valencia were suspended by their respective districts within hours of the video releases.
“It is absolutely unacceptable,” said Sweeney (D-Gloucester) in a phone interview with NJ Advance Media Monday morning. “It’s offensive to listen to the way the leadership — I’m not talking about the state leadership, I’m talking about the local leadership — handled that.”
Sweeney added that if the NJEA leaders have “devised a way to get around reporting properly incidents in schools where kids have been physically assaulted, it’s a problem. … And I think it’s enough of issue when you have local leadership bragging about how they get around things, and how they can fix things, that it needs to be reviewed to make sure it stops.”
Sweeney shot down the NJEA’s criticism of Project Veritas: “They can attack the videos and who did the videos all they want. But those words were real, those actions were real, and they need to be dealt with.”
He added: “The NJEA doing their own independent investigation is the fox watching the henhouse.”
Project Veritas’ next video sting, which is set in Michigan, is apparently so explosive that the teachers’ union there is trying to obtain a temporary restraining order to stop O’Keefe from releasing it:
URGENT: AFT Michigan Seeks to Prevent Publication of Project Veritas Videos
AFT may not want you to know what we've discovered about them, but I'm sure parents in Michigan do.
READ: https://t.co/Ttd9aYJBZp pic.twitter.com/6dzK67gC3L
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) May 4, 2018
The conservative muckraker headed to a court hearing early Monday afternoon to fight for the release of his video:
Here's the short version of what we just filed in US District Court in order to halt @aftmichigan @AFTunion attempts to restrain our First Amendment rights. Hearing today at 1PM. In other words, @rweingarten is doing everything within her power to keep you from knowing the truth. pic.twitter.com/fevgelVVEs
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) May 7, 2018
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