Discussion for article #229611
So Snyder, your so called friend used you and stabbed you in the back. When will people learn that politicians do not make good friends. This was just another really, really stupid act by Roberts.
Local news about this is that both Snyder and KSU demanded that the Roberts ad be removed. Roberts, of course, refused. The quote from Snyder was used without his permission. This could turn a lot of folks who respect Snyder to thumb their noses at Roberts if he refuses to abide by the request of a “friend.” Snyder has been around here long enough for people to fully understand that he is absolutely not political, and any endorsement from him being used in a campaign is completely involuntary. Shame on Roberts.
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But that presumes that he didn’t really approve of the use of his endorsement, which may be merely a stand he’s forced to take to save his ass with the university. These are, after all, Republicans.
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Yep. They are all pathological liars.
i have a hunch that most college and NFL football coaches would vote republican. prove me wrong.
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What is the legal basis for the university restricting the political activities of their employees? That would appear to be an illegal restraint on their right to free speech.
There are constraints on active duty military. But those are rather different since joining the military entails a loss of civil rights.
If a public school can’t restrict student speech, it can’t restrict employees either.
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Sure it can and does all the time.
Why shouldn’t he endorse whomever he wants. People who get their voting guides from football coaches are the ones to worry about.
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I mean, several of them are multi-millionaires, especially any coach you’ve heard of.
My guess is that the university football and basketball coaches in Kansas are the four highest paid public employees by a mile.
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Bong hits 4 Jesus.
They can restrict student speech. (Though that was a public HS).
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Kansass.
A coach at a public state university, both paid/funded by the taxpayers, endorsed a candidate who voted NO on shifting $11B from corporate tax loopholes to education, voted NO on $52M for “21st century community learning centers”, voted NO on refinancing of student loans at lower rates to be paid for by an increase tax rat on $1 million+ incomes, a candidate who endorsed his pal, Gov. Sam Brownback, and his corporate tax cuts that led to big cuts in education - that pay his freakin’ salary and everything surrounding him!
Srsly?
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I hope we all recognize that football coaches adore right-wing politicians. Of course Snyder knew what he was doing; good grief, he’s only been around for 70-some years. In a state-wide act of denial that football coaches love right-wingers, everyone in Kansas wants to take Snyder off the hook. Baloney! Balderdash! Tommyrot! Snyder and Roberts are not-so-strange bedfellows.
Is there a written policy against what he did? If yes, he violated his Contract. If not, he should be allowed to endorse whoever he wants, unless he used school resources of course. That would potentially be illegal.
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Kansass State University…
Nixon said it was his favorite high school in a speech on campus in 1970.
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Great, another person that does not understand Free Speech. Did he get arrested? No. So it has nothing to do with Free Speech.
The only issue is if his Contract forbids such a thing, or if he used school resources to make the endorsement. If he did either of those, he either violated his Contract or committed a crime. If not, he likely has a right to endorse a candidate.
But it has nothing to do with Free Speech rights being violated. Please study the Constitution.
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It is fairly ordinary to restrict government employees from openly supporting political candidates. The idea is to keep the civil service out of politics. If government employees are “allowed” to endorse candidates, there will be pressure on them to do so, and the entire workplace will become politicized. When that happens in the civil service, it is not a good thing, as hiring decisions, promotions, etc. become related to political activity. It really opens the door to abuses of power.
Read up on the background of the Hatch Act. Every Federal employee knows that campaigning for candidates is a no-no.
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The Hatch Act is for Federal Employees, and it only refers to them not doing political stuff while they are working, otherwise they can do whatever they want politically as far as endorsements go. If the Coach did this without using school resources, and did not violate his Contract with his school, he did absolutely nothing illegal.
On the Federal Level, certain levels of employees care not allowed to do anything partisan politically. That is mostly people like CIA, FBI, FEC, SS, etc. It definitely would not apply to an athletic coach.
Snyder is going to learn the hard way he’s just another tool of the hard right. The respect people in Kansas have for him apparently doesn’t wasn’t enough to prevent the desperate right wing tea mob that now rules this state from using Snyder like a spare tire when their wheels went flat.