By ED BIRNBAUMThe story published in Saturday’s edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post entitled “Legislation Allowing Adjunct Teachers Passes House”, i.e., House Bill 145, describes this legislation as passing with “bipartisan” support on a 37-25 vote.
Republican Rep. Conrad James, the sponsor of the bill, also refers to this legislation as being passed with “bipartisan” support. However, a quick check on the vote for this legislation in the House will show you that only ONE Democratic representative voted for this legislation. Hardly a bipartisan vote.
One can argue whether or not it is a good thing to allow adjunct teachers with a bachelor’s degree into the classroom who complete a “single” class in pedagogy, but I see no reason to muddy the field by claiming bipartisan support when there is no evidence for such support.
Unfortunately, the Post has failed to indicate who is providing the information for this story. The only identifier is the label “STATE News”, which appears at the top, but clearly the information is not coming from a politically independent organization, but rather from some individual or organization with an axe to grind.
In order to evaluate information provided by any news organization, the source of the news should be clearly stated so that the reader is in a position to judge the validity of the information.
Editor’s note: The story Birnbaum is referring to was issued to media organizations throughout the state by the communications director for New Mexico House Republicans.
