The Alabama Education Association (AEA) hung their dirty laundry out for all to see last week when a letter to board members from former Executive Secretary Paul Hubbert was released. Hubbert was the driving force behind the once powerful AEA for more than 40 years. He retired in 2011 and left the organization in the hands of Henry Mabry.

In the three short years since his retirement, Hubbert says the organization has fallen to crisis level. It is easy to agree with him. The organization has lost sight of its original purpose to protect and promote the teachers, bus drivers and school support staff of Alabama, preferring instead to promote its own liberal, power-hungry agenda.

In his letter, Hubbert wrote, “With great reluctance, but with absolute conviction of its necessity, I write this letter to you to inform you of the immediate danger, in fact crisis, in which our association finds itself.” Hubbert stated his decision to draft a letter of concern came after he was approached and given information on the current status of the AEA. His letter included attachments highlighting the “steep decline in membership and revenues with increasing deficits, risky investment strategies and uncontrolled expenditures.” He pointed to the destructive work environment managed by Henry Mabry as the reason for the organization’s dramatic loss of political clout.

>>>The AEA blames membership decline on the recently enacted law prohibiting them from collecting membership dues via payroll deduction. The change is meant to ensure organizations, like the Alabama Education Association, cannot have the state collect union dues through payroll deductions to use for political purposes. The law forces AEA to be accountable to its members.

Last year the AEA collected $14 million in dues; those members had a right to consciously know how their dues money was being spent. Through taking a more vested interest in monitoring the actions of AEA, members have quickly realized the organization does not protect or promote them. The AEA – an affiliate of the very liberal National Education Association – pushes liberal policy and supports liberal candidates, while the majority of their members are conservatives. That realization directly led to a drop in membership by the thousands.

Henry Mabry has “created intolerable friction between AEA and members of both parties in the Legislature with resultant loss of respect, standing and influence.” 

- Former AEA Executive Secretary Paul Hubbert

The AEA pumped $7 million into this year’s Republican primary. Mabry’s goal was to replace conservative incumbent Republican legislators with candidates who would be a rubber stamp for the AEA agenda. The campaign conducted by Mabry’s political team turned dirty in a last ditch effort to regain their lost favorability in the Alabama State House. The plan failed miserably and was undoubtedly one of the “risky investment strategies” Hubbert was referring to in his letter. The move clearly showed AEA members how Henry Mabry was using their dues in their pitiful attempt to slander many of our conservative legislators. Fortunately, their efforts fell well short of their goal and proved to be a terrible investment of funds collected from teachers and support personnel.

When Hubbert retired, AEA had close to $13 million in savings. The AEA’s 2013 tax filings show that number has been slashed in half – all on Henry Mabry’s watch – which clearly illustrates Mabry’s mismanagement of AEA dues collected from the hard working teachers and support personnel.

According to Hubbert’s letter, his successor Henry Mabry is to blame for the rapid deterioration of AEA’s financial and political clout. Hubbert stated Mabry has “created intolerable friction between AEA and members of both parties in the Legislature with resultant loss of respect, standing and influence.” Mabry is described as “isolated, by choice and design, non-communicative [and] secretive.”

An analysis included in Hubbert’s letter shows that whole departments of AEA have disappeared as employees have chosen to retire or have left to work elsewhere. Hubbert claims Mabry’s management has led to an unhealthy work environment full of “intimidation and mistrust”. In short, Mabry is a bully who is running Hubbert’s life achievement into the ground.

Just two days after Hubbert’s letter was released the AEA board met in a closed four-hour meeting. One can only imagine the dialogue that took place in that meeting, but the end result was that Mabry could keep his job – at least for now!

By Bill Armistead, ALGOP Chairman