Do you remember the days when a public figure caught in a lie (or caught with a hooker's toes in his mouth) would stand before the TV cameras and weep, apologize for his sins, and ask Jesus for forgiveness... or at least start telling a new lie?  I miss those days.

On March 11, 2011 Media Matters documented Dick Morris’ false attack on the New York School District and the teacher’s union.  On March 10, Morris said the following on FOX News' “On The Record with Greta Van Susteren.”

In New York City, I'll give you a great example, there are 4,000 teachers that are so incompetent they're not allowed to see students. They go to rubber rooms every day and read the paper and watch TV and we pay them full salary. We can't fire them because of the union benefits.

Mayor Bloomberg has to fire 4,000 teachers. He wants to fire those teachers, and the union agreement won't let him.

Media Matters pointed out that the Temporary Reassignment Centers (rubber rooms) were closed down in June of 2010 after the teacher’s union, Mayor Bloomberg, and the school district forged an agreement.  That was nine months before his FOX appearance so either nobody let Morris know about the agreement or he's just another FOX News liar.

Morris’ claim of 4,000 “rubber room” teachers was also a complete fabrication, a number that he pulled out of thin air.  According to spokespersons for the teacher’s union, the school district, and numerous media outlets, the number was 744, or just under 1% of the 80,000 member work force.

And those teachers weren’t deemed to be incompetent as Morris claimed.  They had been charged with, but not yet tried or convicted, of various crimes and offenses.  To err on the side of caution, it was determined that paid administrative leave, while the matters were being investigated, was the proper course of action.  (A good decision considering that almost two thirds of the teachers were eventually reinstated).

When Morris addressed the Washington DC Tea Party Rally on March 31, 2011, he repeated the same false story but added, “Do you know how many teachers have been fired in New York City over the last ten years for due cause? (Pause for dramatic effect)  “Two!”  The crowd groaned.

I called a spokesman for the National Federation of Teachers and he told me, “I don’t have the exact numbers but Morris’ claim is ridiculous.  We only guarantee our members a process not a result.”

Up until the June, 2010 agreement, the termination process was cumbersome and lengthy as demonstrated by the fact that only three teachers were fired in 2008.  (But three in one year is more than two in ten years).

So how many New York City teachers have been fired or forced to resign or retire in the last ten years?  One hundred eighty.

According to statistics released by the New York Department of Education on March 11, 2011:

Outcomes of the 744 reassigned employees

·         83 are waiting a final outcome:

o   50 are awaiting an arbitrators decision

o   33 have open criminal matters

·         181 are no longer employed by the DOE

o   1 is deceased

o   27 resigned or retired

o   94 signed a stipulation

§  49 irrevocably resigned

§  41 irrevocably retired

§  2 resigned

§  2 retired

o   33 were terminated following a 3020A decision

o   26 were terminated for a non-3020A reason

·         6 are permanently reassigned

474 were returned to service

So Dick Morris' claim that 4,000 teachers are getting paid to watch TV is only off by 3,994.  Six teachers are drawing their salaries without working, not 4,000.

And his declaration that only two teachers have been fired in the last ten years is off by either 178 or 57, depending on your definition of "fired."

Will Dick Morris correct the record?  Unlikely.

Will his lies be repeated by himself and others?  Repeated and inflated. 

Has Morris quit sucking the toes of prostitutes?  Yes he has.  (Rumor has it that he's been studying yoga and he can now suck his own toes).  

How does Morris get away with his constant lies?  Easy.  He only does interviews on FOX News.

Photo by Roger Fallihee