Teachers' union yields to fiscal blackmail on slots

With Senate President Mike Miller pointing a funding gun at its head, the Maryland State Teachers Association has blinked.

In deciding this month to support a November referendum item that would legalize slot machines in Maryland, the teachers' union has determined that the ends justify the means - even if the threat of exposing students to a spreading gambling culture flies in the face of what teachers should care about the most.

A good many rank-and-file teachers and even some local teachers' unions either disagreed with the endorsement or urged the state union to remain neutral or at least allow more internal debate. But...