On March 2, an EIA communiqué contained a small tidbit of news from an NEA Board of Directors meeting. Executive Director Don Cameron informed the board that NEA was instituting a national strategy "to fight the attempt by right wing groups to minimize our political effectiveness." To head the task force assigned to the project, NEA had rehired a former staffer, Bob Watson. 

Something about the name rang a bell at the Center for Education Reform in Washington, DC. After a bit of research, Jeanne Allen and her staff discovered that this Bob Watson was, in fact, the one and only Bobby Watson of Democratic National Committee fame. Jeanne passed the news to EIA. Additional EIA research turned up a series of scandals involving Watson. This special communiqué describes Watson's recent résumé — the details of which may indicate just what kind of "national response" NEA is planning. 

1992: As a top aide to Sen. Chuck Robb of Virginia, Watson is involved in attempting to deflect investigations into Robb's rumored peccadillos. Watson and Robb's chief of staff, David McCloud, blame the rumors on then-Gov. Douglas Wilder, Robb's political foe. In an attempt to prove their theory, Watson and McCloud release a transcript of a conversation recorded from Wilder's cellular phone. Recording other people's phone conversations without their permission is, of course, illegal. Watson pleads guilty to a lesser charge of conspiracy and is fined the maximum $10,000. 

Describing the above for the left-wing publication PR Watch, reporters John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton remarked, "In a sane world, McCloud and Watson would have been forced to slink out of town and get real jobs following their disgrace in the Robb scandal. Instead, it seemed to mark a stepping-stone in their careers." 

1992: Watson is hired by NEA as a "senior political strategist" and becomes a member of the union's Clinton/Gore "rapid response team" during the 1992 campaign. 

January 1994: Watson goes on leave from NEA and is hired as deputy executive director of the Democratic National Committee. 

Spring 1994: One of Watson's projects at DNC is joining the taxpayer-funded White House database with the DNC's donor database. A handwritten memo from White House aide Brian Bailey describes the idea [editorial clarifications are in brackets]: "Harold [Ickes] and Deborah DeLee [DNC executive director] want to make sure WHODB [White House Data Base] is integrated w/DNC database — so we can share — evidently, POTUS [President of the United States] wants this too. He [Ickes] wants to have a meeting... to discuss ways to coordinate going forward. Bobby Watson is working on her [DeLee's] end." 

October 1994: DNC chief counsel Joe Sandler sends Watson a confidential memo, suggesting the DNC send up to $500,000 each to tax-exempt groups that register voters or get them to the polls. Any more than that, writes Sandler, would "raise the inference" that the money is intended to influence nonpartisan groups. The DNC ultimately gives $168,000 to various nonprofits. "You can see right here the manipulation and deliberate deceit that drips off this memo," Chuck Lewis, director of the Center for Public Integrity, says later. 

November 1994: Watson is named DNC chief of staff by new chairman (and former NEA colleague) Debra DeLee. 

December 1994: The New Republic calls Watson's appointment an example of "recycling disgraced hacks who typify insider sleaze." 

1995: Watson is named DNC executive director. 

December 1995: Watson attends one of the infamous White House "coffees," also attended by Elizabeth Smith of the American Federation of Teachers, Joel Packer of NEA and officials from other unions. 

1996: Watson leaves DNC to join the State Affairs Company, a powerful Beltway lobby group. 

1996: Watson is named one of the "Rising Stars of American Politics" by Campaigns and Elections magazine. 

September 1996: Liberal reporter Ken Silverstein exposes the watchdog group "Contributions Watch," created by the State Affairs Company. Contributions Watch had released a report on the amount of money trial lawyers donate to federal candidates. Contributions Watch did not reveal that its study was funded by Philip Morris — a major backer of tort reform — nor did it mention that State Affairs billed Philip Morris for managing to get the report covered in the Wall Street Journal and the Weekly Standard (the Journal story did note the tort reform connection). 

Watson and McCloud are "notoriously dirty hitters," according to Silverstein. "While State Affairs works for the Democratic Party, Bobby Watson, formerly with the Democratic National Committee, has been simultaneously billing Covington & Burling for researching ‘trial lawyer presence at the Democratic National Convention.' To this end he reviewed the convention's master calendar as well as the invitations list." 

March 1997: Watson's records of DNC fund-raising activities are subpoenaed by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.