Washington Township teacher friends are understandably proud of the grass-roots campaign waged by their union president Glenda Ritz, who unseated Indiana's reform-minded education czar Tony Bennett. Nobody saw it coming.

One acquaintance reported that Ms. Ritz was or is meeting with Arne Duncan, secretary of education for President Obama. Much glee over that.

But then there's also this...

Ritz is a little compromised for funds, according to a source. Her campaign staff ran out of money a long time ago, and now staffers who will join her in the Supt of Ed office in Indiana are broke.

So they appealed to Bennett. Her transition team asked him to hire the incoming team right away, in order to secure funds for them to live on until January when the office officially changes hands.

Bennett's people denied the request. His staff said they would do everything possible to assure a smooth transition, but they won't be doing any hiring.

The Ritz team was upset and called Gov. Mitch Daniels' office with the same request -- and got the same answer.

It should be an interesting four years.