Chicago Teachers Union holds political action committee meeting
By Jim Vail
The political department of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) held a meeting with teachers on Tuesday, Oct. 9, entitled, 'CTU PAC Q&A Session.'
This meeting was arranged after Members First President Therese Boyle asked the CTU VP and Political Director Stacy Davis Gates if she could answer some questions. The CTU decided to host an event that included an hour of questions, but of the roughly 35 union members in attendance, no one was allowed more than one question.
A warm-up activity in the beginning had the teachers discuss three areas of concern in the workplace. One teacher said the teachers are concerned that school grievances are not getting answered by the CTU staff and this is a problem in schools all over the city.
Kurt Hilgendorf from the CTU political dept. had the teachers read an article about how billionaires such as the Pritzkers (who the CTU wanted to endorse for governor), Ken Griffen (wanted to close 100 schools), Sam Zell (who bought the anti-union Chicago Tribune) and the Crown family donated a lot of money to the Stand for Children political action committee that forced SB7, a privatization bill that took seniority away from teachers and forced more public schools to be closed and replaced by semi-private charter schools.
The point was CTU needs to play the game and fund political campaigns like House Speaker Mike Madigan if it is to stop the attacks on public education, Hilgendorf said.
Washington High School delegate and Members First co-founder Frank McDonald asked why then did the union support SB7 which tried to take away the teachers' right to strike. Former CTU President Karen Lewis said she signed on to SB7 to save the strike, but the anti-union bill was so odious that her executive board passed a resolution to revise support for the anti-union bill.
Another document was provided to show how more money was donated to education reform candidate Alfaro than pro-union candidate Aquino, but Aquino won. The moral is, those with the most money don't always win.
In other words, the CTU is now properly playing the political game and is winning. This point is made at almost every delegate's meeting that CTU-backed candidates won important races for the Cook County Board of Commissioners, the Illinois State House and the Chicago City Council.
CTU political organizer and democratic candidate for Cook County commissioner Brandon Johnson said in 2011 only 35 percent of CTU members were voting (still higher than the general population), but today almost 70 percent vote in elections thanks to the CTU.
The CTU said they supported Jay Travis (estimates of up to $500,000 was spent by the CTU on the campaign) who was one of the few politicians at that time to support an end to charter schools and support teacher pensions. She almost beat one of the top democratic politicians Christian Mitchell for state rep.
[When I spoke to Illinois State Rep Monique Davis, a very pro-union politician, about 10 years ago about Core's fight against charter schools, she said she thought the union was not against charter schools. That was the message being sent from American Federal of Teachers President Randi Weingarten down to former CTU President Marilyn Stewart that charters are our friends, we just need to unionize them.]
But the CTU has two faces when it comes to fighting the political battle. They had their director of the United Working Families, a political organization (not a party to challenge the democrats), address the meeting and tell everyone that the CTU is one of many progressive groups who look to endorse progressive candidates. A closer look at the books will reveal that the CTU mostly funds this organization that is the brainchild of Core founder and outgoing CTU chief of staff Jackson Potter and according to one inside source, CTU VP Stacy Davis Gates is the chairperson.
On the other hand, the CTU is closely aligned with the democratic party and the machine. They contribute lots of money and support to House Speaker Mike Madigan, the essence of the machine. Hilgendorf said they supported Kwame Raoul for IL attorney general because he supports the elected school board, but he is also part of the Chicago machine.
I asked the CTU why they opened three political action committees. I said there is concern that money is moving back and forth with no control, and there is a budget problem.
Hilgendorf said the CTU is now playing the big boys game and doing well at it, to the surprise of the big players. He said Citizen's United decision allows unlimited spending on political campaigns (Pritzker gave himself $40 million to be governor!).
"They are mad at us," Hilgendorf said. "We're more legitimate now."
Another retired delegate asked why does the union endorse the lesser of two evils. The CTU officials said the union did not jump in early to endorse Pritzker like the other unions and pointed to the United Working Families to show the union is progressive. They also said the CTU shifted the political dynamics, so that now people are talking about a progressive income tax, a corporate head tax and a financial transaction tax, unlike earlier when politicians focused on talking about a pension problem and failing public schools.
By Jim Vail
 |
| Kurt Hilgendorf |
The political department of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) held a meeting with teachers on Tuesday, Oct. 9, entitled, 'CTU PAC Q&A Session.'
This meeting was arranged after Members First President Therese Boyle asked the CTU VP and Political Director Stacy Davis Gates if she could answer some questions. The CTU decided to host an event that included an hour of questions, but of the roughly 35 union members in attendance, no one was allowed more than one question.
A warm-up activity in the beginning had the teachers discuss three areas of concern in the workplace. One teacher said the teachers are concerned that school grievances are not getting answered by the CTU staff and this is a problem in schools all over the city.
Kurt Hilgendorf from the CTU political dept. had the teachers read an article about how billionaires such as the Pritzkers (who the CTU wanted to endorse for governor), Ken Griffen (wanted to close 100 schools), Sam Zell (who bought the anti-union Chicago Tribune) and the Crown family donated a lot of money to the Stand for Children political action committee that forced SB7, a privatization bill that took seniority away from teachers and forced more public schools to be closed and replaced by semi-private charter schools.
The point was CTU needs to play the game and fund political campaigns like House Speaker Mike Madigan if it is to stop the attacks on public education, Hilgendorf said.
Washington High School delegate and Members First co-founder Frank McDonald asked why then did the union support SB7 which tried to take away the teachers' right to strike. Former CTU President Karen Lewis said she signed on to SB7 to save the strike, but the anti-union bill was so odious that her executive board passed a resolution to revise support for the anti-union bill.
Another document was provided to show how more money was donated to education reform candidate Alfaro than pro-union candidate Aquino, but Aquino won. The moral is, those with the most money don't always win.
In other words, the CTU is now properly playing the political game and is winning. This point is made at almost every delegate's meeting that CTU-backed candidates won important races for the Cook County Board of Commissioners, the Illinois State House and the Chicago City Council.
CTU political organizer and democratic candidate for Cook County commissioner Brandon Johnson said in 2011 only 35 percent of CTU members were voting (still higher than the general population), but today almost 70 percent vote in elections thanks to the CTU.
The CTU said they supported Jay Travis (estimates of up to $500,000 was spent by the CTU on the campaign) who was one of the few politicians at that time to support an end to charter schools and support teacher pensions. She almost beat one of the top democratic politicians Christian Mitchell for state rep.
[When I spoke to Illinois State Rep Monique Davis, a very pro-union politician, about 10 years ago about Core's fight against charter schools, she said she thought the union was not against charter schools. That was the message being sent from American Federal of Teachers President Randi Weingarten down to former CTU President Marilyn Stewart that charters are our friends, we just need to unionize them.]
But the CTU has two faces when it comes to fighting the political battle. They had their director of the United Working Families, a political organization (not a party to challenge the democrats), address the meeting and tell everyone that the CTU is one of many progressive groups who look to endorse progressive candidates. A closer look at the books will reveal that the CTU mostly funds this organization that is the brainchild of Core founder and outgoing CTU chief of staff Jackson Potter and according to one inside source, CTU VP Stacy Davis Gates is the chairperson.
On the other hand, the CTU is closely aligned with the democratic party and the machine. They contribute lots of money and support to House Speaker Mike Madigan, the essence of the machine. Hilgendorf said they supported Kwame Raoul for IL attorney general because he supports the elected school board, but he is also part of the Chicago machine.
I asked the CTU why they opened three political action committees. I said there is concern that money is moving back and forth with no control, and there is a budget problem.
Hilgendorf said the CTU is now playing the big boys game and doing well at it, to the surprise of the big players. He said Citizen's United decision allows unlimited spending on political campaigns (Pritzker gave himself $40 million to be governor!).
"They are mad at us," Hilgendorf said. "We're more legitimate now."
Another retired delegate asked why does the union endorse the lesser of two evils. The CTU officials said the union did not jump in early to endorse Pritzker like the other unions and pointed to the United Working Families to show the union is progressive. They also said the CTU shifted the political dynamics, so that now people are talking about a progressive income tax, a corporate head tax and a financial transaction tax, unlike earlier when politicians focused on talking about a pension problem and failing public schools.
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