Kangaroo Court

Teachers Pension Fund President Demands Apology & Public Shaming

By Jim Vail

CTPF President Jeffery Blackwell

The Chicago Teachers Pension Fund President Jeffery Blackwell showed no mercy in his public shaming of three minority female trustees on the pension board.

Trustees Gervaise Clay, Tina Padilla, and Maria Rodriguez were forced to issue public apologies at the pension board meeting June 17 for alleged disrespectful and hostile actions on the pension board.

Except those apologies at the meeting turned into accusations against the board president for attacking the female trustees because they are minority women who speak out at the meetings.

"This censure was made against three women of color to obstruct trustees from performing their fiduciary responsibility," Tina Padilla told the board.

At this point Blackwell was upset and quickly interjected that his name should not be brought up because the focus should be on the three female trustees who were censured and ordered to issue an apology to the teachers pension board. 

Padilla responded by stating that her name had been slandered but she has refrained from going to the media. She said the fund hired an outside attorney to investigate the allegations against her and the others and the lawyer read her findings to the board which found that the complaints against them had failed to meet the definition of racism, bullying and harassment.

At this point, Blackwell shut off the mic and told Tina Padilla she could no longer speak because her time allotment had ended.

"Tina you're out of order," Blackwell said. "The censure had everything to do with it. I find it disgusting they say they are being singled out because of their race and ethnicity. This has nothing to do with race, ethnicity or gender."   

There are six women on the teachers pension board, five are of color and the three who were censured and forced to apologize for alleged disrespectful and hostile actions are of color and they did not vote for Blackwell to be president of the board. The two women of color who voted for Blackwell are officers - one serves as the recording secretary and the other as the financial secretary.  The one white female trustee Mary Sharon Reilly who serves as the vice president was reprimanded for making a racist statement against another trustee.

But Blackwell showed no mercy when trustee Mary Sharon Reilly questioned why the apologies had to be published in the pension fund's newsletter and sent out to tens of thousands of members. She made a motion to not include the censures and reprimand in the newsletter.  

"I think its unnecessary because it's already published in the minutes, its more permanent than a newsletter," Reilly said. "It happened before in July (almost a year ago), I apologized in writing. It's a bit dramatic to put it in the newsletter. I discussed this with staff who didn't think it was a good idea." 

Trustee Maria Rodriguez, who spoke in favor of the motion, added that a much more egregious act was committed in which a censure was issued by the board that was recorded in the minutes but not sent out to 68,500 people. 

"I am receiving feedback," Rodriguez said. "Why aren't things being resolved internally? Why is the fund airing dirty laundry? It affects everyone."

Trustee Phil Weiss who read out the censures at the last meeting said he was surprised by the motion by Reilly. Blackwell seconded him.

"I'm still confused how this can be done if we already voted to put the censures in the newsletter," Blackwell said. "I kind of thought this period was to abide by the censure and apologize. If it's not, then we're kind of spinning our wheels. I'm questioning the legality if we already voted on it."

The fund's attorney Joe Burns - who all the trustees turn to in moments like these - said the motion for reconsideration was in order, which would mean going back to the original motion of censuring the trustees and make it again and then take out reference to the newsletter. He said it's a multi-step process. 

"You're overriding an earlier motion that passed," Burns said. "It gets rather involved. Do the trustees want this? You should decide what you want to do.  A chair can rule a motion out of order. And a trustee can ask to challenge the ruling of the chair."

Which is exactly what Blackwell immediately did. He ruled the motion out of order. 

"This is kind of, it's like a slap in the face," he said. "It's supposed to be an apology. This requires more time to talk and meet. I don't feel this is right. It's out of order." 

Trustee Reilly said she could not unmute her mic to challenge the ruling of the chair.

And then the apologies came, or rather a rebuke from the alleged guilty trustees who were forced to make apologies that they believed they never should have had to make. 

Trustee Gervaise Clay said after the president made the allegations of disrespectful and hostile behavior against the three women of color, at no time was she interviewed about the allegations. She said she believed the censure was an attempt to quiet her. 

"I will not be silenced," she said.

Blackwell again cut her off and said his name was mentioned again and that the allegations had nothing to do with race, gender or ethnicity.

It should be noted here that his allegations and the motion to censure the three trustees were a result of a witch hunt after Blackwell accused trustees of racism, misogyny, bullying and other vile acts. He called the pension fund "a cabal of evil."

Blackwell said he expected to hear apologies, and instead heard defense statements. Their censure motion that passed at the last board meeting specified that should the trustees not make sincere attempts to rectify their behavior and abide by the punishment, more harsh consequences could result in the future.

Blackwell only allowed 10 minutes for the four trustees to make their apologies before the fund had to break for lunch. He quickly cut off the members' apologies when the three minute timer went off, a similar tactic the Chicago Board of Education uses to enforce the time limit against teachers or community members speaking out against the board. Earlier in the meeting trustee Padilla said, "I feel like a pinata. I'm getting beaten up!"

The last teachers pension board meeting passed the motion that stated:

"Whereas the Board of Trustees censured (the three trustees) for conduct towards Fund employees, and a fellow Trustee that was aggressive, hostile, unprofessional and disrespectful behavior."

It is not clear what exactly were the hostile, disrespectful and unprofessional actions the trustees are accused of. 

A CTPF employee is suing the pension board for retaliation after he called out accounting errors.

The battle between the president of the fund and the three female trustees continues. If one was to keep score, it would be Blackwell 1 and Trustees Clay, Padilla and Rodriguez 1.

Stay tuned for Game 3!