Pension Election

Chicago Teachers Pension Fund Election Heating Up

By Jim Vail

The three minority trustees censured by CTPF were teacher trustees Gervaise
Clay, not running for re-election, Tina Padilla, elected last October and
retiree trustee Maria Rodriguez, running for re-elction. 

The Chicago Teachers Pension Fund election this November is heating up big time with visions of the last exciting Chicago Teachers Union election in 2010 when CORE ran against four different caucuses.

Core was able to win the election in a run-off after getting the second most votes for president because the ruling party UPC split after President Marilyn Stewart forced out her Vice President Ted Dallas.

The pension fund election is shaping up to be no less exciting and important for a battered board of directors where infighting and charges of racism and misogyny have resulted in four trustees who were censured or reprimanded.

The two current teacher trustees who will not run in the October election are Jim Cavallero and Gervaise Clay. Cavallero voted in favor of the resolution to censure Clay because of alleged unprofessional conduct that she said she was not made aware of. The charges were suspiciously reminiscent of a nightmare Kafka novel where the main character is brought to trial on charges he knew nothing about. 

Cavallero also works for the Chicago Teachers Union as an organizer and according to board records missed many trustee meetings.

Core, the CTU's party headed by President Jesse Sharkey, will run two teacher candidates - Tammie Vinson and Quentin Washington. Vinson was an original member of Core and has served on the human rights committee as well as other groups and ran for alderwoman. Washington was a vocal activist teacher during the brief work stoppage demanding better safety conditions in the schools before returning to work. He was interviewed by the mainstream media and eloquently articulated the union's position about the concerns teachers and staff had about returning to work amidst the pandemic last year.

The Members First caucus will run Victor Ochoa and Karyn Aguirre. Ochoa ran for Vice President against Stacy Davis Gates and lost in the last CTU election. Aguirre is a clinician and running in her first election for pension fund trustee.

Both caucuses are fielding two minority candidates for the two vacant active teacher trustee positions on the board at a time when President Jeffery Blackwell has accused the pension fund of rampant racism and misogyny. However, he chose to attack three minority trustees, two from his own political party.  

The retirees will also get to vote for three retiree teacher trustee positions on the board of directors. The three current trustees are all running to retain their seats. Two of the retirees, Maria Rodriguez and Mary Sharon Reilly, have been attacked by Blackwell after the board voted to censure Rodriguez for unprofessional behavior and reprimand Reilly for making racist comments.

Core's three endorsed candidates for the retiree positions are Reilly, Lois Nelson, a current retiree trustee who chose not to vote to censure the trustees, and Larry Milkowski. Milkowski is a retired teacher from Carver Military Academy, and his brother George Milkowski currently serves as a CTU retiree delegate where he reports out on the delegates meetings.

Maria Rodriguez is the only candidate running as an independent. She formerly was a member of the UPC party until it folded after Core's upset in 2010. 

Rodriguez and Reilly both served as presidents of the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund in the past and have the most experience.

Members First will field three retiree pension trustee candidates: Therese Boyle, who ran for CTU President in the last election and lost, Kathleen Cleary, who runs the Members First Facebook page, and Regina O'Connor, who headed the CTU Legislative Committee until she resigned. All three were recently elected as CTU retiree delegates. 

MF is running three white candidates, while Core is running two white candidates for retiree trustee. The two minority candidates are Lois Nelson and Maria Rodriguez.

The question for many will be what are their positions in terms of the political infighting on the board, and will they support a forensic audit of the pension fund that Core's Blackwell now opposes and Members First Phil Weiss also does not support after he voted to abstain. The audit is very important as the fund's resources and funding continue to dwindle amidst political and corporate attacks on public pensions.