Is CTU Political Game Worth the Expense?
By Jim Vail
The Chicago Teachers Union has been playing the local political game in a big way.
The union has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to elect state and local reps to advocate for the union and public schools. But we don't really know how much the union spends because money goes back and forth between a foundation with tens of millions of dollars that is only accountable to the officers.
But let's focus here on the recent local races.
The big disappointment was backing Toni Preckwinkle for mayor and see her get trounced by Lori Lightfoot. Lightfoots 70% vote was a big FU to the political machine that Preckwinkle represents.
A teacher delegate asked CTU President Jesse Sharkey if the union spent $180,000 on Preckwinkle and he said part of it came from the parent AFT union and the other money was the unions political action committee.
But this is debatable with unaccounted for foundation money flying around.
Back when Debbie Lynch was CTU President she said they gave Mayor Daley $10,000 and that was it.
Now the union is donating lots of money to aldermen.
They stated they had a big victory electing five new socialist aldermen to the city council.
How will that work out? Let's take a closer look at the SEIU union that jumped big time into aldermen elections after Mayor Daley vetoed the big box ordinance in 2006.
SEIU spent a lot of money to elect Pat Dowell, Joann Thompson, Joe Moore, Scott Waguespack, Michele Smith, Toni Foulkes, Sandi Jackson and Bob Fioretti to the City Council.
Only Waguespack became a consistent reformer who has criticized the neoliberal mayor.
Dowell, Moore, Smith, Foulkes and Fioretti became very close to the mayor. Jackson went to prison.
Which begs the question, why fund candidates beholden to a mayor who is quite hostile to the working class?
It comes down to contracts. Many unions like the Teamsters and Laborers openly back Emanuel and the horrible TIF tax dollars to wealthy developers so their members get construction jobs at the expense of funding the schools.
What does the CTU get?
One can argue that it has to play, or get played.
The teachers got played big time during Obama's Race to the Top and Common Core fiasco from 2008 - 2016.
The attacks on the teachers, union and public education via charter schools was big. Hell, even the parent teachers union AFT supported charters. Why? Because the Democrats told them to courtesy of billionaire donors like Gates and Broad.
The CTU changed those dynamics here by demanding an end to support of charter schools. And suddenly the Democrat machine now supports an elected school board and is opposed to charters. City Council charter supporters have dwindled considerably.
The CTU like the other city unions is tied to the Democrat Party machine here. Perhaps most telling was when CTU officers bragged about getting 70% of its members to vote.
But hopes that so-called progressives or socialists will change things here are not realistic. At least not as long as the unions play the ugly political game just so we can hold onto our jobs!
PS Here are some interesting tidbits from Tribune article on SEIU funded aldermen:
By Jim Vail
The Chicago Teachers Union has been playing the local political game in a big way.
The union has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to elect state and local reps to advocate for the union and public schools. But we don't really know how much the union spends because money goes back and forth between a foundation with tens of millions of dollars that is only accountable to the officers.
But let's focus here on the recent local races.
The big disappointment was backing Toni Preckwinkle for mayor and see her get trounced by Lori Lightfoot. Lightfoots 70% vote was a big FU to the political machine that Preckwinkle represents.
A teacher delegate asked CTU President Jesse Sharkey if the union spent $180,000 on Preckwinkle and he said part of it came from the parent AFT union and the other money was the unions political action committee.
But this is debatable with unaccounted for foundation money flying around.
Back when Debbie Lynch was CTU President she said they gave Mayor Daley $10,000 and that was it.
Now the union is donating lots of money to aldermen.
They stated they had a big victory electing five new socialist aldermen to the city council.
How will that work out? Let's take a closer look at the SEIU union that jumped big time into aldermen elections after Mayor Daley vetoed the big box ordinance in 2006.
SEIU spent a lot of money to elect Pat Dowell, Joann Thompson, Joe Moore, Scott Waguespack, Michele Smith, Toni Foulkes, Sandi Jackson and Bob Fioretti to the City Council.
Only Waguespack became a consistent reformer who has criticized the neoliberal mayor.
Dowell, Moore, Smith, Foulkes and Fioretti became very close to the mayor. Jackson went to prison.
Which begs the question, why fund candidates beholden to a mayor who is quite hostile to the working class?
It comes down to contracts. Many unions like the Teamsters and Laborers openly back Emanuel and the horrible TIF tax dollars to wealthy developers so their members get construction jobs at the expense of funding the schools.
What does the CTU get?
One can argue that it has to play, or get played.
The teachers got played big time during Obama's Race to the Top and Common Core fiasco from 2008 - 2016.
The attacks on the teachers, union and public education via charter schools was big. Hell, even the parent teachers union AFT supported charters. Why? Because the Democrats told them to courtesy of billionaire donors like Gates and Broad.
The CTU changed those dynamics here by demanding an end to support of charter schools. And suddenly the Democrat machine now supports an elected school board and is opposed to charters. City Council charter supporters have dwindled considerably.
The CTU like the other city unions is tied to the Democrat Party machine here. Perhaps most telling was when CTU officers bragged about getting 70% of its members to vote.
But hopes that so-called progressives or socialists will change things here are not realistic. At least not as long as the unions play the ugly political game just so we can hold onto our jobs!
PS Here are some interesting tidbits from Tribune article on SEIU funded aldermen:
"Nevertheless, Daley said a proposal by several aldermen to limit campaign contributions from unions is "a very interesting concept.Labor spent at least $2.6 million on aldermanic campaigns, with more than $1.8 million of that total coming from the Service Employees International Union, according to a Tribune analysis of state campaign-finance reports.
Tom Balanoff, leader of SEIU's Local 1 in Chicago, predicted that the victories of labor's endorsed candidates would soon translate into "a more independent City Council."
Balanoff said unions would like to see the council debate two long-stalled proposals: Allen's plan to require council approval before the administration can privatize city services and a proposal to require all new for-sale housing developments of 10 units or more to include units for moderate-income buyers.
Much of the campaign rhetoric from pro-union candidates focused on an obscure topic known as tax-increment financing. The Daley administration has often used this to subsidize development. But union-paid campaign mailers derided the program for diverting tax revenue for schools and parks to business interests.
Balanoff suggested that a new ordinance could force recipients of such tax incentives to pay higher wages.
"Everybody is proud of the city of Chicago," he said. "Then you get to thinking about the other Chicago, and that's working families. Things are not going so well for them."
"I don't think [the council] is going to change much because most of the newly elected [aldermen] are going to want to deliver for their wards, and they have to play ball with the mayor," said one veteran council member, who asked not to be identified.
Scott Waguespack, 32nd Ward
Waguespack, 36, grew up in Colorado and moved to Chicago 12 years ago after serving in the Peace Corps in Kenya. He attended Colorado State University and later the Chicago-Kent College of Law. In 2005, Waguespack helped Mayor Michael O'Connor get elected in Berwyn and has been on leave from his job as an aide to O'Connor since January."
-- Tribune staff reports
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