CTU Political Spending

Chicago Teachers Union & Political Spending

By Jim Vail

CORE founder Jackson Potter, who now teaches after serving
as the CTU chief of staff, shaped the CTU's political strategy to align itself
closely to the Democratic Party & the machine.

        The Chicago Teacher Union and its Political Action Committee (PAC) are spending a ton of money on political candidates, the latest being Nidia Carranza, a bilingual preschool teacher who ran for state representative in the last election and lost despite getting $57,800 from the CTU Local 1 PAC.

Ever since CORE was elected to the union leadership in 2010, the focus has been to develop strong political ties to the Democratic Party. The CTU has donated over $50,000 to House Speaker Mike Madigan, who may have to eventually step down due to a corruption scandal. The media are reporting that he received jobs and other perks from ComEd in order to help get legislation passed.

Some teacher delegates are questioning the transparency behind how decisions are made to fund which candidates and the amount that they spend.

In the case of Carranza, the CTU donated $57,800 to her campaign after she lost in the democratic primary March 17, 2020. They also gave her $92,803 on April 24th via the CTU-PAC fund, and the United Working Families (CTU affiliated) gave $65,639. The CTU PAC and IFT gave her campaign another $48,800 in four installments between December, 2019 and March 3. She lost to State Rep Eva-Dina Delgado, who was backed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, with about 48 percent of the vote. 

That's a hell of a lot of money to invest in a race that was lost!

"What is interesting is that these candidates seem to be completely supported by CTU - and their affiliates of course," one teacher told Second City Teachers. "This is undemocratic to me personally in that local candidates can no longer raise money and have a chance against these big political machines." 

The unions work together, as CTU got the AFT & SEIU to kick lots of money into the campaign, while CTU backed legislators State Reps Delia Ramirez and Will Guzzardi and Alderwoman Rosanna Rodriguez also kicked in money (making it appear CTU support is conditional on factors such as fundraising for other union-backed candidates).

Some teachers have asked me if delegates could start a conversation about placing limits on support monies when the CTU votes to endorse.  Much of the money given to Nidia was at the very end of the campaign/election day.  It appears that the CTU was just paying off bills for her, the source said.  

"What a wonderful world if candidates do not have to spend hours and hours on the phone fundraising or hiring fundraisers," said one teacher delegate. "This is the point, buying an election. When nothing is really at stake. It is not as if we are running people against Mitch McConnell."

The CTU has been focused on electing candidates of color, thus their significant financial support to Carranza, Ald. Jeanette Taylor, State Rep Delia Ramirez, Ald. Andre Vazquez, Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson and Ald. Maria Hadden. 

But the deal cutting with Speaker Madigan and his minions is clearly a sign that CTU is still tied to a corrupt machine - a machine that has been under attack recently. The CTU plays a very calculated political game that favors the status quo. They have never really backed anyone against Madigan nor did they embrace campaigns against other machine aldermen who were close to Mayors Richard Daley and Rahm Emanuel.

  

Is the Chicago Teachers Union union the same machine that the people have been fighting against all these years?

 

The leadership has taken plays from the machine playbook.  They are wielding the same power and using a lot of money to insure their peeps win elections by outspending.  They say that we cannot have social justice and equity because people who represent our communities in office can't raise money - therefore we must eliminate that obstacle. So the CTU is basically buying elections like any powerful player.  

The CTU as a machine needs to have complete obedience and allegiance. If you fund politicians who protect teachers' pensions, prevent the closing of public schools and stop charter schools, then why not. But how much money is enough to play this rather gross & corrupt political game? 

In all fairness, what Madigan is doing is what they are all doing. Springfield, Chicago, etc. are all corrupt as hell, where money talks. But transparency is essential in order to prevent corruption.

Madigan is a typical politician who serves money. He used to wear an UNO Charter school hat after he helped the corrupt charter operator get $200 million from the state. But his power is limited by those with more means. While he valiantly fought off former Gov. Bruce Rauner's attacks on the unions to make this a right-to-work state, he refused to enact a progressive income tax that is being led today by billionaire Gov. J.B. Pritzker to tax the rich and fund education.

Every group with power has to be watched. Unions can be very corrupt and sell out their members. Look no further than the Laborer's International Union. Their corrupt leadership agreed to a two-tier pay system that cut salaries for the trade jobs like electricians, while the leadership was paid off with lucrative perks. This was done under Mayor Richard Daley, who privatized a lot of Chicago.

The teachers for the most part love their union that is fighting hard for them. But that doesn't mean we have to turn a blind eye when the corrupting influence of money can do more damage in the long run.