Are CTU Bosses Backing Madigan Or Fighting For Social Justice?

Chicago Teachers Union bosses keep telling us they're leading a fight for liberty from the political status quo and social justice for all. It's a shame that a movement claiming to be so pure continues to be tainted by political ambition, unrighteous alliances and so much sanctimonious spin.

An example of the latter came late Tuesday. CTU boss Jesse Sharkey arrogantly claimed victory as public school officials' decided to abandon a proposed hybrid start to the academic year — a mix of in-school classes and e-learning — in favor of all-remote classes.

"A win for teachers, students and parents. It’s sad that we have to strike or threaten to strike to be heard," Sharkey tweeted, "but when we fight we win!"

Sharkey talks like a working-class tough guy, but he's not. His claim of a CTU victory on remote learning diminishes and disrespects the influence of regular folks who testified at town hall meetings and opinions collected in surveys asking parents to weigh in on a proposal to send kids to school part-time in the fall as coronavirus cases rise.

The results of about 100,000 survey responses, sources say, showed about half of parents didn't feel comfortable sending students back into classrooms a couple of times each week as coronavirus cases spike with no end in sight.

There's no evidence that CTU's Monday protest — part of a pre-planned national "day of resistance" protest — and threats to take a strike authorization vote were more important than the will of parents and public health data.

Are Chicagoans supposed to forget what all CTU's shouting is really about? CTU bosses wasted $500,000 of taxpayer-funded union dues backing the wrong mayoral candidate, Cook County Democratic Party boss Toni Preckwinkle, and have been engaged in a whiny one-sided Twitter war with City Hall ever since.

This week, the thinly veiled political battle continued as Sharkey floated a false narrative targeting Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the Black, lesbian political outsider who beat his preferred candidate for mayor in a landslide.

"The mayor does not have the guts to close the schools. They’re putting it on us to close the schools," Sharkey said at Monday's rally attended by the usual group of CTU loyalists who gathered en masse against the prevailing public health guidance they say should keep schools closed in the fall. "That’s what we feel like is happening."

Sharkey's feelings about Lightfoot's "guts" aside, his union's self-appointed role as savior is nothing more than a mid-pandemic political ploy.

At least CTU vice president Stacy Davis Gates, probably the loudest, most consistent critic of the Lightfoot administration, admits as much. At Monday's rally, she said the latest fight against City Hall isn't really all about keeping kids and teachers safe from COVID-19.

"It's about the indifference of this city to Black lives," she said. "This is about the indifference to humanity."

The CTU posted more of her remarks on Twitter.

"It's time for Chicago to say no more bloodshed on its streets. Enough of the bloodshed in Englewood, the disinvestment in Roseland, the gentrification in Pilsen and the push-out in Albany Park," Davis Gates said.

"What we are saying is that we matter. Chicago's parents matter. Its children matter. Our communities matter. The only way we get what we deserve is if we take it. And we will change this. This is the beginning of the new Chicago."

Is it, really? Or are we watching Davis Gates using the coronavirus to prime the pump on a run for political office? Because her words sure sounded like a campaign-style speech to me.

Plus, during the last mayoral race, political insiders consistently whispered to me that CTU's support of Preckwinkle hinged on a hand-shake agreement that, if successful, Preckwinkle would serve one term as the mayor, clearing the way for a CTU-backed candidate to run with the Democratic Machine's blessing in 2022.

And make no mistake, CTU's leaders have always been friendly with the Machine, particularly House Speaker and state Democratic Party boss Michael Madigan.

State records show CTU's political arm has pitched in more than $500,000 to campaign committees run by the House Speaker. On June 25, for instance, the CTU's political action committee donated $10,000 to the Madigan-controlled Democratic Majority fund.

About three weeks after that donation, ComEd admitted as part of a federal criminal case to doling out jobs, contracts and cash valued at $150 million to folks beloved by Madigan to help secure legislative benefits.

Despite the implications in that federal bribery case, the House Speaker maintains his innocence and has said he has no plans to resign as Illinois most powerful politician. Sources say CTU's political arm actively backs Madigan's wish to remain in power, lobbying state lawmakers to support the speaker amid the ongoing federal corruption probe and increasing calls for his resignation.

CTU spokeswoman Chris Geovanis did not respond to my emails requesting comment about that. When I called her, she asked how I got her number, and hung up while I tried to ask her for the union's stance on Madigan staying in office, and any lobbying efforts sources say have been made in attempt to keep him there.

So, I reached out one of the CTU's most loyal state representatives. Illinois House Progressive Caucus co-leader, Rep. Will Guzzardi, defeated a Madigan-backed candidate, former state Rep. Toni Berrios, with the CTU's vigorous support in an ugly campaign that included allegations in political mailings that he was sympathetic to sex offenders.

Guzzardi also didn't respond to interview requests about Madigan and whether the CTU's lobbying had anything to do with his support of the speaker remaining in power unless he's found guilty of corruption.

Maybe one day CTU and its preferred politicians will tell Chicagoans whether they're with Madigan and the Democratic Machine or on the side of social justice reformers. Because it doesn't make much sense to me how a movement can support both the marginalized and an old-school political boss.

In the meantime, CTU leaders continue spouting over-the-top political rhetoric — like claims of a remote-learning "victory" that seemed like another public relations stunt. A lot like last year's mid-strike sit-in protesting $1.3 billion in subsidies for the Lincoln Yards Project that former Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration rammed through city council to publicly fund the suburbanization of industrial land adjacent to Lincoln Park.

Maybe you remember when Davis Gates left the picket line last year and got arrested with eight other CTU members during a protest of the Lincoln Yards subsidy that the union argued could've been used to fund their contract demands, which included holding the line on teacher pension contributions.

As things turn out, the deal wasn't so bad for the union. The Chicago Teachers Pension Fund's real estate investment portfolio says the retirement fund had a stake in the "Lincoln Yards property" all along, according to page 7 of the fund's economic opportunity report.

The CTU spokeswoman didn't respond to my questions about that ironic detail, either.

Frankly, I don't expect to hear from anybody at the CTU.

Sharkey, Davis Gates and their inner circle are only accountable to the majority of CTU's 25,000 members that keep them in power.

Freedom Of Information Act requests don't apply to them.

Last year, they didn't even respond when asked to participate in a study aimed at protecting students from sexual violence.

They don't have to answer questions from me or anybody else.

What a bunch of phonies.

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, wrote and produced the Peabody Award-winning series, "Time: The Kalief Browder Story." He was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docu-series on CNN, and a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary, "16 Shots.

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