WEEKEND QUOTABLES

SEIU Local 1 President Tom Balanoff 

“Mayor Emanuel doesn’t understand that what made Chicago great was working people. We think he has totally turned his back on that.” -- Sun-Times

Heather O’Donnell, vice president of public policy for Thresholds

“It’s like cutting someone off from chemotherapy when they have cancer.” -- Rauner's mental health cuts hit firefighter's family hard 

N.J. Superintendent Elizabeth C. Jewett 

I did not authorize the release of this email nor am I aware of who did release it. I am also not aware of the motives they may have had behind the release. That said, I completely stand behind my comments as they represent not only my views and concerns; they also represent the views and concerns of our Board of Education. -- Answer Sheet, Pearson monitoring social media for security breaches during PARCC testing

Diane Ravitch

 The Network for Public Education enthusiastically endorses Jesus (Chuy) Garcia for Mayor of Chicago. The election has national significance. NPE believes it will send a message that closing public schools en masse and replacing them with private charters is unacceptable; that the public schools are a public responsibility and should be fully funded to meet the needs of students. -- Ravitch Blog

CPS spokesman Bill McCaffrey 

"Cease and desist" directive was given to any principal whose conduct could be construed as not following district policy in giving the state exams. -- PARCC testing launches with some pushback, confusion

Garcia and Fioretti working the neighborhoods to challenge Mayor 1%

Don't miss Curtis Black's excellent piece today in the Chicago Reporter, "Mayoral candidates drum up community spirit." Black focuses on the efforts of Rahm's two top contenders, "Chuy" Garcia and Bob Fioretti, as they work the neighborhoods, trying hard to pick up the grassroots support they need to keep Mayor 1% under 50% and send February's election into a run-off. 

Black shows "Chuy" picking up the endorsement of a new activist group in Bronzeville, People United for Action. A huge turnout for him from the African-American community will be essential for him to have any hope for victory.

Fioretti is seen working South Chicago -- not too far from the neighborhood where he grew up, Roseland — to support the Alliance of the South East and the Coalition for a Lakeside CBA, pushing for a community benefits agreement from the developers of the vast tract that once held U.S. Steel’s South Works.

Emanuel has been a protest magnet throughout his administration, beginning with his closing of six mental health clinics.  Add the NATO summit, the teachers strike, the school closings and various other mayoral actions, and it’s undeniable that he has done much to energize the labor-community movement that demands new priorities for the city.

Under Emanuel, “we get school closings, we get speed cameras all over the place, our residents are being nickled and dimed to death, we’re forced to pay higher property taxes,” said protest organizer Rebecca Martinez.  “And yet the poverty rate has gone up under this administration.  Downtown continues to progress and our neighborhoods continue to go down.”

PRO-BONO,,, I've given my brother the number of my distinguished attorneys at Pro, Bono & Plead as I'm expecting SEIU 73's sell-out leader Christine Boardman to threaten him, as she did me, with lawsuits, if he keeps up his blog exposures. See his latest (with cartoon) here.

SEIU leaders threaten own union over Chuy contribution: 'The violation will be addressed..."

"Chuy" Garcia finally getting some union money. Gaining momentum. 

In a sign that Chicago may have a mayoral race worth watching after all, Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia has received a major donation from a labor union for his race against Mayor Rahm Emanuel, with another gift well into six figures reportedly on the way. -- Crain's

While Rahm continues to pile up millions in campaign contributions from his wealthy pals and corporate cronies, SEIU leaders are locked in internal power squabbles that effectively aid the mayor and weaken his progressive opposition. 

This as latest poll numbers show Rahm's opposition candidates still keeping him from votes needed to avoid a runoff. That means, in a head-to-head runoff election, the combined anti-Rahm forces could put Garcia or Ald. Fioretti over the top. 

The last time I wrote about SEIU's sell-out leaders they threatened me with law suits. It came after SEIU local prez Christine Boardman contributed $25K in union money to Rahm Emanuel's already over-stuffed campaign war chest. 

But now, they have turned their guns inward after SEIU Healthcare pledged to contribute $250,000 to "Chuy" Garcia’s campaign, a significant amount which could get the fund-raising ball rolling and put Garcia in real contention.

 “SEIU Locals in Illinois took a formal vote last week at an Illinois State Council meeting to remain neutral in the Chicago's mayoral race,” said Tom Balanoff, president of SEIU Illinois State Council.  The violation will be addressed through SEIU’s official internal processes.” -- Sun-Times

The "violation will be addressed..."? Sounds pretty sinister to me. Will nurses find a horse head in their beds?

We already know what neutrality means to Balanoff and Boardman -- hardly saying a word about the super-exploitation and mass firing of their own members by Aramark after Rahm privatized CPS custodial services.

Plus, I wonder if Boardman has to put a stop on her check to Rahm's campaign.  Neutrality? Really?

Well, at least they're not suing me this time.

Ooops, I think I'll stop now.

The Name of the Game

Yes, I'm being facetious, but stay with me for a minute anyway..

The IL gov's race was basically bought by billionaire Bruce Rauner at $30.50/vote. Pension-buster Quinn lost to Rauner by 170,000 votes but spent only $17.31/vote. Does this mean that if the IEA and other unions had diverted the half-million or so they gave to Republican Kirk Dillard in the primary and to the Libertarian (Whatshisname?) to Quinn/Vallas, that extra million or so have bought another 170,000 votes?

Probably not, but it may be worth a rethink of IL union campaign strategy. Instead of pissing good money away after bad, how about some real real strategic support to progressive candidates, where a few mil could really make a difference? Like anti-Rahm candidates, Chuy Garcia and Bob Fioretti, as we head towards February?

As for SEIU Local 73, I hope Boardman's $25,000 check to Rahm's bloated campaign war chest, bounces higher than the interest rate on my daughter's student loans. Slavish union 'crats have donated more than $1 million to Emanuel since last year.

Union money spent smartly did help win an important victory in California, where pro-public school Tom Torlakson beat heavily-bankrolled Marshall Tuck -- the corporate suck -- for state school supe and in Pennsylvania where a strong parent-led coalition was able to knock out reactionary Gov. Corbett. 

It hurts to even mention WFP's endorsement of Gov. Cuomo in N.Y. who now swears that he will destroy the "public education monopoly". 

It's still worth remembering that the real power behind school privatization and the erosion of public space and decision making, can't be taken out in elections. They don't run for public office. As Caroline Howard at Forbes points out:

 Mark Zuckerberg has no term limit; no one can dethrone Gates or dismiss Bill Clinton.

Speaking of which...

Ald. Fioretti on the Lucas Museum:

"It looks like a palace for Jabba the Hutt. I was wondering what planet we are on." 

Shooting the messenger

On Friday, I received the following missive from SEIU Local 73 Pres. Christine Boardman via the union's general counsel Tyson Roan.

First, I'm glad to find that the president of SEIU Local 73 is such an avid reader of SmallTalk. I remember meeting Mayor Emanuel at a social event a while back (got friends in low places) and as he shook my hand, he said to the hosts, "Yeah, I know Klonsky. I read his blog." I retorted, "...and you're still talking to me?" The mayor answered, "It's a free country. You're entitled to your opinion."

Pres. Boardman, a quasi-public figure like the mayor, is not so generous.

Not wanting to impugn anyone's integrity and certainly not wanting to face the full might and fury of SEIU's legal department (and after consulting with my attorneys at Pro, Bono & Plead), I took Pres. Boardman's charges seriously and reread my Sept. 16th post, "The rats are having a field day at CPS" (boy, are they ever). And you know what? I think Pres. Boardman raises two good points.

First, she says my statement that she signed off on an agreement between CPS and private custodial subcontractors" is "entirely false, and has no basis whatsoever in fact."

She's probably right if you take my comment literally. I have no evidence that Pres. Boardman actually "signed off," meaning signed an actual written agreement with Aramark and SodexoMagic. In fact, I'm pretty sure she didn't. So I can retract that statement.

Second, she points to my statement, "Ugh! She's dirtier than a a CPS bathroom," as evidence that I impute "a want of integrity" on her part (who talks like that?). It's true that I may have imputed such a want of integrity. But to say a politician or union leader is "dirty", means that they are actually on the take or selling out their constituents for a price or political reward. Since I have no physical proof of any such quid pro quo, I retract the "Ugh! She's dirtier than  a CPS bathroom" statement.

As my wife often reminds me: "Honey, you're better than that."

Also, have you been in a CPS bathroom lately? There's nothing dirtier.

Okay, so I'm trying to be better. I'm a work in progress.

But after watching hundreds of those hard-working and often, life-saving school custodians lose their jobs, after Rahm privatized CPS' custodial services (not to mention the hundreds of library custodians and lunchroom ladies before them), leaving schools filthy and dangerous, and all this without much of a peep from Boardman and the Local 73 leadership, I may have been overcome by anger. I'm working on that as well.

Chicago teacher Michelle Strater Gunderson makes a great point:

All of the coverage so far, though, has been focused on building conditions and mismanagement. I see yet another side of this issue – workers’ rights. The privatization of the work has made it almost impossible for workers to do their jobs. The hours and personnel in each building were cut drastically, and to make matters worse, Aramark just laid off 468 janitors last week.

So somebody tell me -- where was the outcry from the custodial unions defending their own members? I searched in vain, including on the Local 73 website, for any sign of protest or public resistance. If I'm wrong about that, show me. I welcome any and all public statements or actions taken by President Boardman or other Local 73 leaders,  critical of Rahm for his privatization or for recent firings. I will gladly post them without comment.

Rahm sells his pension deal. But who was buying?

Now Pres. Boardman might argue that her union doesn't represent the fired privatized custodians and indeed she would be correct. Over the years, CPS has reduced the number of its janitors through attrition. The board now employs about 800 and private companies about 1,800, according to union officials. The former belong to SEIU Local 73, while the private-company janitors belong to SEIU Local 1. But still...

Ben Joravsky writes:

You might not think that belonging to different SEIU locals would matter much, but lately it does. Among union activists, Local 73 is known as the mayor's—well, let's just say union activists aren't too thrilled with Local 73.

REMEMBER this all came after Boardman broke ranks with the broad coalition of union leaders who were fighting back against Rahm's attack on public employees retiree pensions. The mayor wanted to raise property taxes by $250 million — and increase employee contributions by 29%. One after another, union leaders and activists spoke out, from AFSCME to the FOP to the CTU.  But Boardman went along.

This from the Sun-Times:

 Christine Boardman, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73, said she supports the “basic constructs” of the pension deal that impacts 10,000 of her members. “We’re in support of the increase in employee contributions. We’re in support of the Emanuel plan to try to fund it through property tax increases. The bill is going to pass. I know that. You know that,” she said. “We’re not gonna work against the bill. We’ve told that to Speaker [Mike] Madigan. We’re gonna be neutral, only because of the effect it has on retirees.”

Neutral indeed.

I guess the icing on the cake for me was when Boardman then kicked in with $25,000 of her members' hard earned money as a gift to Rahm's already swollen campaign fund. A real punch in the gut, not only to the mayor's needy progressive opponents, Bob Fioretti and fellow union president Karen Lewis, but to the janitors and pensioners being screwed by the mayor's privatization deals.

Brother Fred

More Joravsky

I guess I should have seen this donation coming. Earlier this year, Local 73 broke ranks from most of the other public employees' unions to endorse Mayor Emanuel's proposed pension plan. And last month Mayor Emanuel put Matt Brandon—secretary/treasurer of Local 73—on his minimum-wage task force.

To sum up -- I retract the two statements, as requested by Pres. Boardman and her lawyers: 1) that she "signed off on an agreement between CPS and private custodial subcontractors" and 2) that she is "dirtier than a CPS bathroom."

As for her claim that she has been a consistent advocate for the rights of the custodians, I'll leave that for her members and the readers to decide.