The Battle of Chicago Teachers Union Vs. Out-of-Town Billionaires
In a recently released video, Chicago Teachers Union shows the games played by wealthy elites to smear the Union in the midst of heated contract negotiations. Chicago Teachers Union has maintained that it will not bargain in the press over a fair contract, but associates of Mayor Rahm Emanuel have apparently used backroom deals in Springfield,paid protesters and even members of the Michigan Tea Party to distort the public's image of the Union.
The video, "Astroturf Billionaires Vs. The Chicago Teachers Union" shows all of these tricks in graphic detail.
Full 24-minute video "Chicago Teachers Union Vs. Astroturf Billionaires"
The video begins with footage Tea Party blogger Andrew Marcus boasting about how he worked with Mayor Rahm Emanuel "against the Unions in this town." Marcus directed the film A Tale of Two Missions -- an anti-public school video featuring a candid interview with Mayor Emanuel. Tale of Two Missions was produced by a Tea Party-backed group in Michigan called the Education Action Group.
This one-minute clip shows Marcus and Edelman boasting.
The first half of the EAG video was essentially an infomercial for The Nobel Street Charter School Network while the second half was essentially a smear video against Chicago Teachers Union. In the video, Mayor Rahm Emanuel explains that charter schools seem to have a "secret sauce" to success.
It seemed strange that Emanuel, a longtime member and leader of the Democratic Party