The in box. Florida’s Governor Scott and Illinois’ Governor Quinn. Common pension views.
Ken Previti sends along this pension information:
FACT: Below is an excerpt and a link to the full Sunshine Review article about the Scott legislation that the courts just ruled as unconstitutional regarding teacher pensions. (This will continue to be argued in higher courts.) It is an ALEC boilerplate legislation that is so similar to Quinn’s proposal that only a fool could claim it as coincidence.+++On March 6, 2012, the Circuit Court for the Second Judicial Circuit in and for Leon County, Florida,
Illinois teacher unions among those targeted by GOP front group.
Politico this morning is reporting: The State Government Leadership Foundation will announce the launch of a new ad campaign today that targets teachers unions for using “big money and bully tactics to protect their own interests at the local, state and federal level at the expense of taxpayers and our nation’s schoolchildren.” The six-figure TV [...]
With Arne down the rabbit hole.
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice `without pictures [...]
Dear Charlie.
Sixty IEA members travel from the north suburbs of Chicago to Springfield to fight for pensions, but nobody from the IEA Communications office takes notice. Dear Charlie McBarron, Just because you’re pissed at me, Charlie, don’t take it out on everyone in Region 36. I knew things had gotten bad when you unfriended me from [...]
Final push to save teacher pensions. Keep the pressure on everyone.
The only time you will read me quoting Ronald Reagan: “Trust, but verify.” As we head back to school tomorrow, we are heading into the final month of the Illinois General Assembly session. Crunch time on the pension issue. Active and retired teachers have to step up. A contact a day. Every day. And the [...]
Sunday links.
Cairo, Egypt. May 4th. John Dillon’s Pension Vocabulary Word of the Week: Misinformation. “Working as a hand puppet for the Illinois Policy Institute, ABC’s Chuck Goudie, the crack investigative reporters for the “I” Team (Eyewitness News) on Channel 7 Chicago, announced that he and the IPI had uncovered a “brand new and improved” pension scam [...]
The in box. From Glen Brown (a wonderful poet himself), a poem for Teacher Appreciation Week.
For Fred Klonsky and all teachers The Thing You Must Remember by Maggie Anderson The thing you must remember is how, as a child, you worked hours in the art room, the teacher’s hands over yours, molding the little clay dog. You must remember how nothing mattered but the imagined dog’s fur, the shape of [...]
Back at the Red Line. Why I’m a sucker to Tony.
On Friday I’m back at the Red Line Tap. There’s Tony at the bar. Tony is always at the bar, so that’s not a surprise. “You look like crap,” says Tony. “Let me buy you one.” “Long week,” I say. “Seven days, like always,” says Tony, who has no permanent relationship with the capitalist system [...]
The Chicago Teachers Union Stands Strong. Rally May 23rd at the Auditorium Theater.
Historic Rally in support of a fair contract with the CTU. May 23rd. Auditorium Theatre 50 East Congress CTU Members Only Please bring membership card or paystub Doors Open at 3:00pm Rally Begins at 4:30pm March follows Join with thousands of CTU members for a huge membership meeting, to be followed by a short march [...]
Saturday coffee.
Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week. Funny. I spent last Wednesday in Springfield talking to legislators. I’m not feeling the love. Oh. There were the requisite wuzzas. That’s when the politician or the governor’s young assistant starts out by telling all of us that her brother wuzza a teacher, or their mother wuzza a teacher [...]
The Trib’s Eric Zorn and Glen Brown talk tenure and pensions.
Retired teachers Merle Taber, John Dillon and Glen Brown attended a Chicago Tribune Board meeting on April 23rd. After the meeting, Eric Zorn invited Glen to engage in a “blogging” discussion about clearing “up points of difference between current and former public school teachers and critics of at least certain aspects of the education system.” [...]
Elgin’s Senator Mike Noland. Bought by Stand for Children? Targeted by pensioners.
Noland, who sits on Quinn’s pension panel told pensioners, “I’m on your side.” Elgin’s Democratic State Senator Mike Noland couldn’t figure out why pensioners would be demonstrating outside his office. He ended up blaming the teachers’ union. Noland, endorsed by Jonah Edelman’s Stand For Children, also is a member of the Governor’s pension commission. The [...]
The in box. IEA finally responds to the ABC Big Lie. “We left a voice mail.”
48 hours after the ABC Big Lie story, repeating the talking points of the anti-union Illinois Policy Institute, the IEA finally responds. Colleagues: We wanted to provide information about a particularly bad pension story aired by the top TV news operation in Chicago this week. On Wednesday night, in what was claimed to be an [...]
The Velderman, Olson, IPI, Chuck Goudie connection. And where is the IEA on the Big Lie?
Ben Velderman and Chuck Goudie. Separated at birth? As I read the phony expose by ABC’s Chuck Goudie’s I-Team (“I-Team” apparently standing for the “I’ in Illinois Policiy Institute) on teacher pensions, I kept thinking I’d heard this all before. And I had. Back in February of 2011. Kyle Olson did a blog post about [...]
The in box. Teachers respond to ABC pension lies.
Among the responses I received responding to ABC’s lies about teachers not paying into our retirement system: Hey Fred - This is what I wrote to abc7 “news” yesterday: Your story titled “Intelligence Report: Most Illinois teachers pay little or nothing toward retirement accounts” includes false information. All Illinois teachers in the TRS system pay [...]
Update: ABC news stands by its lies. Let them know what you think.
The anti-union Illinois Policy Institute issued a report that claimed most teachers in Illinois don’t pay their share of the TRS contribution. By any standard, this is a Big Lie. It is a lie because it misreads what many contracts say. A typical teacher contract will say that the board will “pay” or “pick up” [...]
The BIG LIE on teacher pensions.
ABC’s Chuck Goudie. The laziest reporter in Chicago. Chuck Goudie wins the prize as the laziest reporter in Chicago. He went on ABC local news reporting a press release straight out of the printer of the anti-union Illinois Policy Institute. No need to fact check. Capitolfax calls the lazy Goudie out. * This is not true… [...]
Who is telling our story?
We were welcomed into the IEA headquarters for our lunch yesterday (We paid for the lunch.) But our story isn’t getting out. IEA members from our Region were on a mission yesterday. We went to Springfield to tell our story to state legislators and to the Governor. And to our union leadership. First, let me [...]
A visit to the Governor’s Office.
Fifty on the bus for eight hours to Springfield and back. More drove down. In preparation for our IEA Region’s occupation of Springfield, I had called ahead last week to Governor Quinn’s office. Quinn didn’t answer the phone. Instead I had a nice talk with a Dona Dalton, one of the Governor’s people. I explained [...]
Life in Rahm’s Chicago. Dems desert Emanuel.
The first sign that something was up was when Obama, without warning Rahm first, announced that the G8 summit would be moved out of Chicago and taken to Camp David. Snap. Now the former mayor, Da Mayor, chastises the mayor, the present mayor, for his plan to lengthen the school day. Lengthening the school day [...]
The in box. Chicago Machine squeezes out a victory. Guzzardi looks ahead.
The Chicago Democratic Machine squeezes out a win in my State Representative District. From Will Guzzardi: As you know, we’ve spent the last several weeks gathering information about the March 20th primary election through the discovery recount process. We’ve learned a lot more about what happened on Election Day, and have followed up on concerns [...]
It may be May Day, but I’ve got kids to teach.
Millions of workers will take to the streets today. Shops and factories will be closed. I could have used a personal day. I think I have one left. The contract requires that I use a personal day only for business that I could not take care of outside of the normal working day. I think [...]
TRS Board meets and insists on the constitutionality of any pension changes.
As I reported, the Board of Trustees of the Teacher Retirement System met yesterday in Springfield. A number of people spoke during the public comment section of the meeting. Most expressed concern with the recent “new reality” comments of Executive Director Richard Ingram. The Board is composed of four active trustees, two annuitant trustees and [...]
Pension call Tuesday. Lobby Day Wednesday.
Tuesday, contact your legislator and the Governor to oppose any pension changes that do not meet the constitutional, sustainable and fair test. Wednesday, join IEA Region 36 locals and retired teachers in Springfield.
Social media outrage brings down anti-union Kenneth Cole billboard.
The billboard, featuring a woman exposing a lot of cleavage combined with an attack on teacher unions may have baffled some. But it pissed off enough people that Kenneth Cole, the sponsor of the sign, is taking it down. The outrage on blogs, Twitter and Facebook proved too much for the shoe monger. This weekend [...]
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, has authored a budget plan that would make deep cuts to children’s health, nutrition, economic stability, care, and safety. 