CTU leaders thwart fraud in retiree vote

by Al Korach

Always be careful when you criticize others, my parents taught me. I was reminded of that during the past month.

In the February Substance, I criticized the voting procedures utilized by the Retired Teachers Association of Chicago (RTAC) at their annual luncheon. Now I’m reminded of the old saying, “People In Glass Houses Should Not Throw Bricks.” RTAC is not the only retiree organization that needed to change some of its electoral procedures. The leadership at the CTU had some adjusting to do in their election procedures when the time came to nominate and elect delegates for the union’s more than 3,000 retired members between December and January. A major attempt at vote fraud was caught and thwarted.

This was done at considerable expense to the union members, and it is to be hoped that someone will identify those who attempted the fraud. We should all be happy to know that even as I write this article those procedures have already been put in place.

What happened?

I was a candidate for one of the 31 delegate positions in the Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates. Sixty-four people had been nominated tor the 31 spots, so there had to be an election. Since retired members of the union are spread across most of the 50 states (for a third of each year, my wife and I now live in Florida, like many of us), the election had to be held by mail ballot. No problem. It had been done for as long as anyone can remember.

After voting in early January (along with 63 other candidates), I awaited the results of the election.

Instead of results, I received a letter from CTU president Deborah Lynch indicating that the election — “due to alleged irregularities” — had been voided. A new election was to be held. For the first time in history, the election was to be held under the supervision of an outside agency — the American Arbitration Association, or AAA — instead of under the supervision of the union’s officers and its Rules-Elections committee (of which I have been a member for much of the past 40 years).

First, rumors abounded. The word going around was that the sudden “alleged” appearance of over 170 fake ballots voting in favor of one party caused this situation.

As for the word “alleged,” it is no longer appropriate. At the meeting of the Rules-Elections Committee, each member was given a copy of one fake ballot that was included in the ballots that were to be counted. It was noticed that there were apporximately 173 ballots where the coding to indicate a fair rotation of the names was not included. This coding assured that all candidates had a chance to be first as well as last on the printed ballots. There were also discrepancies in the lettering that varied from the union’s true ballots. The committee members voted unanimously to void the election and take corrective action. The CTU leadership will investigate how this situation took place.

This was reported to all members of the Union’s House of Delegates at the February meeting. Although one faction tried to misrepresent the situation, the majority of delegates got the truth.

Some members of the committee also noted that the counterfeit ballots had been marked for candidates endorsed for election by the United Progressive Caucus, the union faction once headed by Tom Reece. The UPC was ousted from union power in May 2001 by Deborah Lynch’s PACT caucus, of which this reporter is a member.

There is some good coming out of this situation. President Deborah Lynch has indicated that a neutral third party, probably the American Arbitration Association (AAA), will conduct all future union citywide elections. This change in CTU procedure is long overdue. For years I (as a past chairman of the CTU Rules - Elections Committee) have long been in favor of this change. I resigned that position many years ago due to what I considered at that time to be questionable procedures.

For many years, the CTU Rules and Election Committee had spent many hours before and after elections trying to straighten out procedural complaints due to a variety of situations. In all CTU elections and referenda, voting took place at the schools (where most union members are located and can vote) and in citywide locations. Delegate elections (which include retirees) had to be conducted both by mail ballot (for those citywide groups that faced contested elections) and in the schools (for the election of school delegates). It was a complex process, meant to ensure democracy but also fraught with problems even when fraud was not the issue.

After each election or referendum, the Rules-Elections Committee had to sort things out, dealing with what we might call ‘situations’ each time. Many ‘situations’ were caused by the ineptness of school delegates or simply the pressures of their work day (within which they had to squeeze the election work as well). Some delegates did not adhere to the election rules; others did not even bother to deliver the ballots for counting. (Why would this be? Consider: If you are a delegate representing one political party, and the other party is getting the majority of votes at your school, if you never deliver the ballots your school — and its votes against your faction — never reaches the final count. During the count for the 1998 contract, for example, this allegedly happened to the ballots —overwhelmingly “No” — from one of Chicago’s largest high schools).

The details of the attempted fraud of 2003 will be reported in detail in the May Substance, but the long-term impact of the fraud will be better for everyone. Under the new system, it appears that those entitled to vote will receive a specific ballot at their place of residence and then following the instructions return it by mail by a specified date. And outside and independent body will be responsible for tabulating and reporting the count to the committee.

The CTU will also have to address other procedures relative to its election process. During this retiree election there was much misinformation regarding the candidates’ ability to enable them to contact the retiree voters. There seemed to be confusion on the part of one CTU elected official and one appointed individual regarding the rules of a mailing to the voters — or their personal interpretation of the rules and procedures governing this situation. I requested the right to do a mailing to all eligible voters (an important right when you are running for office and want to inform more than 3,000 people of your qualifications) and was told that I was not allowed to do so. Since I had previously done such a mailing (in 2000, when I ran for the office of retiree vice president), I was stunned, but there was no appeal this time around. Hopefully, that kind of arbitrariness will end before the next election and all qualified candidates will be afforded some way to contact voters before the balloting takes place.

Why should it have been a problem in the reformed CTU in 2003? In any election — local, state, or national — to run an effective campaign candidates have to let the voters know the candidates’ qualifications. By not letting the candidates in citywide groups have access in some way to the mailing addresses — or even who the eligible voters are — you are in effect destroying the ability of conducting a fair election. At one point, what was even worse was that one group seemed to have the ability to contact the voters while others did not. Although this may have been reconciled prior to the election, it still didn’t help those who wished to be independents — and offer their long histories of service to the voters who wished to vote for those outside of the two major parties within the union. Every independent in the recent retiree election lost, no matter how strong that person’s record. Lastly, it must be noted that the history of union elections in some locals has not been a history of shining examples of democracy, fairness, and consistency.

I’m happy (because I am a member of PACT and was one of their successful candidates) to announce that PACT (the ProActive Chicago Teachers and school workers caucus headed by union president Deborah Lynch) won 20 (or 21, if you count a candidate who was endorsed by both caucuses) out of the 31 delegate retiree seats in the CTU’s February delegate election.

This indicates major changes in both large organizations representing the retired teachers of Chicago. The two organizations are the CTU (with a little over 3,000 members) and RTAC (with 10,000 members). A few months ago, you will recall the upset victory Mr. James Ward (retired CEO of the teachers pension fund) had attained over his RTAC endorsed opponent. I explained the victory was due to his name recognition and his many years as head of the teachers pension fund. Mr. Ward did it again in the CTU’s election to elect retiree delegates to the CTU’s House of Delegates. Mr. Ward and I both belong to the CTU retiree group as well as being life members of RTAC. Mr. Ward gathered 1161 votes — the highest of any retiree candidate— and as this issue of Substance goes to print he is already hard at work within the CTU representing retirees. I am happy to say that I as well as the majority of the PACT slate also got elected.

Other news: teaching jobs in Florida

There is some interesting news coming out of Florida, where I now spend several months out of each year.

For some northern teachers who are tired of shoveling snow and shivering on the way to school, relief could be on the way. The state of Florida — in order to be in compliance with Florida’s new class size amendment — will have to hire 20,000 new teachers by August. There will have to be a reduction in class size by approximately 2 students per classroom. This shortage of teachers coupled with normal retirements will be a difficult problem to solve. Who and how the state will pay for this are still the key questions?

Although Florida has had a lot of bad press after the problems with the 2000 presidential election, the state still has a lot to recommend it if you are a teacher looking to relocate (or a retired teacher with time on her handsIn most of the larger counties, Florida teachers are represented by strong teacher unions (unlike many states in the Old South).

The new class size policy came as a result of a Constitutional amendment approved by voters last fall. Under the amendment, by 2010 class sizes must be reduced to 18 students in prekindergarten through third grade, to 22 in third through eighth grades, and to 25 in high school classes. ). The first reductions are due next school year, and despite attempts at stalling from Governor Jeb Bush, the plan has widespread support. By mid-March, state legislators in Tallahassee were discussing penalties for Florida school districts that didn’t begin reducing their class sizes this coming September.

Those who are interested in checking further into prospects here can also go to the Websites of the Florida teacher unions or the Florida school districts. Let me know if you are considering this.

Retiree musings

• Unions and your family’s financial well being. Back in 1950’s, important events in many retirees’ lives took place. Some of us graduated from the old Chicago Teachers College, got married, and started employment with the Chicago Board of Education. As I recall, our salaries at the time was just under $3,000.00 a year with no benefits. My wife and I understood that because of employment with the school board my earning potential was limited. So I — along with many of my colleagues — would be engaged in some type of secondary employment to fill in the earning gaps. A book could be written about the second jobs that teachers had during those years (and about some of the strangte encounters with students that occurred during those job).

Of course, the previous statement shows a situation that reveals one of the major reasons many of us became active in the Chicago Teachers Union.

• Clout for Florida education chief. Over the years we have seen the financial fruits of education being selectively dolled out to those with “clout.” Illinois is not the only state where “educators” came out of the ranks of politicians with clout. It did not surprise me to read that Florida’s newly elected Lt. Gov, Frank Brogan, will be the new FAU (Florida Atlantic University) president — with a salary from his education job starting at $290,000 a year. The contract calls for unspecified yearly raises, car and housing. Mr. Brogan has never worked nor taught at a university. While other administrators were given hefty raises, FAU employees were given a 2% hike. Sound familiar, Chicago teachers?

How many of you utilize a credit card that is credited to airline miles? We purchase things with the card so that someday we can take a vacation, visit the kids or whatever. I was informed that my daughter would need some general surgery on February 25th. My wife decided that she would fly home and spend three weeks and then return. We telephoned the airline and informed them we needed a ticket for the 24th using our miles to pay for the trip. There was nothing available the 24, 23, and so on.

It suddenly occurred to me to ask, “If I pay for the tickets in cash do you have an opening?” The agent replied that on cash basis openings were available. There seems to be a different standard for those that have “mileage” and those that have cash. This also applies to where you can sit such as economy coach, tourist and first class. Long-term bookings are easier to arrange rather than short-term emergencies.

Using the Internet for so-called cheap fares also can also have its problems. I listed Fort Lauderdale to Chicago O’Hare and the dates to leave and return. They listed some attractive prices on those dates but when I clicked them on they were not available. My question is, “If they are not available then why show them in the first place?” We were finally able to make reservations three days early (on the 22nd) using my mileage.

• Bubble burst hit retirees hardest? The toll of retirees that have to return to work due to the loss of their retirement savings that were invested in pension plans tied into the stock market or worst is increasing. Those were the ones that purchased stock in soon-to-fail corporations such as Enron and World Com. It is interesting to note that while Enron directors were leaving with millions, the company paid no income tax from 1996-1999.

An Article by Gretchen Morgenson in the February 9th, New York Times hits the nail on the head. She notes that Wall Street’s top firms agreed to pay almost $1 billion to settle claims that much of their research was tainted and the suits are continuing. Ms. Morgenson describes the plight of Bonnie Burns. Ms. Burns 56 worked for Rubbermaid for 34 years. She lost her retirement savings of $250,000 invested in stocks. She relied on her broker’s advice and now when she should be retired is currently working as a teacher’s aid.

Ms. Burns at age 56 had to return to work Merrill Lynch & Co., the securities firm that cost her her savings with bad advice, agreed to pay $80 million to settle an SEC investigation — while denying any wrongdoing. J. P. Morgan Chase & Co. will pay a $6 million fine to the NASD for accepting kickbacks from clients.

• Protect defined benefit plans from revisions and raids. Do I have to say it again? Defined benefits are still the way to go. Another sign of the times is the number of doctors going on short leaves or strikes to protest the high cost of malpractice insurance. Malpractice suits has become a field day for lawyers to the extent that many doctors are leaving certain states and certain medical high lawsuit specialties. When malpractice insurance rates go up who pays for it? You guessed it. You do with higher health insurance rates.

“Prosperity in the fund, despite difficult economic times,” are the opening words on the Chicago Public School Teachers Pension and Retirement Fund of Chicago’s website. (www.ctpf.org) I urge those retirees with access to a computer to turn into the pension funds web. It gives you very complete up to date information of news relative to your pensions and retirement issues.

• Chicago retirees in Florida. My wife and I recently had lunch with Mr. and Mrs. Dan Van Zile. Dan a retired Chicago schoolteacher (and one of the founders of Substance) and his wife have recently relocated and have a lovely apartment on Ocean Drive in Hallandale, Florida. Dan helped with Substance for many years, still subscribes, and is thinking of sending in his adventures as a Florida substitute for publication. Yes — in his free time Dan subs on occasion in the local school system. Dan and Penny Van Zile send their greetings to all their teacher and retiree friends as they leave for Europe.

And I remain Crane47@AOL.com.