By Al Korach

First, Happy Holidays! One of the interesting things about reporting for a monthly newspaper is that you look ahead and realize when your reports will be read. Most of you will be seeing this after Thanksgiving but before the December holidays and New Year’s. Happy Holidays. I understand that after this report, the next issue of Substance (dated January) will be reaching our readers right around New Year’s Day.

It has been good to be back in action for the past year and to be able to read our reports on the website and reflect on how much has already happened. But, as they say, first, the news…

Hurricane Wilma stripped trees of leaves and left thousands homeless in south Florida. Substance photo by Al Korach.

The election for teacher pension trustees was a disappointment for me as a retiree and as a veteran of the biggest giveaway of pension funds by the members of the United Progressive Caucus in fund history. First, for those who don’t have access to the Internet, here are the results of the October 28 election for teacher-trustee:

Teacher-Trustee two-year term (two to be elected)

Mary Hanson 8,610

Lois Nelson 8,057

Rose Mary Finnegan * 5,587

Patricia Knazze * 5,400

Harold Matz 1,693

Winners in bold type.

(*) indicates incumbent.

Teacher-Trustee three-year term (two to be elected)

Maria Rodriguez 9,500

John O’Brill 8,467

Jacquelyn Price Ward 6,137

Earnestine Murphy* 5,087

Winners in bold type.

(*) indicates incumbent.

Briefly, the “Union-endorsed” candidates were elected handily. Those who thought that learning to fight on the floor of the House of Delegates didn’t matter much should think about how this happened. At the least, the “endorsement” meant that more than $30,000 was spent from union dues to elect the “union” candidates. The fact that all of the candidates had long and honorable service in the CTU was ignored during the last week before the vote, according to reliable sources. Many teachers were left with the impression that the incumbents were either not union or anti-union. Whether the endorsement was intended by the members of the House of Delegates to give the union’s officers the right to send dozens of union staff members into the schools to campaign for the “union” candidates is a separate question to be dealt with at another time.

But before anyone goes too far in thinking that the union endorsement means much, consider the fate of former trustee Mary Sharon Reilly, who ran to represent retired teachers after being endorsed by the United Progressive Caucus, of which she has been a member for more than a decade. Reilly was endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union, but not by the Retired Teachers Association of Chicago. The candidates endorsed by RTAC won.

Pensioner-Trustee two-year term (three to be elected)

James F. Ward 8,141

Walter Pilditch 5,696

Vaughn Barber 5,319

Mary Sharon Reilly 4,532

Carole Rita Nolan* 2,490

Shirley Anderson 1,787

Martha Miller 541

Winners in bold type.

(*) indicates incumbent.

A great deal has been made about voting in the schools as opposed to mail ballot voting for the teacher trustees. Based on the percentage who vote, there seems to be little difference. The percentage voting for teacher trustees was 52 percent, and the percentage for pensioner-trustees was also 52 percent. The pensioner trustee vote was, of course, by mail ballot, since pensioners live in every state in the United States and in a number of foreign countries.

A major question is now before the pension board and the teachers. Should a “teacher trustee” be a full-time staff member of the Chicago Teachers Union. Now that Maria Rodriguez has been re-elected as trustee, there are three “teacher” trustees who work for the CTU: Maria Rodriguez (field rep); Connee Fitch-Blanks (Quest Center); and Linda Porter (treasurer). When I served as vice president of the pension fund, every teacher trustee was working in the schools. The four candidates endorsed by PACT whose views were featured in the special pension issue of Substance (mid-October 2005) are also working in the schools, three as teachers and one as a psychologist. No matter what else happens during the coming year, teachers and retirees are going to have to be more vigilant about the way their trustees function. Can employees working for Marilyn Stewart really fulfill their fiduciary responsibility to the pension fund’s members?

I found it strange that the Chicago Teachers Union supported their endorsed candidates with a campaign stressing the problems of the downstate teachers pension fund. The downstate fund got itself into trouble by appointing political insiders to fill the positions of trustees. While stressing this, the CTU also ran insiders — CTU employees — to fill the trustee positions. The election is over. They now are in charge, and I wish them well, but we need to continue to watch the store. It was heartening to learn that Substance is assigning a regular reporter to cover the meetings of the pension trustees.

One disturbing thing is not who won or who lost the election. What disturbed me most is the number of teachers who did not bother to vote or they could not find someone to deliver the ballots. I have heard that 81 schools did not vote for the teacher-trustees. Teachers: Are you going to get what you deserve? For example in the active teacher election we had the following:

Active teacher election

Total ballots distributed 31,282

Total ballots returned 16,244

Retired teacher election

Total ballots distributed 18,712

Total ballots returned 9,790

The above numbers do not indicate those that turned in a ballot but did not vote or spoiled the ballot.

The above results are from the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund website (www.ctpf.org) and the Election Services Corporation. I think it’s time for a mail ballot for both teachers and retirees, but as the retirees had a mail ballot and they did not do better.

We’ve all been reading that many large companies have been let off their responsibility to fund their employees’ pension funds. Even Time magazine — not exactly a radical publication — has noted that the ripoff of pension funds has been the result of Congress allowing corporations to get off the hook by manipulating bankruptcy laws.

Many of us have always thought that once you pay into your fund and retire, your pension would be there for your lifetime. I think it’s time for us to rethink this issue when we see what is happening with GM and the airlines. We not only have to have the pension, we have to guard it at all times. Chicago’s pension fund is in very good shape by comparison with both public and private pension funds. But if we are not vigilant, that can wear out soon.

As many regular readers know, at age 76 and retired, I divide my time between Florida and Chicago. I thought it would be relevant to note in my report this month something we could all relate to. As I was leaving Georgia, I was able to fill my gas tank with unleaded regular for $1.98 a gallon. This was just off US 75. There was no problem finding gas at or near $2.00 a gallon. This was written in mid-November, and I hear from friends that gasoline prices in the Chicago area still haven’t dropped as low as we paid. Why is this?

Marlene and I are both retired from the Chicago school system and live in Margate, Florida, for about six months each year. This year was a little different. As we were about to leave home, our part of Florida was hit by Hurricane Wilma. We soon received calls that our apartment was destroyed. Then we received other calls that it was not. We decided that the best course of action was to take a few days’ clothing, contact our insurance agent, and go see for ourselves.

We made arrangements to temporarily stay with friends close by in Coral Springs while we attended to our problems. As we drove south on the Florida Turnpike we were amazed to see how far north the damage extended. Fallen trees were everywhere. There were no streetlights or traffic signals that were working. The municipality’s first job was to restore access to the streets so cleanup operation could commence.

In my apartment and condo complex in Margate, all the roofs needed repairs before the city would let the electricity be turned on. My building was deemed “habitable” while others would take up to a year before the city would let tenants return. I was lucky in the sense that I had some small water damage under two windows but no soaked rugs to remove. I could have stayed had I known that the damage was minimal.

After driving 1300 miles to Margate, Marlene and I drove another 1,300 miles back. We then packed all the things necessary for a six-month stay, hitched up the trailer with the motorcycle and after four days and another 1,300 miles returned. When we came back we noticed significant cleaning up had been under way. It was pure hell for many seniors on the upper floors with no elevators operable.

New Orleans and the Gulf sections of Mississippi and Alabama were not the only places to experience horror and death from hurricanes this past season. Officials are just beginning to find a number of seniors dead in some of the apartments near where we live. Many were diabetic and needed refrigeration to keep their insulin and other medications. We have an active condominium, and the first thought was to help the elderly and infirm. They collected perishables and had a large BBQ for all tenants. Those that were infirm were brought meals. Two very active tenants went up to the roof with tarps. That saved the building. We also did not have the flooding that New Orleans had. But in other areas, public services should have been provided to elderly people in need. Those who have served their country and community for long lifetimes shouldn’t be left to their friends in times of disaster. There is also a public obligation.

Another interesting occurrence was the tree damage. The neighborhood looked like a war zone after the artillery knocked down all the trees. (And I have seen what artillery can do, not just in movies). The trees that survived were the palms. Most of them — with the exception of some frond loss — survived.

‘ The area down here has only a few inches of topsoil with an underlayment of old coral. The roots therefore do not go very deep. Most of the trees that toppled were the non-palms. They had to be cut down and cleared. Well enough of the hurricane. We are still getting settled and waiting for our insurance agent. With the Internet, telephones, and e-mail, it will be good to remain in contact with everyone.

Al Korach: Crane 47 @ aol.com.