* I noticed this week that the Chicago Teachers Union used both of its political action committees to each contribute the maximum amount allowed by state law ($68,500) to a recently formed committee with no other known contributors…

Hmm. Are they using two committees to get around the contribution caps?

* State law limits union locals to one committee each, so I reached out to Matt Dietrich at the Illinois State Board of Elections…

The statute (10 ILCS 5/9-2(d)) states that “…no natural person, trust, partnership, committee, association, corporation, or other organization or group of persons forming a political action committee shall maintain or establish more than one political action committee.”

However, in the case of unions, each local can have its own committee. So assuming the Local 1 PAC is a separate group or a local of the IL Federation of Teachers, the two committees are fine. If they are just using two different names for what is actually the same group, that would be a problem.

I looked around and couldn’t find evidence of two different CTU entities.

* I then reached out to the CTU’s H Klapp-Kote and asked: “Are the Chicago Teachers Union and CTU Local 1 somehow separate entities? If so, how can that be?” The response…

We believe we are in compliance with the law.

I followed up, but haven’t heard back. Such transparency. /s

* In somewhat related news, Gov. JB Pritzker was asked today about this story…

In the latest twist in the ongoing leadership struggle at Chicago Public Schools, there soon could be major turnover at the Board of Education.

No resignations had been handed in to the mayor’s office as of Monday afternoon, but a source close to the board confirmed conversations are ongoing about the makeup of the board for the next few months.

Pritzker’s response…

What would I hope they would consider before they might make a decision like that? Yeah, first of all, I do not know the members of the Chicago Board of Education that were appointed by the mayor. I would hope that their number one consideration is what’s best for the students and for their parents and families. That ought to be uppermost in everybody’s minds. And stability, getting a contract done. Those are two, you know, very, very high priorities.

Let’s get past this contract negotiation as best they can with the resources that are available to do that. It’s always a compromise. I mean, I’ve been governor now for five and a half years. I’ve gone through two sets of union negotiations. In fact, more than that, because they’re often stragglers that negotiate. We negotiate at other times. But everybody has to compromise because there isn’t all the money in the world available to do all the things that that we’d all like to do. And then at the same time, you know, you want to make sure that you’re recognizing the dignity that the workers deserve and that the pay that they deserve and the benefits that they deserve. So those are the competing forces. I hope that those things get taken into consideration by all the members of the Board of Education.

I hope people don’t resign. I don’t know why they should or would. At this point, we’re about to elect a new, at least half of the school board in November. So if you think about it, it’s five weeks away. You know, at a minimum, let’s elect those new members.

Emphasis added.

* And, finally…

Today in CTU-CPS contract dispute land: The teachers union wants its workers to have the same termination clause protecting them as Pedro Martinez received from the board. This is a major clause keeping Brandon Johnson and the board from firing the superintendent. pic.twitter.com/Da1qVdwcLu

— Gregory Royal Pratt (@royalpratt) October 1, 2024

That one made me chuckle.