SOLIDARITY FOREVER: Marilyn Stewart's UPC Web site discovered buried in ancient ruins on the Internet!
It's there. It exists. And apparently it exists to let you know that the majority of people like Ron Huberman and that William Bennett was correct when he described Chicago's public schools, two decades ago, as the "Worst in America." No sooner had we noted the difficult mere mortals would have in locating the website of the United Progressive Caucus through a, say, Google Search, than an alert reader remembered that UPC has been spending thousands of dollars on four-color leaflets at House of Delegates meetings and also remembered that Marilyn had a website: UPC4CTU.com.
Richard M. Daley contemplates supporting his minion Marilyn in the upcoming CTU election. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.The only thing worse than not knowing was seeing what Marilyn Stewart thinks is worthwhile UPC news to share. According to Stewart, the Chicago Defender's fan mail about Ron Huberman (most like him, according to the Defender) and a strange venomous blog written by a very very conservative retired Chicago teachers are part of what teachers should be reading this time around. While Stewart doesn't seem to mind Huberman, she now doesn't like Arne Duncan. Go figure.
Substance is trying in this CTU election cycle to cover all five caucuses running for union power in the current election, and we also have a policy of selling advertising to any and all. So far, the UPC is the only caucus that hasn't been providing our reporters with their regular campaign calendar, but we suspect that's because Marilyn is doing all of her campaigning on the union's time and dime, scheduling those "official business" school meetings and having her minions do UPC work in the secret "Tower Room" (that's Fewkes Tower, for those unfamiliar with the geography of the CTU's Merchandise Mart offices) preparing the latest UPC stuff to get around ad nauseum to the union's members. We'll keep trying to cover the UPC events, just as we're covering everyone else. Next excitement promises to perform this Thursday at Orchestra Hall, where we hear a bunch of FOMs (Friends of Marilyn) are gathering for a $5,000 a table event to raise money to make sure she remains President for Life. See you there around 5:00 on April 29, and be sure to get pictures. It's bound to be a hoot.
By: Jim Cavallero
New UPC or Old UPC?
What's interesting is if you look at the UPC history link. They claim every President going back to Robert Healy. But if I'm not mistaken, when Marilyn first ran against Debbie Lynch back in 2004, she and Ted Dallas ran as the "New UPC". They didn't want anything to do with the Reese days if I remember correctly. Funny how she has no problem with that history now.