June 11 runoff between CORE and UPC confirmed, but... Chicago Teachers Union continues to release partial information about results of May 21 election
The Chicago Teachers Union continued to release partial results of the hotly contested May 21, 2010 election on the evening of Monday, May 24, when the union's "canvassing committee" voted by a vote of 4 - 3 to hold back the release of the complete results until the materials are processed for the union's website and posted there. Observers and members of the canvassing committee were given the results of elections for citywide offices by 9:00 p.m. on May 24, following the return of election boxes from 34 schools that had not been picked up on May 21 following the vote. The boxes added more than 900 votes to the totals compiled on May 21, and by the end of the evening the count was complete.
The results released on May 24 confirm that there will be a runoff, at least for the citywide offices noted so far, between the candidates endorsed by the CORE (Caucus of Rank and File Educators) caucus (whose presidential candidate is Karen Lewis and the candidates of Marilyn Stewart's United Progressive Caucus (UPC). While it is likely that there will also be a runoff in other contested executive board positions, that was not confirmed by the information release by the AAA on May 24.
Chicago Teachers Union financial secretary Mark Ochoa, who was present during the counting of the ballots and who took part in the meetings of the union's canvassing committee through the count (which lasted more than 14 hours on May 21 and last from 4:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. on May 24), said that the full results of all contested offices along with school-by-school results would be posted on the CTU website (www.ctunet.com).
According to the American Arbitration Association "Certification of Results" of the election, the following information was made available by the end of May 24:
The final results of the Chicago Teachers Union election held on May 21 confirmed that CORE's presidential candidate Karen Lewis (above, speaking at the April 28, 2010 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education) will face United Progressive Caucus candidate Marilyn Stewart in a June 11 runoff, since neither candidate received a majority of the votes. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.For President:
Deborah Lynch (PACT), 3505 votes
Theodore M. Hajiharis (SEA), 1,205 votes
Marilyn Stewart (UPC), 6,853 votes
Linda C. Porter (CSDU), 1,370 votes
Karen Lewis (CORE), 6,336
For Vice President:
Josephine Perry (PACT), 3,459 votes
Michael Miguest (SEA), 1,182 votes
Mark M. Ochoa (UPC), 6,804 votes
John Moran (CSDU), 1,364 votes
Jesse Sharkey (CORE), 6,316
For Recording Secretary:
Mary Sanchez (PACT), 3,545 votes
Belen Alcozer (SEA), 1,158 votes
Mary M. Orr (UPC), 6,712 votes
Lisa Dimberg (CSDU), 1,340 votes
Michael Brunson (CORE), 6,346
For Financial Secretary:
Maureen Callaghan (PACT), 3,482 votes
Pamela C. Touras (SEA), 1,176 votes
Keith Vendermeulen (UPC), 6,665 votes
Jose Jiminez (CSDU), 1,465 votes
Kristine Mayle (CORE), 6,323
The "results" presented at the end of the count on May 24, 2010 at 9:00 p.m. also included the votes for the posts of Area A Vice President, Area B Vice President, Area C Vice President, and the trustees (six to be elected).
The results not reported on May 24 are the following executive board seats:
High School Functional Vice Presidents (6)
Elementary Functional Vice Presidents (17)
School Clerk Functional Vice Presidents (1)
Teacher Assistants Functional Vice Presidents (3)
Library Assistant Functional Vice President (1)
Vision Screening Functional Vice President (1)
School Community Rep Functional Vice Presidents (1)
The union and AAA are also withholding the vote counts for the 150 AFT/IFT convention delegates and the 45 alternates to the AFT and IFT conventions.
As of the beginning of school on May 25, 2010, the union had offered no explanation as to why that information had been withheld from the membership for the fourth day since the voting ended.
Comments:
By: George N. Schmidt
AAA neutrality
AAA is being paid by the Chicago Teachers Union, not by UPC. The trouble last night was that there were no guidelines in their contract stating that they had to provide the data to all members of the canvassing committee and all official observers once the data were completed, in digital form or whatever form the canvassers or observers requested.
The two CORE canvassers and I came with flash drives and expected until the last minute UPC doublecross that we were going to leave with the flash drives containing an Excel spreadsheet with all of the data, and the school by school data as well. We even tested our flash drives (with the AAA tech guy) to make sure we had enough available memory.
The double cross was so breathtaking that we couldn't have role played it. AAA handed Karen Kreinick a three page sheet containing only the information I've reported, and she basically announced that was all people were going to get because the "union" was going to get the complete report and until it was on the "union" website nobody else was going to see it.
The trouble then was, people were made to sign off on the canvassing "report," even though it was incomplete. Only Lou Pyster signed with a note saying he was only signing for the three pages he had in front of him.
We actually believed, until the last minute double cross, that everyone would leave that night with the complete report. I was prepared to take my copies to three of the people I represented that night (Karen, Kristine, and Michael) and the other two were going to get their data to the two other leaders. Instead, we walked out with the information I'm reporting as of now...
And a claim that the "Union" owns the stuff and that it's nobody's business until the "Union" decides to published it on the "Union" website.
Which it hasn't done as of my writing of this note.
Which is why I'm beginning a column called "Countdown."
But I wouldn't blame AAA. Honestly, they made a couple of mistakes (mostly in the deployment of the messengers and their failure to give the messengers receipt books and clear identification). At the point where we were at AAA, they were taking orders from the "Union" -- which meant four UPC people, including the UPC candidate for vice president.
Those are some of the facts as of 9:00 a.m. on May 25, 2010.
If you'd try to tell me even at midnight Friday (May 21, election day) that I'd be writing this on Tuesday, even my skepticism would have said "Not likely."
I guess this shows how desperate they now are. But it was ugly at the finish line (no uglier than a lot of the nonsense they've pulled, from the Dallas purge to the bullying in the House of Delegates), but ugly in their unique and memorable way...
I was proud to be working for the people for whom I was working, and proud to be working with all the observers and canvassers. Only a handful of them were hacks, and that's almost as pathetic as it is irksome.
By: Nirvana
TAINTED ELECTION
Riddle me this. How can Chicago AAA be considerewd neutral if they work for UPC?
How many ballot boxes were dropped off at the Union Hall? How many dropped off at 225 North Michigan? Were signatures required for Ballot Boxes that were dropped off?
Why was it necessary to transmit data from here to New York? Has this ever been done before? If not why now?
How many and what schools were disqualified?
Will City-Wide and supplemental results be supplied?