CORE makes it official... More than 5,000 signatures collected and submitted to put Karen Lewis and the entire CORE slate on the ballot for the May 17 CTU election
It's almost completely official. At 9:30 a.m. on March 25, 2013, CORE candidates Tammie Vinson, Brian Halberg and I turned in our nominating petitions to the Chicago Teachers Union's finance office, with enough signatures to put CORE candidates on the ballot for all 195 slots being elected in the May 17, 2013 Chicago Teachers Union election. Although the list of eligible candidates will not be official until the April 10 House of Delegates meeting (the union always reviews both the eligibility of candidates and the accuracy of signatures), CORE set a goal of at least double the number of nominating signatures for each office.
Biran Halberg (second from right) and Tammie Vinson (right) officially submitted the nominating petitions for all CORE candidates to Norma Albor at the Chicago Teachers Union offices on March 25, 2013. Substance photo by Al Ramirez.The officers and others to be elected on May 17 include the four officers, three area vice presidents, six trustees, and a number of others for the union's executive board.
All four of the incumbent officers who were elected in June 2010 to lead the Chicago Teachers Union have agreed to run for a second term. Karen Lewis is running for a second term as CTU President; Jesse Sharkey for Vice President; Michael Brunson for Recording Secretary; and Kristine Mayle for Financial Secretary. All four were classroom teachers at the time of their elections to lead the third largest K-12 public school teacher union in the USA. The Chicago Teachers Union is part of the 1.6 million member American Federation of Teachers.
Some of the candidates for other offices have changed since 2010, due to retirements or obligations.
Under the complex democracy of the Chicago Teachers Union, candidates for offices can run as individuals or on slates organized by a "caucus" (basically, a caucus is a political party within the union). In order to get on the ballot, a candidate has to have nominating petitions signed by at least five percent of the members eligible to vote for that office. Thus for the 2013 election, candidates for city-wide offices needed nearly 1,400 signatures. (CTU has 30,000 members, but some are retirees and unable to vote in the general election).
An official CORE statement posted on the caucus's website on March 26, 2013 stated: "We are proud to announce that the CORE slate has been nominated to run for re-election on May 17th 2013. While only 1,500 signatures were required to get CORE on the ballot, over 5,000 CTU members signed nominating petitions in support of the CORE slate. CTU members from 191 schools signed the petitions.
"The CORE slate is excited to work hard to win the election on May 17th and to continue representing the rank and file.
"'The battle for the soul of public education', as Karen Lewis has put it, both in Chicago and nationwide is just beginning. We all need to stand up and fight together this Wednesday, March 27th at Daley Plaza at the rally and march to end school closings."
