Unelected school board's financial corruption in defense of the 'toxic swaps'... A new Labor Beat video -- 'Unelected CPS Board In Bad Bank Loan Scandal'
As the day draw near when Chicago voters will get to vote on whether they want an elected school board, examples of the corruption of the current school board proliferate, with the city's corporate media finally exposing the corruption. The campaign for an elected school board in Chicago has been around for a few years, but in the lead-up to the February 24, 2015 municipal elections, when a non-binding referendum on this will be on the ballot, it got a boost from the news about the growing corruption of the Board of Education and its seven members. In November of 2014, the Chicago Tribune decided to cover a story which the Chicago Teachers Union had been talking about for three years -- and researchers at Substance for five years. Viewers can see this video on You Tube: http://youtu.be/pbukYSIqPdk
Chicago Teachers Union organizer Matt Luskin tells the November 19, 2014 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education that the Board should ask for arbitration over the "toxic swaps" that CPS had arranged with the big banks. Substance photo by Nate Goldbaum.The story will be available on video on Cable TV later this week:
On Cable TV:
Chicago - CAN TV Channel 19
Thursday, Jan. 15, 9:30 pm
Friday, Jan. 16, 4:30 pm
Thursday, Jan. 22, 9:30 pm
Friday, Jan. 23, 4:30 pm
The Tribune's investigations showed shocking examples of collusion between the big banks and the school board -- at the expense of the schools. The un-elected school board had been for years taking out bad loans with banks. But the Tribune had finally subpoenaed, under a court order, the relevant documents. Finally it was harder for CPS to ignore the criticism.
The November 19, 2014 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education (above) was the only time during the 21st Century that the school board of the nation's third largest city met at a school in the community -- as opposed to meeting downtown at a location expensive for parking and other access. Above, the members of the Board sit on stage at Westinghouse High School while CTU organizer Matt Luskin (inset) speaks to the Board. Substance and Labor Beat photo by David Vance. CTU Organizer Matthew Luskin stood before the monthly meeting of the Chicago Board of Education on November 19, 2014 and told them: "During the same period when the Mayor [Emanuel] and this board of education had been telling us that there was nothing we could do about budgets, that we had to close schools and lay off staff...that while that was happening Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Loop Capital and others took $237,000,000 in profits from CPS through these [toxic swap] deals -- this is according to CPS's numbers -- and they're poised to take over $200,000,000 more." Luskin emphasized: "You have options here...we can file for arbitration, we can file for lawsuit under state law, the Board of Education could take a stand."
CTU Staff Coordinator Jackson Potter continued this line of reasoning after Luskin was bum-rushed away from the mic the millisecond his time expired. "You have financial experts from across the country now raising the alarm. This is very serious. It's your duty and obligation to revisit this question," Potter said. For three months, union spokesmen had asked the Board to request arbitration on the question. The issue was whether the banks had fully disclosed the risks of what the union was calling the "toxic swaps."
Chicago Board of Education member Henry Bienen (above during the November 19, 2014 Board meeting) said on the record that he wanted to meet with the Chicago Tribune to straighten out the Tribune's reporting on the toxic swaps. Bienen never told the public what happened after his suggestion, but further Tribune reporting continued to demonstrate the corruption of the Board of Education, all seven of whose members are appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Labor Beat photo by David Vance.But Henry Bienen, member of the Chicago Board of Education, was not interested in legally challenging the banks over bad loans, but was instead interested in spending time meeting with the Chicago Tribune to to try to spin the story about the bad swaps. Throughout the growing controversy over CPS's bad loan agreements, and the Board's refusal so far to exercise legal options to arbitrate and possibly get out of those agreements, the campaign for an elected representative school board continued.
At a press conference on December 17 which supported the upcoming advisory referendum for an elected board, several speakers drew lessons from the bad swaps controversy. They noted that CPS was reluctant to get school board money lost to toxic swaps back from their banker friends, but in 2013 the Mayor-appointed Board closed 50 public schools because CPS was 'running out of money'. The consequences of these bad swaps has especially affected minority schools. Irena Jackson pointed out the relevance of the historic Brown vs. Bd. of Education decision 60 years ago to the fight today for equal opportunity and equity of resources in America's schools. Also on YouTube at: http://youtu.be/pbukYSIqPdk
On Cable TV:
Chicago - CAN TV Channel 19
Thursday, Jan. 15, 9:30 pm
Friday, Jan. 16, 4:30 pm
Thursday, Jan. 22, 9:30 pm
Friday, Jan. 23, 4:30 pm
ALSO:
Plus encore showing:
Loop Capital Swaps Rip Off Chicago Schools
Friday, Sept. 19, 2014. Chicago Teachers Union members and retirees from AFSCME Council 31 and SEIU Healthcare Illinois marched in front of the Chicago headquarters of Loop Capital, a private investment firm run by one of Mayor Emanuel's pals. Loop Capital, according to the CTU, has extracted "through risky interest rate swap deals" over $100 million yearly from the city's public schools. Also on YouTube at: http://youtu.be/pbukYSIqPdk
Plus encore showing:
Mass Rally in Okinawa against U.S. Bases
The Obama administration is now talking about making a strategic "pivot" from the Middle East to East Asia. We show here a 2010 short report sent to us by friends in Japan about a rally against new U.S. bases in Okinawa, which was attended by 90,000 people. Now, in 2015, the newly elected (in a landslide) governor of Okinawa prefecture, Takeshi Onaga, pledges to completely get rid of the Futenma (U.S.) air base. This was in the face of Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe who wants more military ties with the U.S. Also on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GExkHh-VtK0
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