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Chicago Teachers Union sues Illinois Policy Institute for 'toxic' branding, 'defamatory' claims about audits

suntimes.com · 18h · first reportShare

The Chicago Teachers Union is taking aim at the Illinois Policy Institute and its legal arm, claiming in a defamation lawsuit filed Monday that social media posts and articles bashing the union’s finances and its president Stacy Davis Gates — and branding the union “toxic” — are part of a “deliberate campaign” to harm the union’s reputation. The CTU is framing the suit as Davis Gates “standing up to the multi-million dollar marketing firm, Illinois Policy Institute," the Liberty Justice Center, and Austin Berg, the nonprofit’s marketing vice president. The law firm identifies itself as nonpartisan, but it is known for taking on a high-profile conservative legal case before the Supreme Court that undermined the power of labor unions. “Falsely accusing a labor union of fraud, dishonest accounting, and misuse of funds strikes at the heart of the Union’s integrity, fitness, and ability to represent and advocate for its approximately 30,000 member-educators,” the suit, filed in Cook County