(Chicago) Johnson denies hiding funds as CTU withholds 2019–2023 audits; Fewkes Tower proceeds routed to the CTU Foundation fuel a politics-first machine
A leaked video now making the rounds shows Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, then a top Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) official, pushing back against accusations that he hid millions from the rank-and-file.
“You think it’s worth me hiding $8 million from thousands of members? To put my own family at risk for that? I wouldn’t do that,” Johnson told a May 2022 Zoom meeting with teachers at Morgan Park High School.
“And don’t think that if I did do something like that, folks wouldn’t come to try to figure out how to take me down.”
The clip, posted August 10, 2025 by Austin Berg, comes as CTU fights a lawsuit to force release of annual financial audits it hasn’t shared since 2020 — the very years when the union’s once-$8.8 million reserve vanished.
The paper trail leading to this moment runs back more than a decade, to 2014, when CTU sold Fewkes Tower, its 29-story apartment building at 55 W. Chestnut.
In April 2015, the union announced that “all of the proceeds” — later estimated between $40 and $60 million — were deposited into the Chicago Teachers Union Foundation.
The Foundation, controlled by CTU’s ruling caucus but operating outside direct member oversight, became the quiet holding tank for the union’s most valuable asset and the launchpad for a new kind of political power.
In an interview for the Illinois Policy documentary Local 1: The Rise of America’s Most Powerful Teachers Union, Dr John Kugler (the author of this article) called this “go to jail” stuff because of what happened next:
“When you say you’re gonna use the money for one thing, and you’re an education institution, and you give a bag of cash to guys to run political stuff on the street…
What does that have to do with the kid that can’t read on the East Side? Nothing. That’s a concerted effort to deceive not only the members of the Chicago Teachers Union but the public…
If you want to do politics, say we’re going to do politics…
But if you’re pretending to do one thing, and then on the side you’re doing something else, that’s what I’m talking about.”
From there, the Foundation became the financial engine for a gleaming new headquarters and millions in payouts to political allies — spending far removed from classrooms and contract fights, and shielded from the kind of scrutiny that would have come with keeping the money inside the union’s books.
By 2018, the same leadership was pulling off another maneuver. Delegates had approved a $1.4 million supplemental budget to be split evenly between political campaigns, a contract fight, and public communications.
But Vice President Jesse Sharkey told members the money had been “loaned” to Jesús “Chuy” García’s mayoral campaign — a loan union records never showed.
Reporter and CTU consultant George N. Schmidt documented the shift and warned that repayment could stretch into the 2030s, while every dollar of the allocation was already gone.
The operation ran beyond one campaign.
Political operative Jason Lee, a fixture in Chicago’s progressive electoral machine, was allegedly “handing out bags of cash on the West Side,” with two street captains known as Dana and Frank (?) directing the ground game.
Mr Lee is currently under investigation for being a Texas resuident and employed by teg city of Chicago as a staffer for Mayor Johnson, a violation of teh residency rules governing city employment.
Then – CTU CFO Mike Baldwin walked away rather than “be part of the corruption.” Those who questioned the spending — Schmidt, Joey McDermott, and eventually dr kugler — were pushed out.
The message inside the union was clear: speak up, and you’re gone.
Even moments of deep personal crisis couldn’t slow the fight over money. Multiple sources say that during late CTU President Karen Lewis’s hospitalization, top officers — including current Vice President Jackson Potter — were present when shouting matches erupted over union funds.
One account has Stacey Davis Gates confronting Lewis about the money while she lay on her deathbed. Several staffers know what happened, but have stayed silent to protect their jobs, health insurance, and pensions.
Baldwin remains the key witness.
His testimony could crack open allegations of interstate wire fraud, money laundering, and a decade’s worth of political cash transfers that insiders estimate may reach a quarter-billion dollars.
By January 2022, the Members First caucus publicly warned that the reserves were gone, millions had been loaned out, and much of it had never come back.
Four months later, Johnson gave his now-leaked denial. By October 2024, four union members sued in Cook County to compel the release of the missing audits.
In May 2025, a judge refused to dismiss the case, keeping alive the demand for the 2019–2023 financials.
Now, with the Johnson video circulating and the audit lawsuit grinding forward, the unanswered questions from the “Chuy loan” era remain sharper than ever: how did CTU go from an $8.8 million reserve and a $50 million real estate sale to empty coffers, hidden audits, and a membership kept entirely in the dark?
Until those audits see the light of day — and Baldwin and others speak under oath — the suspicion will remain that the Chicago Teachers Union wasn’t just funding political change.
It was running a machine, and the money meant for classrooms and members was the fuel.
References
Chicago Teachers Union Selling Downtown Apartment Tower (13 Oct 2014) https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20141013/CRED03/141019948/chicago-teachers-union-selling-downtown-apartment-tower
CTU Sells Fewkes Tower — “All of the proceeds … were deposited into the Chicago Teachers Union Foundation.” (30 Apr 2015)
https://www.ctulocal1.org/posts/ctu-sells-fewkes-tower/
Did CTU officers and staff violate union rules … spending ALL of the $1.4 million … on the Chuy campaign “loan”? (20 Apr 2018)
https://substancenews.net/articles.php?page=6917
CTU: Selling Out the Membership — proceeds transferred to CTU Foundation (2 Oct 2019)
https://citizenvsmachine.blogspot.com/2019/10/ctu-selling-out-membership.html
CTU leaders now face internal revolt — reserves once $8.8M; loans outstanding (25 Jan 2022) https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/2022/01/25/ctu-leaders-now-face-internal-revolt-00001719
CTU sold apartment tower for $50M, but members saw no benefit (19 May 2022) https://www.illinoispolicy.org/ctu-sold-apartment-tower-for-50m-but-members-saw-no-benefit/
Local 1: The Rise of America’s Most Powerful Teachers Union (Full Film) — interview with Dr. John Kugler (YouTube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbQ81mGucvs
Chicago Teachers Union members sue over missing audits (8 Oct 2024) https://www.illinoispolicy.org/chicago-teachers-union-members-sue-over-missing-audits/
Chicago Teachers Union sued over missing audits (9 Oct 2024)
https://wbma.com/news/local/chicago-teachers-union-sued-over-missing-audits
CTU sued over financial records (case filing overview) (Oct 2024)
https://libertyjusticecenter.org/media/chicago-teachers-union-sued-over-financial-records/
Probe Ongoing Into Whether Senior Adviser Violated Residency Rule by Voting in Texas, Johnson Says (Dec 9, 2024) https://news.wttw.com/2024/12/09/probe-ongoing-whether-senior-adviser-violated-residency-rule-voting-texas-johnson-says
Court keeps audit-access lawsuit alive; motion to dismiss denied (21 May 2025) https://libertyjusticecenter.org/media/ctu-lawsuit-audit-access/
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s ‘pending’ Springfield lobbyist team draws ethics questions (July 1, 2025) https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/30/mayor-brandon-johnson-springfield-lobbying-questions/
Leaked 2022 Johnson clip denying “hiding $8 million” (10 Aug 2025) https://x.com/Austin__Berg/status/1954534880739545507
SubX.News® on-the-spot reporting
