CTU President Karen Lewis Labels Governor Rauner An 'ISIS Recruit'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- In perhaps her sharpest rhetoric yet, the head of the Chicago Teachers Union has likened Governor Bruce Rauner to a terrorist, reports WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore.
CTU president Karen Lewis and Governor Rauner have crossed rhetorical swords before. The governor has accused the union of running the schools in its own interest and not the children's.
Lewis was not mincing words this time.
"Rauner is the new ISIS recruit," she said.
In a speech to the City Club of Chicago, she expanded on that.
"Has Homeland Security checked this man out yet?" Lewis said. "Because the things he's doing look like acts of terror on poor and working class people."
Later, Lewis charged that Rauner is deliberately squeezing Illinois school children and the needy.
"I think he's holding people hostage," she said. "Who does that? who does that?...because you can't get something else you want that has nothing to do with a budget? It's ideological. That's terrorism."
Later, Lewis charged that Rauner is deliberately squeezing Illinois school children and the needy.
"I think he's holding people hostage," she said. "Who does that? who does that?...because you can't get something else you want that has nothing to do with a budget? It's ideological. That's terrorism."
The governor's office wasted little time in issuing a response and put out a statement saying, "This kind of rhetoric has no place in American public discourse and sets a terrible example for our kids."
While Lewis blasted Rauner in Chicago, in Springfield, CTU members joined other labor groups outside governor's mansion, demanding a budget.
Lewis insists, she's simply telling it like it is.
"You know what, he talks about me all the time, so guess what the gloves are off," she said.