Years of exorbitant political spending in Illinois – more than $24.3 million since 2010 – has secured an enormous amount of political influence for the Chicago Teachers Union. It is now the main political player not just in Chicago, but across the state.

It may be based in Chicago, but the Chicago Teachers Union’s lobbying affects residents throughout Illinois. The Illinois General Assembly did CTU’s bidding on 60% of the bills on which the union took a stance last session. CTU discontent is growing.

The Chicago Teachers Union has funneled over $850,000 to the political committees of 30 of the 50 current Chicago aldermen since 2010. Seven Socialists received the most money.

Since 2010, CTU has funded the political committees of 84 of 177 lawmakers currently in the Illinois General Assembly. When you look at just Democrats, it is 72% – nearly half from outside Chicago.

Not even one-quarter of SEIU HCII’s spending is on representing workers – which should be its main priority. Yet dozens of its own employees make six-figure salaries and it has increased its spending on politics by nearly 9%. Oh, yeah: plus spent over $30,000 at a pizza parlor.