CTU's Lewis, Republican Rauner Tangle on Twitter

Exchange not first time the two have traded barbs

On Sunday, long-running animosity between Chicago Teacher’s Union president Karen Lewis and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner raised its head once again, this time on Twitter.

It began with Lewis, who tweeted a comment referencing Rauner’s current ad blitz asking potential voters to help select his campaign’s next TV ad. She wrote:

Who will create the Rauner ad with a close up his snarling lip-curl? Waiting for that creepshow.

An hour or so later, Rauner (or his campaign staff) responded:“

@KarenLewisCTU: Who will create the Rauner ad with a close up his snarling lip-curl? Waiting for that creepshow.” Probably you! Be nice KL!

Lewis, as head of the public teachers’ union, is opposed to the kind of charter-school based education reform proposals Rauner has touted as part of his campaign and elsewhere.

The exchange certainly wasn’t the first time the two have tangled in public or the media. In 2012, the two traded opposing op-ed pieces in the Chicago Tribune, with Lewis charging Rauner knew “absolutely nothing about education.” For his part, Rauner returned fire by suggesting

[The] most powerful political force in Illinois today, by far, is the government employee labor unions. They have contributed mightily to our state's budgetary and economic chaos.

Last month, Chicago Magazine published an interview with Lewis titled “Bruce Rauner is Karen Lewis’s Worst Nightmare."

The Twitter feeds come against a backdrop of news that Chicago Public Schools on has announced nine charter school operators want to open or expand a total of 21 charter schools over the next two years.
 

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