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

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,…