Posts tagged campaign finance
By the numbers: Unions lead the way on funding state elections in Illinois
November 4, 2024 // Unions generally raise political money through contributions from their members to dedicated funds, but tracking where the Democratic Party gets its funding is trickier.
Police Union, Real Estate Interests Spend Big in Santa Ana Elections
October 23, 2024 // Public safety unions and real estate interests are spending tens of thousands of dollars on their preferred candidates in Santa Ana’s city council races this year – amid allegations that the police union has outsized influence on city hall.
NEA Spends 500K on Four Oregon Ballot Measures, Raising Questions about Transparency
January 30, 2024 // According to new research from Americans for Fair Treatment, the National Education Association (NEA) and the Oregon Education Association (OEA) donated a combined $575,000 dollars of membership dues to the Oregon Votes Yes PAC during the 2022 election cycle. Expenditure reports show this money paid for online advertisements and canvassing in support of four constitution-amending ballot measures related to healthcare, criminal justice, quorum requirements, and firearms.
Commentary: When Unions Play Politics
December 22, 2023 // Nearly 96 percent of union PAC spending went to support Democratic candidates and organizations for use in federal and state campaigns. Meanwhile, membership dues support a thriving ecosystem of progressive-oriented organizations, which is hardly reflective of the range of viewpoints represented within membership. However, even workers ideologically aligned with union executives may resent their money going to political projects in other states. Nearly 60 percent of all state-level PAC spending went to five states: Illinois ($27.9 million), California ($24.9 million), Minnesota ($13.2 million), Pennsylvania ($12.1 million), and Washington ($7.5 million).
Boarded The Teachers’ Union Takeover of NY School Districts
November 21, 2023 // NYSUT’s involvement in state and federal elections is well-documented, but the low turnout in New York’s generally nonpartisan school board elections has given it an even bigger opportunity. The union also isn’t stopping with school boards: its electoral efforts involve elevating members to local, state and federal office, positions from which union members could eventually affect every facet of education policy. The system of campaign finance rules that regulate everything from elections for governor down to town assessors does not cover school board elections.
Michigan Democrats want to make it easier to give to unions (who give to Dems)
May 24, 2023 // Democrats-backed legislation would allow unions to collect political contributions from members via payroll deduction The legislation would reverse restrictions put in place by Republicans Unions typically donate to Democrats and have given big to the party since it took control of Lansing this year. Public resources — such as fees associated with administering the deduction program — would also be allowed to be used for payroll deductions as long as unions reimburse the costs. Employers are already allowed to deduct income tax withholdings, Social Security, overpayments and more from employees’ wages and benefits under federal and state law. They can also deduct payments for health benefits and charitable donations with employee consent.
California: TRACKING POLITICAL SPENDING BY GOVERNMENT UNIONS
December 29, 2022 // To begin to get an idea of how difficult it is to track government union political spending in California from the ground up, monitoring every campaign, go to the California Secretary of State’s Campaign Finance website, select “Committees, Parties, Major Donors & Slate Mailers,” and enter the search term “teachers.” After you’ve eliminated the ones that are inactive and terminated, you will be staring down a list of 461 active recipient committees funded by state and local teachers unions. Examining the reports from these 461 committees formed by teachers unions quickly reveals how little we really know. Many of the incoming contributions come from other committees; many of the outgoing donations are to other committees. It is almost impossible to track the money coming in or going out to its ultimate source or destination.
Santa Clara County CALIF: In the sheriff’s race, unions back Jensen while elected officials are in Jonsen’s corner
October 17, 2022 // One of the candidates for Santa Clara County Sheriff is backed by labor unions, and the other is getting more support from elected officials. Retired Capt. Kevin Jensen has received $200,000 from the union for jail guards and the union for sheriff’s deputies. He has raised $692,298 this year, according to campaign finance documents. Former Palo Alto Chief Bob Jonsen has raised $77,949 and loaned his campaign $30,000. Jonsen is supported by Rep. Anna Eshoo, Assemblyman March Berman, Supervisor Joe Simitian, Assessor Larry Stone and the majority of Palo Alto City Council. Jensen’s union support doesn’t end with the deputies and jail guards that he would oversee. He is also supported by unions in San Jose, Los Altos, Morgan Hill, Milpitas, Los Gatos, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz County and San Mateo County.