Shock Report: You’ll Never Believe How Much Cash Big Labor Pumps Into Politics
- Posted on July 10, 2012 at 2:33pm by
Becket Adams
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Between 2005 and 2011, organized labor spent $1.1 billion supporting federal candidates, according to Federal Election Commission reports, and an additional $3.3 billion on various political activities, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.
The $3.3 billion figure comes to us from the Journal’s Tom McGinty and Brody Mullins who researched little-known union and labor federation reports to the Labor Department.
Unsurprisingly, they found unions spend vast amounts of cash on a wide range “of political activities, including supporting state and local candidates and deploying what has long been seen as the unions’ most potent political weapon: persuading members to vote as unions want them to.”
“Persuading members to vote as unions want them to” is okay, but you better not let corporations or the Koch brothers anywhere near a campaign!
Heavy spending in politics has made it such that unions can “maintain and in some cases increase their clout in Washington and state capitals, even though unionized workers make up a declining share of the workforce,” according to the WSJ report.
“The result is that labor could be a stronger counterweight than commonly realized to ‘super PACs’ that today raise millions from wealthy donors, in many cases to support Republican candidates and causes,” the report adds.
Well, that certainly is interesting. Unions actually have the ability to challenge the fundraising abilities of PACs but, for reasons unknown, were only supposed to have a problem with wealthy individual and corporate donors because, um, they’re buying the election … or something.
The WJS report continues [emphases added]:
The usual measure of unions’ clout encompasses chiefly what they spend supporting federal candidates through their political-action committees, which are funded with voluntary contributions, and lobbying Washington, which is a cost borne by the unions’ own coffers. These kinds of spending, which unions report to the Federal Election Commission and to Congress, totaled $1.1 billion from 2005 through 2011, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
The unions’ reports to the Labor Department capture an additional $3.3 billion that unions spent over the same period on political activity.
The costs reported by unions to the Labor Department are varied and include everything from polling fees to money spent on food to feed last year’s Wisconsin protesters.
“Much of this kind of spending comes not from members‘ contributions to a PAC but directly from unions’ dues-funded coffers,” the WSJ reports.
But let’s pause for a second and make a few important distinctions between union and corporate donations.
First, corporations mostly invest in lobbyists and don’t spend nearly the same amount of time or money unions do trying to get people to vote in a certain way.
“Unions spend millions of dollars yearly paying teams of political hands to contact members, educating them about election issues and trying to make sure they vote for union-endorsed candidates,” the Journal reports.
Secondly, corporations and their employees are almost evenly split over party donations, which, of course, sets them apart from unions (who donate primarily to Democrat candidates).
In fact, labor has focused so intensely on Democrat politics that it “has helped make it a force despite the long-term decline in the unionized workforce,” the Journal reports.
Billions of dollars, a “counterweight” to PACs, and increasing political sway despite a decreasing force.
Huh.
You know, if you Google “Romney buying election,” you get about 183,000,000 search results, and if you type “organized labor buying election,” you only get 18,700,000.
Yeah, yeah, we know: Conservative super PACs, the Koch brothers, and corporations are using all the money in the world to buy elections and, darn it, it ain’t right!
Seriously though, have you ever noticed that a lot of the people who oppose corporate donations and super PACs are also supportive of organized labor’s role in U.S. politics? Apparently, it‘s okay to dump mountains of cash into politics so long as the recipient’s name has a big “D” next to it.
Front page photo source: US News. This story has been updated.
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Comments (50)
ALL4FREEDOM
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 10:48pmUnion representation in the workforce is proportionally very small, so where are they getting that much cash? From DUES? Meanwhile, are union pension contributions being made in full or is there underfunding? This smells funny. I wonder what would happen if the membership suddenly wanted to have a look at the books. Can you say ‘forensic audit’?
Report Post »dmerwin
Posted on July 11, 2012 at 11:58pmThis is why unions should be considered corporations for the purpose of campaign funding and union members should be allowed to opt out and save their money to donate to who the individual wants to donate to.
Report Post »MDECKER
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 9:18pmIsn’t it a beautiful thing? The Recalll of Governor Scott Walker saw an onslaught of Union activism and monies that poured into the State of Wisconsin from the Left’s Union pals, all for naught. You could not ask for a more beautiful depletion of Union resources than that. They can keep on spending as much as they wish. I only hope they did not learn their lesson in Wisconsin. Maybe someday they’ll have no money and the rest of us can really achieve success in this Country.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 8:34pmSo… 17.7 Million Union Members are giving $50 a year each through the Unions… to support Politics of the Union! SUCKERS!
Report Post »bikerdogred1
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 7:26pmThe unions are stealing the retirement funds and need the government to step in and refund it for them.
Report Post »Inlightofthings
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 9:14pmAnd you figured out what the ACA was all about. People really are getting with the program. Just watch what it morphs into…Want my guess? State union workers will get a kickback from the government since we the tax payers ultimately pay for the healthcare and pensions. This WILL transfer from state to federal liabilities in my estimation.
Report Post »Shiroi Raion
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 7:20pmI’m not surprised. I said it again!
Report Post »Massive waste of money that could be used for something useful. Of course, to the unions, there‘s nothing more important than buying power to gain more power over other people’s money and destroying the free market system.
Mike N
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 5:46pm.
Come on . . . surprised? . . . really?
Jobs were not exported by mean-spirited industrialists . . . the cost of making products in the US was systematically increased by the labor machine . . . and now the jobs are gone.
In exchange for untold spoils, the Democratic Party did a great job of distracting people’s attention from the root cause, but now that they lack employment and have time to look under the hood, the people finally see what’s wrong with this machine.
November can’t come soon enough.
Report Post ».
Augie4
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 4:59pm“You know, if you Google “Romney buying election,” you get about 183,000,000 search results, and if you type “organized labor buying election,” you only get 18,700,000.”
Wow, some sharp research there, Blaze writer. Real incisive analysis, and obviously very deeply meaningful. I had no idea the Internet was liberally biased. Must be a Saul Alinsky-inspired conspiracy.
I bet you did that on Google, didncha? Well, two can play at that game!
“The Blaze load of crap” – 55,000,000 but “Glenn Beck right wing con artist” only 199,000
What’s that all about??
Report Post »Depressed_American
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 5:08pmDude are you serious!!! You base your arguments on a GOOGLE Search??? Search results don’t mean squat. What did the CONTENTS of the GOOGLE Search state?????
Report Post »Depressed_American
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 5:18pmBesides, if THE BLAZE is full of crap, why do you come to its sight and read its news????
Report Post »Treaty
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 5:18pmI Googled “AUGIE4 full of” and got 7,830,000 results…. hmm… what is AUGIE4 full of?
Report Post »GeorgieJo
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 8:31pmgoogle unionization for doctors under obama TAXhealth care
Report Post »hope you aren”t sick
hahahahaha
OMG 2012
Simonne
Posted on July 11, 2012 at 3:00pmRead the report as Google is wrong.
Report Post »Truthmonster
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 4:59pmMillions of sheepish simpletons manipulated by a handful of greedy corrupt brown shirt overlords. If union member didn’t have to pay or extorted for dues they would take home a lot more money. The members cannot challenge the thugs that run the unions. What’s fair about that? What’s democratic about that? Ban unions back in the day they had a purpose but today they are a cancer on business that increase prices and lower productivity. Unions suck hard! Right to work every State and the members decide where there money will be used.
Report Post »Individualism
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 4:55pmHow about the military industrial complex and the financiers?
Report Post »libsaredangerous
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 4:55pmYeah, and they only took in 1/2 of that in dues. Where is the rest coming from? The retiree health plans or pension plans? GM? Where? There needs to be a Federal investigation in to where this money is coming from. It costs a lot to buy an entire State government in California.
Report Post »Beckaj
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 6:23pmGood point.
Report Post »Depressed_American
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 4:43pm$4 BILLION spent trying to get Communist Democrats Elected!!! Union Member’s is this how you want your dues spent!!! YOUR UNION LEADERSHIP doesn’t give a crap on it members!!!
ALL States need to become RIGHT TO WORK STATES. The UNION LEADERSHIP needs to go to jail or prison over this figure!!!
Report Post »perry1980
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 4:37pmRush was Right
This is nothing more than Money Laundering
The Union spends the money on the candidates that support them and then once elected they create more union jobs which raise more union dues and the Circle of Life is completed
Report Post »rixdaref
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 3:56pmPlease remember, BLS figures show only 7% of private enterprise is now unionized, because, I believe, business owners by-in-large now treat employees more like partners than serfs. The same BLS figures show 36% of “public service” jobs are unionised. One might ask why a group of employees that is the most difficult to get rid of when times get tough or the need no longer exists must be unionised.
Perhaps among the reasons are:
Report Post »1. Union bosses extract dues that pay campaign donations that elect politicians who reward the unions with beneficial laws;
2. Voluntary contributions are not really voluntary;
3. Union bosses get paid by the taxpayer for doing union work. (I’d like my boss to pay me for writing letters to The Blaze.);
4. Democrat politicians SAY they are for the little man while the TAKE money from more millionaires than do the Republicans. (Hey Diane Rich and George Clooney!);
5. The well never seems to run dry; and
6. Just you try to FOIA your local, county, state, school board or agency for salary, benefit and pension information. It’s more than confidentiality, it’s more like “none of your business.”
LestWeForget
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 3:50pmWait, does this report include an accounting of the cash they pay SEIU and other union members to show up and protest conservative people and principles? “grass roots” bullying, I mean lobbying?
Report Post »barber2
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 3:37pmBetween the unions and the media, the Left has a huge advantage. Oh, and the population numbers too.
Report Post »GrumpyCat
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 3:29pmLabor doesn’t like Citizens United because CU gives the same campaign funding power to others that previously unions reserved to themselves.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 3:38pmBingo. BUT we are supposed to be too dumb to realize that.
Report Post »historyguy48
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 3:29pmComrades Dear Leader needs the money! After all, those evil capitalists have forced all their wage slaves to contribute to the enemy of Dear Leader upon pain of being tied to a tree and whipped!
Report Post »After the revolution is completed Dear Leader will be sure and show his appreciation to all those that have shown him their unflagging support, like GE, GM, Chrysler, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, among others.
Don’t worry Dear Leader will remember the little people that helped him also. Most of the little people will be invited to a prolonged vacation in one of the non-existent FEMA Family Detention Camps. Remember, Dear Leader loves you, that’s why he is working so very, very, hard to F==k you!
Mike Benton
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 2:59pmNo one who really believes in unions will care what you say in articles like this, and the rest of us are powerless. But keep up the good work, some day it will count for something.
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 2:59pm40 % of union members identify themselves as conservative….. And they should decide who their funds support…….
Report Post »Mike Benton
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 2:57pmWe are no longer a free society, we are a bought and paid for society. Big bucks win!
Report Post »CapitalismWorks
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 2:53pmSame thing that’s happening in U.S. colleges and universities – Obama wants to get these kids an “education” which in truth is no more than an indoctrination – kids who get student loans from, you guessed it, Uncle Sam.
Report Post »Lothmar
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 2:53pmYou know, im not really all that suprised…~sarc~
Report Post »HumbleCitizen
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 2:51pmUnion dude showed up at my house one day, said I was going to pay union dues whether I wanted to or not. I had two choices…non-political (cheaper) and political (more expensive). Legally, the unions are supposed to keep the monies seperate (pro VS. non-political) but I highly doubt they do that in reality. IMHO I bet my own money is used against me to promote the Marxist agenda.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 2:56pmI’m sure they keep it seperate. Just like Planned Parenthood keeps tax money seperate from abortion services.
Report Post »jman-6
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 3:08pmFeel sorry for u but if u can I would vote with my feet an get the hell outta dodge!
Report Post »contkmi
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 2:41pmNo wonder the socialists are all crying about superPACS. Republicans have finally leveled the playing field.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 2:55pmNot level .. but at least having a chance to compete … liberal causes get so much TAXPAYER money that it is far from level.
Think Planned Parenthood.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 2:38pmMr. Obama told me that it’s OK for unions to spend like that. It’s those EVIL corporations you have to worry about.
Report Post »jman-6
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 3:10pmI believe Dear Leader cuz he would never tell a lie! [sarc]
Report Post »sbenard
Posted on July 10, 2012 at 11:36pmWas that THE Kim Jong Obama?
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