Tracking Political Spending by Government Unions

By Edward Ring
11/18/2022
With a rough top-down analysis, it’s easy enough to estimate how much government unions collect and spend every year in California. They have roughly a million members, paying roughly $1,000 per year in dues. That would be one billion dollars per year. They spend about a third of that to fund political campaigns for candidates and ballot...

TAGS: California public sector unions, campaign finance, Dark money, Elections, public sector union reform

Government Union Money Dwarfs Corporate Influence in California Elections

By Edward Ring
11/01/2022
The disparity in fundraising in California between Democrats and Republicans is systemic. From statewide offices to local races, government unions — not corporations — make or break candidates, and it’s not even close. A survey of  California’s Secretary of State website will debunk any suggestion that Democrats are protecting California’s citizens from the big bad corporations. If...

TAGS: California government unions, campaign finance, campaign spending, Dark money, public sector union political spending

Limiting Charter Growth by Any Means Necessary

By Larry Sand
10/18/2016
Teachers unions in Chicago and Massachusetts are doing their darndest to stop the spread of charter schools. Amazingly, the Chicago teachers’ strike didn’t come off.  Less than 10 minutes before a midnight strike deadline on October 10th, the district and union cobbled together a deal, pending approval by the rank-and-file. One of the more contentious issues was...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Chicago Teachers Union, Dark money, Larry Sand, Manhattan Institute, Massachusetts Teachers Association, Max Eden, National Education Association, teachers union, Thomas Kane

The Teachers Unions Faux Grassroots Organizing

By Larry Sand
07/12/2016
The Hedge Clippers, a union run and organized group, laughably pretends to be grassroots. The Hedge Clippers, born last year, is an anti-capitalist, left-wing, purportedly grassroots organization whose focus is on exposing “the mechanisms hedge funds and billionaires use to influence government and politics in order to expand their wealth, influence and power.” The group received...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Citizens United, Dark money, Eva Moskowitz, Harlem Success Academy, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, Prop. 30, Randi Weingarten, teachers union, United Federation of Teachers

Myths the Union Organizer Tells Us

By Larry Sand
12/15/2015
Socialist teacher union honcho’s distortions about union political spending and “labor peace” are, well, par for the course. Shaun Richman, a former organizing director for the American Federation of Teachers, has written a bizarre piece for In These Times in which he claims that “the Friedrichs v. Calif. Teachers Association SCOTUS Case Could Actually Be...

TAGS: Abood, agency fee payer, American Federation of Teachers, Dark money, Friedrichs v CTA, labor peace, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, RiShawn Biddle, teachers union

Pension Funds and the Ultimate Hedge, Taxpayers

By Edward Ring
03/17/2015
“We’re trying to make these guys’ money toxic because, as we’ve seen, their money is toxic,” Jonathan Westin, the director of New York Communities for Change, told Business Insider on Thursday. “I think it’s connecting the dots that many people don’t always connect.” –  “Activists think they found a way to convince Democrats to stay...

TAGS: Dark money, government pension funds, government unions, pension funds

Government Unions Attack Free-Market Nonprofits via Pension Funds

By Edward Ring
04/08/2014
“The AFT will be looking more closely at those who are supporting the dismantling of defined benefit plans at the state and municipal level.” –  Ranking Asset Managers, A Retirement Security Report on Money Managers for Pension Fund Trustees, March 5, 2014 As reported in a Washington Examiner editorial on April 4th, the American Federation...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Dark money, pension funds, public sector unions