Since Wisconsin became the center of attention due to the attempt to strip Unions of their collective bargaining rights, I’ve been hearing people from the right, and the left, say that the Unions fund Democratic campaigns. This is a false accusation, because according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Labor organizations are prohibited from using money received via union dues to fund campaigns (Federal Election par 4).
For those who do not wish to click the link, here is the wording in the law:
(b)(1) Any corporation whatever or any labor organization is
prohibited from making a contribution as defined in 11 CFR part 100,
subpart B. Any corporation whatever or any labor organization is
prohibited from making a contribution as defined in 11 CFR 114.1(a) in
connection with any Federal election.
So, many are making the argument that the public-sector employee unions are using tax-payer dollars to fund Democratic campaigns. As I’ve cited, they are not allowed to due to FEC regulations. However, the Unions can create Political Action Committees (PAC) that grants Union members, or anyone else for that matter, the ability to donate money to a general fund for supporting candidates that are running on issues that will benefit the workers and/or Union(s).
Political Action Committees are nothing new; this has been the preferred method of donating money to campaigns for many years – decades in fact. PACs can be found all over the place, SarahPAC, for example, is a Political Action Committee for Sarah Palin. This is nothing new.
Also, to say Unions of public-sector employees are paid for by tax-payers money is false, from a logical standpoint. Let me explain:
A person gets a job with the state, and, technically, they get paid with tax-payer money, however, once that money is distributed to those people, it is no longer tax payer money. It is money owned by a private citizen for providing a service. So, the state/federal workers now have a paycheck, and they choose to allocate a portion of that to their Union dues. Emphasis on the words, “they choose.”
Now, I will point out that in this same FEC law, it states that corporations are prohibited from making campaign contributions as well, but, due to a recent Supreme Court decision in the case of Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, corporations are now able to give an unlimited amount of money to campaign contributions. The Supreme Court states that “The Court has recognized that First Amendment protection extends to corporations” (Supreme Court 25).
So, the ‘talking point’ that Unions are somehow funding money to these Democratic campaigns is completely false.
I do the research, so you don’t have to.
