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Supporting Liberal Causes
Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had an interesting article that began:
If we told you that an organization gave away more than $65 million last year to Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Amnesty International, AIDS Walk Washington and dozens of other such advocacy groups, you’d probably assume we were describing a liberal philanthropy. In fact, those expenditures have all turned up on the financial disclosure report of the National Education Association, the country’s largest teachers union.From OpinionJournal - Featured Article
Referenced Wed Jan 04 2006 07:27:26 GMT-0700 (MST)
The numbers are a result of a new federal law that requires disclosure. Curious, I spent a little time on the UEA site, trying to find out how they spend their money. The site has a page that lists and explains the following expenditures:
- Local UniServ Program (50.2%)
- Program Services & Administration (33.5%)
- Building Operations (6.2%)
- Strategic Goals I-IV (3.8%)
- Governance, Meetings & Convention (6.3%) UEA Convention.
There’s not much more information than that. No annual report that I could see that gives actual figures. There is a page about UEA PACs and an invitation to contribute.
The NEA actively fights school choice:
The extent to which the NEA sends money to states for political agitation is also revealing. For example, Protect Our Public Schools, an anti-charter-school group backed by the NEA’s Washington state affiliate, received $500,000 toward its efforts to block school choice for underprivileged children. (Never mind that charter schools are public schools.)From OpinionJournal - Featured Article
Referenced Wed Jan 04 2006 07:37:21 GMT-0700 (MST)
I’m curious…does the UEA have more detailed information available and I’m missing it? What do they spend their money on? What are the salaries of their leadership and professional staff? How much money do they spend blocking choice? Maybe it’s time for state legislation that mirrors the new Federal law.
Posted by windley on January 4, 2006 07:24 AM
Comments
The federal law governs federal PACs, and Utah Law governs Utah PACs, like UEA. UEA has to disclose, but not on their website, just to the State. The State Elections office then posts the info on the web.
Here is their reports from 2004:
https://ucrs.state.ut.us/ucrsppc/public.html?Target=pppcpubAccountSummary&PEID=150&ElectionYear=2004
-Bob
Posted by: Bob at January 5, 2006 09:30 AM
That's just their PAC, though. What about the organization as a whole?
Posted by: Phil at January 5, 2006 09:41 AM
Sounds like a question for Charlie Foster.
Posted by: Justin at January 5, 2006 12:06 PM
You would think the NEA would contribute to school choice special interest activist groups. They shouldn't be leaving any liberal groups behind.
Posted by: keeptheleadout at January 7, 2006 10:52 AM
Wouldn't requiring UEA to open its books also require any organization (business, lobbying group, whatever) to also open their books for public inspection?
Posted by: skippy at January 10, 2006 11:11 AM
We do require that organizations with substantial public interest open their books--so why not the UEA? Public companies and large charities already live with such scrutiny.
Posted by: Phil at January 10, 2006 11:15 AM
Why not the legislators too while we're at it?
Posted by: TomJones at January 10, 2006 08:15 PM