Colorado Teachers Unions Give 99.8 Percent of Political Funds to Democrats
Author: bdegrow // Category: Political ContributionsRight now, it’s the heart of political season. That means some teacher organizations — the Colorado Education Association (CEA) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) — are actively involved in contributing member funds to various campaigns. (Other teacher organizations do not collect or distribute member money for political contributions.) As Ed News Colorado reports today with a dog bites man headline: “Union contributions mount up.”
Through September 1, here’s an updated overview of how the two unions have spent on political action for the current 2010 election cycle (all information provided by reports on the Colorado Secretary of State’s campaign finance database). First, CEA and its local affiliates have given:
- $494,015 to progressive and Democratic 527 and 501c4 political action groups
- $260,110 to Democratic candidates and party organizations
- $1,500 to a Republican organization (but no candidates) — That’s one dollar to Republicans for every 173 dollars to Democrats
And now the AFT:
- $63,980 to progressive and Democratic 527 and 501c4 political action groups
- $50,000 to Democratic candidates and party organizations
- $0 to Republicans
Added together, Colorado teachers unions have contributed 99.8 percent of their combined political spending for 2010 to one party: the Democrats. Somehow, I’m guessing that CEA and AFT members won’t vote this year in quite the same proportion. Where’s the balance?
Check out our political contributions page for some context, to see how imbalanced teachers union political giving is even by recent historical standards.
September 14th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
[...] (including the Colorado Education Association and American Federation of Teachers) are giving 99.8 percent of their political funds to Democrats, and you have to scratch your head. Exactly whom are NEA and CEA looking out for? I sometimes [...]
October 25th, 2010 at 11:24 am
[...] This accusation is a real head-scratcher. Not only does the Tribune article point out all the Democratic school board candidates supported by Stand for Children, but 13 of the 18 state legislative candidates supported by the group are Democrats as well. A large number of the organization’s backers are Democrats, too. But maybe that all looks different if your frame of reference is the teachers union — which is wholly attached at the hip with the Democratic Party, as evidenced in part by its political endorsements and contributions. [...]
November 23rd, 2010 at 2:11 pm
[...] unions (the Colorado Education Association and American Federation of Teachers) had reported giving a combined 99.8 percent of their political contributions from member dues to the Democratic Party and its candidates, as [...]