Union haters often lie about the use of union dues for political purposes.
As a local union president I was responsible for making sure that political action funds were kept strictly separate from dues money.
And we would be audited.
As a result of the Supreme Court’s decision on Janus, union dues are voluntary. So are contributions to the union’s political action committee.
Yet I have a huge problem with the way the Illinois Education Association, the Illinois Federation of Teachers and their affiliates like the Chicago Teachers Union doles out what are voluntary member contributions to the union’s political action committees.
I’ve blogged on this many times.
Union members are encouraged to sign up for automatic deductions for political action.
For years I did that.
And then I stopped.
I think the final straw was when the IEA endorsed Republican Kirk Dillard for Governor. Dillard was Illinois chair of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC is a anti-union, right-wing organization responsible for, among other pieces of legislation, the so-called stand your ground laws.
Maybe it was earlier than that. I’m not sure.
The IEA political action committees have made some doozy endorsements.
Now I make any contributions directly to the candidates I support.
The issue is back in the news again.
Is it a “customary and reasonable” expense for Illinois politicians under criminal investigation to use campaign funds to pay for lawyers to keep them out of prison?
Or, is that practice a complete breach of what political donations are supposed to be all about: paying for yard signs, petition circulators, political mailers and campaign commercials?
Those are questions now confronting the Illinois Supreme Court, which heard arguments Wednesday over the propriety of $220,000 in campaign expenditures made by government mole Danny Solis for his criminal defense lawyers.
But the court case is one thing.
What I find objectionable is the cloud of deceit about where union political action money ends up.
In the case of former Speaker and chair of the Democratic Party Michael Madigan it went for lawyer fees and sexual harassment settlements.
These were hard earned dollars of teachers in the Chicago Teachers Union and other affiliates of the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Education Association.
Indicted Chicago alder Eddie Burke has spent almost $3 million of campaign funds on his legal defense.
Some of that money came from the coffers of Friends of Michael Madigan.
And some of THAT money came from teacher union political action funds.
Union teachers who believe that their political action donations are going to elect pro-education politicians are being lied to.
Straight up lied to.
Paid for by union teachers.