The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is now the biggest outside spender of the 2010 elections, thanks to an 11th-hour effort to boost Democrats that has vaulted the public-sector union ahead of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and a flock of new Republican groups in campaign spending.
The 1.6 million-member AFSCME is spending a total of $87.5 million on the elections after tapping into a $16 million emergency account to help fortify the Democrats' hold on Congress. Last week, AFSCME dug deeper, taking out a $2 million loan to fund its push. The group is spending money on television advertisements, phone calls, campaign mailings and other political efforts, helped by a Supreme Court decision that loosened restrictions on campaign spending.
"We're the big dog," said Larry Scanlon, the head of AFSCME's political operations. "But we don't like to brag."
The 2010 election could be pivotal for public-sector unions, whose clout helped shield members from the worst of the economic downturn. In the 2009 stimulus and other legislation, Democratic lawmakers sent more than $160 billion in federal cash to states, aimed in large part at preventing public-sector layoffs. If Republicans running under the banner of limited government win in November, they aren't likely to support extending such aid to states.
Newly elected conservatives will also likely push to clip the political power of public-sector unions. For years, conservatives have argued such unions have an outsize influence in picking the elected officials who are, in effect, their bosses, putting them in a strong position to push for more jobs, and thus more political clout.
Some critics say public-sector unions are funded by what is essentially taxpayer cash, since member salaries, and therefore union dues, come directly from state budgets.
"Public-sector unions have a guaranteed source of revenue—you and me as taxpayers," said Glenn Spencer, executive director of the Workforce Freedom Initiative at the Chamber of Commerce.
Gregory King, a spokesman for AFSCME, said conservatives make too much of the issue, especially the link to taxpayers. Based on their logic, "the government is funding the movie industry every time AFSCME members go out to the movies," he said.
The union is spending heavily this year because "a lot of people are attacking public-sector workers as the problem," said AFSCME President Gerald McEntee. "We're spending big. And we're damn happy it's big. And our members are damn happy it's big—it's their money," he said.
Spending totals are still in flux, and another group could overtake AFSCME in the race's remaining days.
Campaign spending by outside groups is increasing rapidly but is still smaller than spending by the Democratic and Republican parties, which combined have already doled out nearly $1 billion in this election cycle, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
AFSCME's campaign push accounts for an estimated 30% of what pro-Democratic groups, including unions, plan to spend on independent campaigns to elect Democrats. It was made possible in part by a 2010 Supreme Court decision that permitted companies and unions to use their own funds to pay for certain political ads. That unleashed a flood of contributions and spawned an array of new outside political organizations, most of which were set up to help elect Republicans.
The political debate over spending by outside groups has focused largely on advertising buys by those Republican-oriented groups. Unions have mostly escaped attention in that debate, in part because they traditionally have spent much of their cash on other kinds of political activities, including get-out-the-vote efforts.
Previously, most labor-sponsored campaign ads had to be funded by volunteer donations. Now, however, AFSCME can pay for ads using annual dues from members, which amount to about $390 per person. AFSCME said it will tap membership dues to pay for $17 million of ads backing Democrats this election.
President Barack Obama has criticized the Supreme Court decision that opened the door to more spending by corporations and unions. When asked about AFSCME's ramped up campaign efforts following the court's decision, the White House focused on largely anonymous campaign spending by what it termed "special interests."
"The president has been crystal clear that third-party groups which spend tens of millions of dollars from anonymous sources are a threat to our democracy—regardless of which candidates they support," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. He said these groups are disproportionately backing Republican candidates.
Public-sector employees are bracing for the most severe budget crunch yet in fiscal 2012, which for many states starts in mid-2011. Federal stimulus aid will run out in a few months and Republicans oppose providing more. Tax revenues remain well below pre-recession levels and state lawmakers who raised taxes at record rates in 2010 are reluctant to go further.
Republican takeovers in Congress and statehouses could breathe life into efforts to restrict how public-sector unions collect and spend members' dues. Republican Gov. Chris Christie has proposed including public-employee unions under New Jersey's pay-to-play rules, which generally limit political contributions by affected groups and individuals. Other Republican governors are likely to pursue similar measures.
One group, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, one of the main conservative union critics, advocates turning public-sector unions into voluntary organizations. That would deprive unions of the ability to use the government payroll system to collect dues and contributions. It would also allow state and local employees to organize and bargain in other ways.
Mr. Scanlon, who has run elections for AFSCME for nearly 15 years, acknowledged the connection between the number of government jobs and the union's political clout. "The more members coming in, the more dues coming in, the more money we have for politics," Mr. Scanlon said. AFSCME's membership has grown 25% in the past decade.
AFSCME began the year with a $70 million budget to campaign for Democrats who supported its priorities in Washington. It wasn't planning to help those who opposed issues including health-care legislation and extending unemployment benefits.
But with a Republican takeover of the House in the offing, AFSCME reversed itself and began supporting Democrats it once opposed, following what it calls the "218 Strategy," after the number of seats needed for a House majority.
In eastern Ohio, AFSCME is campaigning hard for Rep. Zack Space, even though the second-term Democrat has been abandoned by other unions and Democratic interest groups after he voted against health-care legislation. "We know he has been bad on the issues, but the point is, if you don't elect the Zack Spaces of the world then you end up with Speaker Boehner," said Mr. Scanlon, referring to Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, who is a leading candidate to become Speaker of the House if the Republicans take the majority.
"We may not be happy with him, but let's get people re-elected and work to change their votes. It's not a perfect world."
Because the union no longer needs to use volunteer donations to pay for attack ads, it has more money left in its political action committee to donate directly to candidates. AFSCME has donated a total $2.2 million directly to Democratic candidates in this election cycle, including nearly $100,000 this week to the re-election campaigns of 57 House and Senate candidates.
The union has also donated a total of $5 million to the Democratic Governors Association and Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, making it the top donor to the Democrats' efforts to win gubernatorial and state-legislative races. It's also the top donor to Patriot Majority, a leading Democratic outside group that is running ads to help Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and other congressional Democrats.
News Corp., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, is one of the larger corporate donors on the other side of the ledger, and has donated $1.25 million to the Republican Governors Association and $1 million to the Chamber of Commerce. (
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