Watchdog group takes teachers’ union to court over politicking

OLYMPIA - Olympia-based Evergreen Freedom Foundation will act as the State of Washington when it begins its trial against the Washington Education Association on May 3 in Thurston County Superior Court.

EFF, a free-market public policy group, seeks to prove that the WEA’s extensive political activities with general dues monies qualify the organization as a political action committee (PAC). PACs have an obligation to the public to disclose expenditures, and they can only be funded from voluntary sources.

Although Washington voters approved a paycheck protection law in 1992 — the first ever in the nation — the WEA has ignored the law, taking members’ mandatory dues monies and spendingthem on political campaigns. The WEA was forced to pay a $430,000 fine in 1997 for campaign-finance violations stemming from the 1996 elections when the union levied a mandatory deduction from teachers’ paychecks. A closed-door settlement between the WEA and the Washington state Attorney General allowed union brass to continue raiding workers paychecks for politics so long as general dues monies and not a specific deduction from paychecks was used for PAC contributions.

In 1998 alone, unions spent $1,375,387 on legislative races and $702,741 on initiative campaigns. The vast majority of candidates and ballot measures receiving union contributions were liberal.

The WEA collects more than $42 million each year in WEA/National Education Association dues monies. Much of that $42 million stays in the state of Washington and ends up spent on politics.

The EFF lawsuit will expose the union’s politicking. Although pretrial "discovery" interviews remain sealed under court order, much of the issues and facts of WEA/NEA politicking will be revealed for the first time publicly when the trial opens May 3.

The WEA, however, maintains its political spending is a private matter.

"It’s none of the public’s business how WEA spends its money," said Judith Lonnquist, WEA attorney, during an April 9 pre-trial hearing in Thurston County Superior Court.

The Foundation, however, counters that full reporting of political contributors is essential to free and fair elections.

"The public has a right to know who is funding politics in this state," said Evergreen Freedom Foundation President Bob Williams. "That is why we have campaign-finance laws that require mandatory reporting of donations. Just because the WEA is a union does not make it exempt."

Contact: Marsha Richards, Communications Director, (360) 956-3482

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org