PRESS RELEASE

July 8, 2003

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

PDC decides to appeal WEA case
to State Supreme Court

OLYMPIA—In a unanimous vote this morning, the state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) decided to appeal its case against the Washington Education Association (WEA) to the State Supreme Court.

In a 2-1 ruling June 24, a panel of judges in Washington’s Court of Appeals ruled that a state law designed to protect the free speech rights of teachers violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The law made it illegal for the WEA to take money from non-member teachers and use it to influence elections without permission from those teachers. The Appeals Court said it was "unduly burdensome" for the union to comply.

The case was on appeal after the WEA was sued by the state Attorney General (AG) and found guilty in July 2001 of willfully violating the law. The WEA was ordered to pay $590,000 in fines and state legal costs, and has since been required to return about $300,000 to teachers.

Attorneys for the WEA have argued that money taken from teachers’ paychecks belongs to the union and any attempts to limit their unauthorized use of teachers’ money is an abridgement of the union’s free speech rights.

By contrast, the Attorney General’s office has focused on the free speech rights of teachers, arguing that the union’s practice of spending teachers’ money on politics without their consent amounts to "forced political speech."

More than 500 citizens contacted the PDC and AG to request an aggressive appeal of the case to the State Supreme Court.

"We’re delighted this case will be appealed," said Bob Williams, president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. "We hope the State Supreme Court will uphold our nation’s constitution and the free speech rights of teachers by overturning the outrageous ruling from the Court of Appeals."

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a long-time advocate of free speech and fair elections, filed the original complaint against the WEA that sparked the Attorney General’s case.

RCW 42.17.760 -- Agency shop fees as contributions.
A labor organization may not use agency shop fees paid by an individual who is not a member of the organization to make contributions or expenditures to influence an election or to operate a political committee, unless affirmatively authorized by the individual.

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