Attachment A

The documents referenced below show the on-going involvement of the WEA in politics. Current WEA President Prielipp openly and plainly states member dues will continue to be used for political contributions.

Pages 1-2: Excerpt from WEA Action Newsletter for March 1999. An article by Lee Ann Prielipp, WEA President, discusses how WEA targeted legislative races. Ms. Prielipp attributes legislative changes to the hard work of members and staff. She then discusses media coverage and polling used to promote teacher pay increase measures. "[N]one of this is cheap."

Pages 3-6: Speech given by WEA President Lee Ann Prielipp at WEA’s 1999 Representative Assembly. Page 4 references WEA’s long range plans to impact the political climate of Washington state. According to Ms. Prielipp, WEA targeted key legislative races, setting its sights on a shift of power in the Senate.

Ms. Prielipp stated, "I appointed an Action Task Force composed of leaders and staff from throughout the state . . .WEA assigned three additional staff members to work on community organizing and building local capacity to support the fight for fair compensation. We released local leaders, hired some contract help, and mustered virtually every full-time employee's time [paid from dues] and resources to assist in the Association's number one priority."

Pages 7-8: Excerpt from WEA Action Newsletter for June, 1999. Announces that the Action Task Force has drafted a new political plan. Political activities include electing "pro-education" legislators, passing school levies, and using upcoming elections to promote teacher compensation.

Pages 9-10: Excerpt from WEA Action Newsletter for September, 1999. WEA dues are used for political activities, such as lobbying and supporting or opposing initiatives."First, I want to clarify that regular monthly dues of WEA’s card-carrying members do cover activities in the political arena such as lobbying for higher salaries or opposing anti-public-education initiatives like vouchers. ... It is the separate, voluntary WEA-PAC dues that are used specifically for candidate endorsements."

Pages 11-12: Excerpt from WEA Action Newsletter for April, 2000. WEA Board of Directors decided to move forward with an initiative that would guarantee and annual cost of living adjustment to teachers. The Board also voted to support the K-12 2000 initiative.

Pages 13-14: Excerpt from WEA Action Newsletter for May, 2000. Includes a copy of the COLA initiative, I-732, for members to gather signatures. WEA President Lee Ann Prielipp encourages members to collect signatures needed to put I-732 on the ballot. She told them to expect a call asking them to help with signature-gathering at public events.

 These examples show that WEA has targeted key legislative races, researched and promoted ballot initiatives, and appointed an Action Task force to assist in forming and implementing its political strategy. It is important to remember that these examples show WEA’s political activity only through June, 2000. Past practice of the WEA suggests that the expenditures to date (see following attachments) are a mere down payment of forthcoming political contributions by the WEA. You can reasonably assume the WEA will contribute even more since the 2000 election cycle has five more months. The WEA has voted to support two initiatives and is actively encouraging members to gather signatures for WEA's own teacher pay initiative. The Action Newsletters suggest the WEA has developed its own political plan. Further, WEA President Prielipp makes it clear that the WEA plans to use member dues as political contributions in the upcoming election.