Sunday, June 08, 2014

Let's Start the Summer Right by Making Fun of the Freedom Foundation


The lead:  Freedom Foundation Urges Candidates to Reject Union Money!

The quote:  “I can’t imagine anything more despicable than stealing someone’s own money to elect a candidate he or she opposes,” said Freedom Foundation CEO Tom McCabe.

The "research":  UnFree Speech: Most Washington Unions Fund Political Campaigns with Compelled Dues

The problem:  Max Nelson, Freedom Foundation labor analyst, seems to think that the WEA only had $153,000 in voluntary contributions.  This would be interesting, because that would mean that each of the 30,000+ members of WEA-PAC was only paying $5 a year, when it's really $27.

How'd he screw that up?  By getting way too cute with the "Advanced" tab on the PDC website.  Instead of simply looking up WEA-PAC numbers for 2012 at this link (where it shows almost $750,000 in small contributions) he mucked around in a detailed view that almost understates the case that he's trying to make because Max confused the WEA and the WEA-PAC.

Wait, what?  In 2012 alone WEA-PAC spent $2.5 million dollars, most of it focused on the McKenna vs. Inslee contest.  Max ignores that money to focus on what the WEA gave to WEA-PAC for office space ("Overhead") and a secretary ("Employee Services").  His line on the WEA casts doubt on $672,000 when there's a $3.7 million dollar story one PAC over.  How you write about WEA political spending without writing about WEA-PAC is beyond me.

So when the Freedom Foundation tells politicians not to take WEA money because it's tainted....?  The correct response is that it's WEA-PAC money, backed by tens of thousands of members, and that the Freedom Foundation got the facts wrong.

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Ryan.

Hope you are having a good summer.

We noticed a number of unorthodox reporting practices of WEA and WEA PAC. You've noted an important one--small donors and contributions. Is this because some UniServs handle them differently? Anyway, hoping to get it sorted out with the PDC and clarified.

Of most keen interest was the fact we missed nearly a million dollars in transfers from WEA general funds into the PAC--the very practice we are criticizing.

Missed it because they were reported as "miscellaneous" rather than contribution. That would be about $12 per represented employee of non-optional direct political speech.

http://www.myfreedomfoundation.com/sites/default/files/file_attach/WEAC32012a.pdf
http://www.myfreedomfoundation.com/sites/default/files/file_attach/WEAC32012b.pdf
http://www.myfreedomfoundation.com/sites/default/files/file_attach/WEAC32012c.pdf
http://www.myfreedomfoundation.com/sites/default/files/file_attach/WEAC32012d.pdf

I always enjoy your insight and biting commentary--even when on the receiving end.

JL

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