Comments on: The California Teachers Association Spent Almost $212 Million on Politics in the 2000s

By: Jim Stegall

Jim Stegall — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:00:40 +0000

Here in North Carolina the teachers’ union repeatedly tells its members and potential members, especially when recruiting, that “none of your dues money will be spent on politics.” When you press them on it they always fall back on the old ‘candidate contribution’ dodge as Rich does above. As a result most NCAE members here have no inkling of the many ways their dues money is used to wage political battles.

By: Mike Antonucci

Mike Antonucci — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:15:50 +0000

Where did I say they were breaking the law?

By: Rich

Rich — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:18:17 +0000

Please provide a breakdown of the expenditures for the categories you list. It is only illegal for CTA to use dues money to support political candidates. If the only money CTA spent on campaigns was the $29 million of PAC money, they were operating within the law. I am sure you must know this, so just providing the raw number without a breakdown is bad journalism.

By: Mike Antonucci

Mike Antonucci — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:04:48 +0000

That’s not a mystery. A little over $29 million was PAC money. The rest was dues money.

By: Jim Stegall

Jim Stegall — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:47:25 +0000

It would be interesting to know how much of that was dues money and how much of it was PAC money.