NEA & AFT PAC and lobbying spending in California

To some extent I’m delighted that the unions (and, it goes without saying, Ravitch) are out there saying that reformers’ money, power, and influence is massively more than it really is (let’s just keep it our little secret, OK?) – but it’s just so ludicrous.  Instead of being outmanned, outspent and outgunned 10,000:1, it’s now “only” 1,000:1…  As evidence of this, a friend pulled together the table below on how much the NEA and AFT spend in California on PAC and lobbying expenditures:

 

While the stated amounts dwarf the resources that reformers are putting in, these numbers don’t include the dollars that are spent by the state affiliates.  For example, when you look on p10 of this report from California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (http://www.fppc.ca.gov/reports/Report31110.pdf) you can see that not only does the political money from the California Teachers Association really dwarf the funding by reformers, it pretty much blots out the sun when it comes to any other interest in California, including other unions, oil companies, corporations, tobacco companies, etc.

 

	PAC Expenditures					Lobbying Expenditures
Cycle	NEA	AFT	Total		Year	NEA	AFT	Total
2008	$      2,122,785	$      2,679,775	$      4,802,560		2008	$    1,137,709	$       750,670	$    1,888,379
2006	$      2,392,127	$      2,596,223	$      4,988,350		2007	$    9,196,222	$       838,361	$  10,034,583
2004	$      2,123,247	$      2,083,346	$      4,206,593		2006	$    1,630,000	$       877,316	$    2,507,316
2002	$      3,551,158	$      5,343,065	$      8,894,223		2005	$    1,500,000	$       807,777	$    2,307,777
2000	$      3,175,488	$      3,549,380	$      6,724,868		2004	$    1,500,000	$       604,442	$    2,104,442
1998	$      3,369,387	$      2,485,141	$      5,854,528		2003	$    1,260,000	$       726,099	$    1,986,099
1996	$      3,367,524	$      2,491,962	$      5,859,486		2002	$       960,000	$       778,570	$    1,738,570
1994	$      3,371,765	$      1,806,241	$      5,178,006		2001	$    1,040,000	$       938,868	$    1,978,868
1992	$      3,166,809	$      1,602,144	$      4,768,953		2000	$    1,360,000	$       603,122	$    1,963,122
1990	$      2,602,565	$      1,190,716	$      3,793,281		1999	$       860,000	$       667,370	$    1,527,370
TOTAL	$    29,242,855	$    25,827,993	$    55,070,848		TOTAL	$  20,443,931	$    7,592,595	$  28,036,526