[EL] Political Spending By Unions

[Sean Parnell]

I'm also not sure what disclosure Rick wants here - is he asking that SEIU,
UAW, NEA, etc. all make their member lists public? After all, if a general
understanding that the US Chamber represents the business community isn't
sufficient as far as disclosure goes, surely a general understanding that
the NEA represents public-school teachers is equally deficient?

 

Sean Parnell

President

Impact Policy Management, LLC

6411 Caleb Court

Alexandria, VA  22315

571-289-1374 (c)

sean at impactpolicymanagement.com

 

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Primo,
David
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 2:42 PM
To: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: [EL] Political Spending By Unions

 

Rick posts this today:   <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=36735> "Political
Spending by Unions Far Exceeds Direct Donations--Absolute must-read WSJ
report
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304782404577488584031850026.h
tml> , which once again shows why campaign finance disclosure is so
important."

 

I agree with Rick that the article is a great read that provides rich detail
regarding unions' involvement in politics, but I do not see why the article
highlights the importance of disclosure.  I'd simply ask, "Importance for
what purpose?"  Before this article was published, did any observer of
politics think unions were not very active in campaigns?  Were unions shy
about publicizing their views or their support for Democrats?  Will one vote
be changed by the information provided in this article?  The answer to all
of these questions is almost certainly no, which takes me back to my
original question:  "Importance for what purpose?"

 

Best,

Dave  

 

David M. Primo
Associate Professor of Political Science and Business Administration

Director of Graduate Studies, Political Science

University of Rochester

Harkness Hall 318 (Political Science Dept.)
Rochester, NY 14627-0146
585.273.4779
Fax:  585.271.1616
david.primo at rochester.edu
http://www.rochester.edu/College/PSC/primo

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20120710/19364c0c/attachment.html>