Archive for the ‘Unions’ Category

It’s not just rich Republicans — unions also giving millions to SuperPACs

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Graphic by the Sunlight Foundation

The vast majority of the media coverage of this year’s SuperPAC phenomenon has focused on conservative billionaires who’ve given millions to Republican-leaning or anti-Obama SuperPACs.

But it’d be a mistake to forget about the multi-million dollar investment American unions have made in Democratic-leaning SuperPACs.

The Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan group committed to transparency in government and politics, has put together an impressive graphic showing the web of union money in 2012 SuperPACs. It examines the role of four leading labor organizations, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the AFL-CIO and the National Education Association (NEA).

Among the findings in the Sunlight report:

– AFSCME has given nearly $1 million to the super PAC Workers’ Voice, founded by the big union umbrella organization — and AFSCME’s parent — the AFL-CIO. In the first two weeks of October, the union gave another $471,254 to the super PAC.

– Both AFSCME and the SEIU have given to Working for Us, a super PAC run by longtime labor strategist Steve Rosenthal. The super PAC has been helping Democrats in several House races and the Connecticut Senate race.

– Both AFSCME and SEIU have given a combined $1.25 million to Majority PAC, a super PAC that’s helping to elect Democratic Senate candidates.

– In October, AFSCME and SEIU also joined forces to back the Sierra Club Independent Action, which has also been involved in several congressional and Senate races.

– All four unions have contributed thousands to American Bridge 21st Century, a super PAC founded by David Brock, a conservative turned liberal activist who founded media watchdog Media Matters. AFSCME contributed the most with $575,000.

For the complete report, click here.

Voices of the West: How unions keep Obama up in Nevada

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Reno – Democrats like to say that demographics — i.e., a booming Latino population — is going to push President Obama over the line in Nevada, where the RealClearPolitics.com average has him up by 3 points, even after Mitt Romney’s recent surge.

Demographics help, but demos don’t mean anything without ground troops. And as we told you in our story about swing state Nevada, Nevada’s union members — strong in Vegas, less so in Reno — have spent weeks going door-to-door and leafletting workplaces in support of Obama.

Over the past 18 months, the AFL-CIO has registered 450,000 new voters nationwide, including 10,000 in Nevada.

Spent some time canvassing door-to-door in some of Reno’s working class neighborhoods with Mickey Grizzle and Randy Groves, union letter-carriers. That was after we got kicked out of the energy company plant where they were leafletting — private property and all.

Here, courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com’s Shaky Hand Productions video crew, are Mickey and Randy talking about how union canvassing has changed in Nevada: