On Tuesday the Wall Street Journal published the results of an investigation that showed Big Labor’s Big Spending on political campaigns across the nation is significantly larger than previously reported.
Organized labor spends about four times as much on politics and lobbying as generally thought, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis, a finding that shines a light on an aspect of labor’s political activity that has often been overlooked.
The Wall Street Journal’s piece is a good read and uncovered some startling figures
The new figures come from a little-known set of annual reports to the Labor Department in which local unions, their national parents and labor federations have been required to detail their spending on politics and lobbying since 2005.
This kind of spending, which is on the rise, has enabled the largest unions to maintain and in some cases increase their clout in Washington and state capitals, even though unionized workers make up a declining share of the workforce. The result is that labor could be a stronger counterweight than commonly realized to “super PACs” that today raise millions from wealthy donors, in many cases to support Republican candidates and causes.
Of course, this news won’t come as a shock to any follower of the MacIver Institute’s reporting an analysis.
As a reminder, here’s some of our earlier work on the subject.
Their reportable contributions, below, as well as their overall ground game contributions, shown at the top of this post.
