NEA’s $138 Million Political Spree
RiShawn Biddle
November 30, 2016 12:06 am
Comments Off
Yesterday, National Education Association filed its 2015-2016 financial disclosure with the U.S. Department of Labor — and once again, the nation’s largest teachers’ union spent big to preserve its influence over American public education.
wpid-threethoughslogoNEA spent $138 million on lobbying and contributions to supposedly likeminded organizations during its last fiscal year. That’s a 5.3 percent increase over influence-buying levels in 2014-2015. This, by the way, doesn’t include another $46.5 million in spending on so-called representational activities, which almost always tend to be political in nature; that’s a 16 percent increase over levels in the previous year.
One of union’s key spends was on its own Super-PAC, NEA Advocacy, which was a key player in the Democratic National Committee’s effort to retain the White House and regain control of the U.S. Senate. It poured $12.2 million into NEA Advocacy in 2015-2016, a 40 percent increase over the $8.7 million given to it during the previous fiscal year. As OpenSecrets notes in its most-recent analysis of the Super-PAC’s finances, NEA funneled most of that money in it to other Super-PACs and 527 committees. This included $300,000 to American Bridge 21st Century (another recipient of NEA funding), and $774,670 to Kentucky Family Values, which unsuccessfully fought to stop Republicans from winning control of the Bluegrass State’s legislature.