Government Unions’ Election Impact

One can't understate the scope of government unions' financial involvement in some of the key Pennsylvania races this fall. While final campaign finance numbers are still a few weeks away, total spending through the beginning of November shows government unions invested heavily in contentious races.

With the help of taxpayer funded-resources, government unions were able to direct $7.5 million to US senate candidate Katie McGinty and $253,465 to Attorney General-elect Josh Shapiro. In contrast, government unions spent zero dollars in favor of US Senator Toomey and $72,750 in favor of State Senator John Rafferty.

In fact, about $7,000 to support Katie McGinty came directly from union dues, not voluntary contributions from union members.

In the Attorney General race, government unions were responsible for $253,465 of the $6,401,746 spent in favor of Josh Shapiro. That's about three and half times the $72,750 government unions contributed to support John Rafferty. In total, $1,834,902 was raised to support Rafferty's bid.

Unlike any other private group in Harrisburg, government unions enjoy the special privilege of funneling PAC and election education spending through the taxpayer-funded payroll systems. In other words, they use taxpayer resources to collect purely political funds. That's a double standard that must end with the passage of paycheck protection.