Posted on 09/02/2005 9:32:08 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - The California Teachers Association, among the most vocal opponents of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's special election initiatives, contributed $21 million this week to groups campaigning against the governor.
The high-dollar distribution comes just as the fall campaign is set to begin in earnest, with both sides targeting the Labor Day weekend as the unofficial kickoff.
Schwarzenegger helped raise and spend nearly $20 million during the first half of the year to qualify and promote his ballot measures and has raised about $6 million since July. Marty Wilson, the governor's fundraising manager, said he expects Schwarzenegger will reach the $50 million goal he set for the campaign.
"We'd like to be in a position to match them dollar for dollar," he said of the unions opposing the governor's agenda. "But we never expected that we could, and we did not base our campaign on it."
Schwarzenegger had warned earlier this year that unions, helped by national labor groups, would raise up to $200 million to oppose his "year of reform" initiatives. That threat has yet to materialize, in part because national unions have been distracted by an internal crisis in the AFL-CIO. Campaign reports filed last month showed that just one national union had made a significant contribution, $500,000.
Schwarzenegger and his supporters said California unions would wage an expensive battle against him even without national labor money. They said this week's contributions by the state's powerful teachers union prove that point.
Since July 1, the California Teachers Association has given $10.1 million to the Alliance for a Better California, a coalition of the state's largest labor unions. This week, the union contributed an additional $21 million to campaigns opposing three initiatives they believe are political threats, two of which Schwarzenegger is backing:
- $8 million to oppose Proposition 76, which would impose a cap on state spending and give the governor more authority to make midyear budget cuts.
- $5 million to oppose Proposition 74, which would require teachers to work longer to end their probationary terms.
- $8 million to oppose Proposition 75, which would require unions to get written permission from their members before dues could be used for political purposes. Schwarzenegger has not said whether he endorses this measure, but it was placed on the ballot by his supporters.
"These measures attack every part of public schools and students," said teachers union president Barbara Kerr. "Proposition 74 attacks our ability to get new and qualified teachers. Proposition 75 takes away our ability to tell the public what is good and what is bad for schools. And Proposition 76 makes it impossible to budget and get the money we need for schools."
Schwarzenegger has endorsed three initiatives: the spending cap, teacher tenure and a measure that would take the authority to draw legislative districts away from lawmakers and give it to a panel of retired judges.
Wilson said other groups, including the California Republican Party and an array of political action committees, will join Schwarzenegger in the campaign and raise money separately. The state GOP, for example, has raised more than $6 million so far this year for a variety of expenses, including many related to the special election campaign.
Schwarzenegger's initiatives are just part of the Nov. 8 ballot, which contains eight initiatives. As costly as the fight over Schwarzenegger's measures will be, it probably will not be the most expensive election battle.
That is likely to be the campaign over propositions 78 and 79, dueling prescription drug initiatives - one sponsored by industry groups, the other by consumer advocates. The pharmaceutical industry had raised more than $70 million through mid-August.
The other initiatives on the ballot deal with parental notification for minors seeking abortions and deregulating the state's energy market.
Gale Kaufman, campaign manager for the Alliance for a Better California, said she assumes Schwarzenegger will have all the money he needs for his campaign.
"It's foolish to underestimate their potential," she said. "And we will raise what we need to raise to defeat them."
The alliance spent close to $13 million through the first half of the year. As much as $10 million more was spent separately by several of the coalition's members on a variety of activities aimed at swaying voters against the governor's agenda.
The teachers union, for example, spent $8.2 million through June on advertising, rallies and other activities largely aimed at Schwarzenegger's agenda and budget proposals.
Schwarzenegger's team claims the teachers have used their money to run advertisements that unfairly characterize the governor's budget, which provided a recommend amount for public schools.
"The teachers union doesn't want the public to know that the governor has in fact increased education funding by $3 billion this year," said Todd Harris, spokesman for Schwarzenegger's California Recovery Team. "The union has waged a big lie campaign to try to convince the public that education funding has decreased when the truth is that it hasn't."
You don't need to be a fan of the Governator in order to understand the need to defeat the unions.
And this helps the students, how??
Priority wasn't Math or Phonics. It was boycotting Walmart and solidarity with the UN. These people are fricken out of control and need to be squashed. Like yesterday.
Next time the Teacher's Union complains about school funding remind them of the millions they could have used to better the schools but chose to play politics with.
Didn't the union think about donating that huge amount to hurricane relief? They could have gotten a big PR boost, never mind actually helping people...
Sad isn't it? I am a teacher and am embarrassed by the ridiculousness of the NEA. They don't care much for me because I've emailed them so many times to criticize their liberalism. They used to respond, but they don't anymore.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.