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NEA challenged on political outlays - Teacher's union fields "army of campaign workers"
Washington Times ^ | April 7, 2003 | George Archibald

Posted on 04/07/2003 2:32:29 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

Edited on 07/12/2004 4:02:19 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Ok, so why is the IRS going after the poor shmuck who protests taxes and not the NEA?
21 posted on 04/07/2003 7:32:47 AM PDT by JudgemAll
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To: EdReform
BTTT
22 posted on 04/07/2003 9:25:42 AM PDT by EdReform (Support Free Republic - www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/581234/posts?page=914#914)
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To: dennisw
...I know this first hand because some of my relatives are retired NYC teachers who live down in Florida ...

And I'm betting they vote in both NY and Florida!

23 posted on 04/07/2003 9:40:42 AM PDT by NEPA
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Comment #24 Removed by Moderator

To: Cincinatus' Wife
"The evidence we've provided to the IRS comes directly from NEA documents and FEC records," Mr. Levin said. "I don't expect the NEA to confess guilt and volunteer the payment of millions of dollars in fines, but we do expect the IRS to audit these activities because the NEA's use of general revenue, collected from membership dues, to influence political campaigns is indisputable. The NEA's dissembling to the contrary."

Mark Levin and Landmark Legal are doing yeoman's work on this issue.

The Left wages political war from within tax-exempt corporations and pours billions in public funds into their crusade against freedom. This will be a long battle, but one that is vitally important.

25 posted on 04/07/2003 9:51:31 AM PDT by Interesting Times (Eagles Up! Join the Rally for America...)
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To: EternalVigilance
Viva La Vouchers!!
26 posted on 04/07/2003 9:52:10 AM PDT by mabelkitty
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To: Interesting Times
Bump
27 posted on 04/07/2003 10:10:23 AM PDT by EdReform (Support Free Republic - www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/581234/posts?page=914#914)
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To: bimbo; JohnHuang2
They're free to do it - they just have to pay taxes on it."

It was a common tactic of Clinton-Gore to sic the IRS on any and all opposing political organizations. Since the Democrats have raised the political sewage in America to new levels, the Republicans MUST regrettably respond in a like manner – that means George W. Bush must make that call to the IRS. I’m afraid that Mark R. Levin of Landmark does not carry much weight with the IRS.

Au contraire (apologies for using french), the more appropriate and fair thing to do would be to thoroughly investigate the entire list of Federally registered organizations to determine if any of these illegally petion and campaign for candidates / parties using workers dues, contributors money et. al. without their knowledge and consent. Those that do will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and / or have their Federal charter revoked. This could cause some damage for organizations paying fast-n-loose that support conservative causes but will instill great fear in the vast majority of liberal organizations that do not have legit operations. Since the laws are known by all ahead of time and justice is uniform, no-one can claim they are receiving undo harassment unlike under the Clinton adminstration.

The effects of such a policy would be reverberating for election cycles for generations.

28 posted on 04/07/2003 10:22:52 AM PDT by jriemer (We are a Republic not a Democracy)
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To: EternalVigilance
Bump
29 posted on 04/07/2003 10:24:19 AM PDT by EdReform (Support Free Republic - www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/581234/posts?page=914#914)
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To: Nathaniel Fischer
I'll see your Independent and raise you a republican (in name only) called Bloomberg! He probably got at least 4%. :-)
30 posted on 04/07/2003 12:44:17 PM PDT by JoeSixPack1 (POW/MIA - Bring 'em home, or send us back! Semper Fi)
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To: jriemer; All
FL Teachers' Union paid for chief's opulent lifestyle - $2,000-a-night suite raised red flags - UNION LINKS
31 posted on 05/18/2003 3:12:56 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: All
The bottom line for teachers unions*** Yet nowhere in this gusher of news and comment can you find the views of The Newspaper Guild, one of the nation's largest media unions and the one that represents reporters at the Times. Neither Google nor Nexis turns up anything -- not a single article or transcript or Web post -- quoting a Guild official on the scandal's significance. No one seems to care about the union's reactions to the Blair affair, or its recommendations on how to prevent such ignominy in the future, or what it thinks the episode says about racial preferences in the newsroom.

And that is as it should be.

Because like all labor unions, the Newspaper Guild exists for one reason: to promote its members' economic interests. Those include higher pay, better benefits, easier work conditions, and less discipline -- all of which rank higher on any union's list of priorities than tightening professional standards or advancing the public good. No one asks the Guild's views on the state of US journalism for the same reason no one asks the United Auto Workers to comment on federal transportation policy: Anything they said would be tainted by their vested interest in winning more money and better terms for their members. Unions are special pleaders; no one mistakes them for impartial observers or disinterested honest brokers. Except when it comes to teachers unions.

If the UAW proposed that domestic automobile manufacturers be paid a federal subsidy for each new employee they hired, everyone would recognize its self-serving aims -- to swell the ranks of auto workers and increase its own membership. But when teachers unions demand hefty increases in education spending or mandatory reductions in class size, they get a respectful hearing. Union officials are routinely quoted in the media and invited to testify before legislative committees. And yet their aims are no less self-serving and their interests no less mercenary than those of any other union. So why the difference?***

32 posted on 05/22/2003 2:24:05 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: All
The probers and the NEA

http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20040330-090531-8720r.htm

Earlier this month, news reports revealed that the Labor Department has been engaged in an investigation into the political expenditures by the National Education Association (NEA), the nation's largest union. The investigation began in April 2002, shortly after Landmark Legal Foundation filed its complaint, which documented that the NEA had spent tens of millions of dollars on political activity since 1994. The union, however, has failed to disclose any of those political expenditures in its annual LM-2 filing with the Labor Department.

It has been impossible for the Labor Department and any of the NEA's 2.7 million members to "determine from the NEA's LM-2s for any years since at least 1994 that the union has allocated any resources for political purposes," Landmark has said.

What makes such a situation unacceptable is the explicit acknowledgement by NEA General Counsel Robert Chanin that the NEA pursues a robust political agenda. Indeed, in a speech before the National Council of State Education Associations, Mr. Chanin bragged about the NEA's "political power and effectiveness at all levels." He also asserted that the national union and its affiliates "have the ability to help implement the type of liberal social and economic agenda that [our opponents] find unacceptable."

Mr. Chanin's chief adversary has been Landmark President Mark R. Levin, who has spent the last several years working to require greater accountability from the NEA. Yet, as Mr. Levin has declared on numerous occasions, Landmark isn't at all concerned about the NEA exercising its political power — as long as it does so within the rules that govern tax-exempt organizations. While the NEA is entitled to spend members' dues on political activity, it is required by federal law to pay taxes on those political expenditures. That might explain why the NEA has been so reluctant to reveal the cost of its extensive political activities, which are spearheaded by its 1,800 UniServ directors.

Operating in virtually every congressional district, UniServ directors are required, according to union documents unearthed by Landmark, to engage in "developing and/or executing local association political action." The NEA spends more than $75 million annually to fund UniServ activities. But it has refused since at least 1994 to acknowledge on its annual Form 990 tax returns that even a dollar of those expenditures have been politically related. After receiving extensively documented complaints from Landmark, the IRS last year launched an audit of the NEA's finances.

If the investigations bring about the transparency and accountability that have been lacking for decades throughout the union movement, they will have performed a great service, not only to the millions of dues-paying union members but to all taxpayers, who, it is hoped, will no longer be required to subsidize the political activities of Big Labor bosses.

33 posted on 03/30/2004 11:05:35 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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