A Wall Street
Journal analysis of political spending unveiled Tuesday found that
organized labor groups dropped a combined $4.4 billion on political
activities between 2006 and 2011, about four times more than previously
estimated.
The Journal cast a wide net to
determine what counted as "political spending," including activities
that range from traditional candidate donations to the cost of hot dogs
for union demonstrators at political rallies.
To find the additional costs, the
newspaper added spending reports filed with the Labor Department to
Federal Election Commission spending data. From the report, which is partially behind a paywall at WSJ.com, but is available in full at FoxNews.com:
The
usual measure of unions' clout encompasses chiefly what they spend
supporting federal candidates through their political-action
committees, which are funded with voluntary contributions, and lobbying
Washington, which is a cost borne by the unions' own coffers.
These kinds of spending, which
unions report to the Federal Election Commission and to Congress,
totaled $1.1 billion from 2005 through 2011, according to the
nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
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