National Educational Association Spends
$350,000:
Increased Dues Targeted
to Oppose Question 4
Campaign finance records released Thursday show that
groups backing Cellucci's tax cut have raised $350,000 in the past two weeks alone.... They are likely to be
the only political ads you'll see.
MetroWest Daily News
Oct. 8, 2000
Flush with cash from its newly imposed $5 national dues increase, the National Education
Association began spreading the wealth around ... $350,000 to the Massachusetts Teachers
Association to defeat two measures, Question 4 and Question 6.
Education Intelligence Agency
Oct. 2, 2000
If you read and bought the spin in MetroWest's report this
morning, you'd have thought that funding for and against Question 4 was very one-sided, and you'd have been wrong.
MetroWest just fed its readership only half the story.
Thanks to the Education Intelligence Agency, a national
teachers union watchdog group -- as commentator Paul Harvey says -- "Now you know the
rest of the story"!
There are two ways of raising and spending funds in a
political campaign: Straightforward, with accountability, and; as sleazy as you can so nobody can tell where it's coming from
until it's too late to matter.
Here's how it often works, and how I predict we will see it
handled this time as well.
The state Office of Campaign & Political Finance requires
each ballot committee (and candidate, though on a different schedule) to report in detail every cent it takes in and every
cent it spends within a prescribed period. At this point in the campaign, the financial reports are required about every two
weeks (and what a nuisance for those of us who must prepare them). Here is the remaining reporting schedule, including the
past Thursday filing to which the MetroWest Daily News refers:
| Due Date |
Period Covered |
| Thursday, Oct. 5 |
Sept. 16 - Oct. 1 |
| Friday, Oct. 20 |
Oct. 2 - Oct. 15 |
| Monday, Nov. 6 |
Oct. 16 - Nov. 1 |
| Monday, Nov. 20 |
Nov. 2 - Nov. 15 |
Note specifically that after November 1st everything that
is raised and spent right through the election, six days later, will not be available to the public until
after the election -- when it will make no difference to the outcome.
If you want to hide your contributions and contributors --
such as a third-of-a-million dollars from an out-of-state influence, like for instance the National Education
Association, laundered through the Massachusetts Teachers Association -- the actual funds transfer
won't be made until after November 1st.
Then, it doesn't appear in your OCPF report until November
20th.
NEA can transfer its $350,000 to the MTA. The
state teachers union then has it in the bank, but not in a ballot committee
account that needs to be reported. TEAM and its ballot committee, "The Campaign for Massachusetts'
Future," know the funds are available. The transfer is just a question of political timing.
TEAM, the state teachers union, and CMF can produce their TV
commercials and make their TV advertising buy in advance of receiving the funds. Their TV ad blitz
will run, and be paid for after November 1st. That expenditure isn't reported until well
after the election.
Anyone want to bet against me that this is exactly what
we'll see ... unless this is perceived by them as a shot across their bow?
 |
|
Chip Ford |
PS. Special thanks to Mike Antonucci for his diligent work at
EIA and for his heads-up!
Education Intelligence Agency
NEA Spends Dues Increase to Influence Tax
Rates
The MetroWest Daily News
Cellucci faces battle in Gore country
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