One Union Spends $87 Million on Democrats

Former George W. Bush campaign adviser Mark McKinnon, writing at The Daily Beast, Oct. 24, 2010:

"A record $87.5 million has been spent by one union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, to elect Democrats. Paid not by voluntary contributions from its members, but by forced union dues from workers—who are paid by taxpayers. . . .

Contrary to what Obama and the Democrats would have us believe, the Tea Party is largely fueled by small- dollar donations from American citizens in amounts of $200 or less. Beyond being untrue and unproven, the Obama money charges against Republicans are completely hypocritical. The guy who promised to "change Washington" completely reversed his promise during the campaign to abide by the limits of public financing. The Obama campaign spent almost $1 billion—and $400 million was spent by outside groups on his behalf, most of which did not disclose their donors. Now we discover unions are the largest outside spenders in this election, not the Chamber [of Commerce] or groups tied to Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie."