2012 Election
Teachers' Union Makes Up Difference for Inslee in Outside Money
At the national level, the independent "Super PAC" supporting Republican Mitt Romney, Restore Our Future, has outraised the Obama "Super PAC," Priorities USA Action, by $54 million. (On the other hand, the pro-Obama PAC did raise more than the pro-Romney PAC for the first time ever in August—$10 million to $7 million.)
The Republicans don't have the advantage in Washington State, though. It's more of a draw between the independent expenditure groups in the race between Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee and Republican candidate Rob McKenna.
The Republican Governors Association, which is running an independent expenditure TV campaign against Inslee, has raised and spent nearly $5.5 million.
Our Washington, a PAC opposing McKenna with TV ads of its own, has raised and spent more than $5.4 million on TV ads. Their biggest contributor is the RGA's counterpart, the Democratic Governors Association, which hasn't quite matched the RGA's $5.5, with about $3 million.
So who's making up the difference for Inslee's forces? The teachers' unions.
The National Education Association and the Washington Education Association are by far the second biggest contributors to Our Washington behind the DGA.
The NEA (Inslee's 10th all-time career donor during his US Congressional career) has contributed half a million dollars to the anti-McKenna cause while the WEA has contributed about $850,000. (The rest of Our Washington's money comes from other unions, such as AFSCME, UFCW, trial lawyers, and liberal groups like FUSE.)
Education has certainly been at the forefront of this year's governor's race. McKenna says his number one issue is increasing education funding; on the campaign trail, he notes that K-12 spending has dropped from 50 percent of the state budget to 41 percent over the last few decades. (K-12 has taken $2.5 billion in cuts over the last three cycles if you count frozen teacher pay). The Washington State Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the state was shirking its duty by failing to adequately fund K-12 education—and has ordered the state to meet student needs by 2018.
McKenna has proposed capping non-education spending at six percent of new revenues while earmarking the rest for education. You'd think the unions would like McKenna's hard line on increasing eduction funding. However, his agenda also hypes merit pay over seniority and charter schools—both anathema to the unions. The WEA has contributed $150,000 to the anti-charter schools campaign, People for Public Schools—No on I-1240, which is much less than the near-million dollars they've contributed to Our Washington.
Meanwhile, Democrats have criticized McKenna's plan because of the harsh impact it would have on social services—$645 million in cuts, according to the lefty Washington Budget & Policy Center.
Inslee has also promised to increase education funding, though he's been vague about his plan, pledging simply that he'll bolster government spending on education by finding efficiencies in state worker health care costs through preventive care.
The Republicans don't have the advantage in Washington State, though. It's more of a draw between the independent expenditure groups in the race between Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee and Republican candidate Rob McKenna.
The Republican Governors Association, which is running an independent expenditure TV campaign against Inslee, has raised and spent nearly $5.5 million.
Our Washington, a PAC opposing McKenna with TV ads of its own, has raised and spent more than $5.4 million on TV ads. Their biggest contributor is the RGA's counterpart, the Democratic Governors Association, which hasn't quite matched the RGA's $5.5, with about $3 million.
So who's making up the difference for Inslee's forces? The teachers' unions.
The National Education Association and the Washington Education Association are by far the second biggest contributors to Our Washington behind the DGA.
The NEA (Inslee's 10th all-time career donor during his US Congressional career) has contributed half a million dollars to the anti-McKenna cause while the WEA has contributed about $850,000. (The rest of Our Washington's money comes from other unions, such as AFSCME, UFCW, trial lawyers, and liberal groups like FUSE.)
Education has certainly been at the forefront of this year's governor's race. McKenna says his number one issue is increasing education funding; on the campaign trail, he notes that K-12 spending has dropped from 50 percent of the state budget to 41 percent over the last few decades. (K-12 has taken $2.5 billion in cuts over the last three cycles if you count frozen teacher pay). The Washington State Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the state was shirking its duty by failing to adequately fund K-12 education—and has ordered the state to meet student needs by 2018.
McKenna has proposed capping non-education spending at six percent of new revenues while earmarking the rest for education. You'd think the unions would like McKenna's hard line on increasing eduction funding. However, his agenda also hypes merit pay over seniority and charter schools—both anathema to the unions. The WEA has contributed $150,000 to the anti-charter schools campaign, People for Public Schools—No on I-1240, which is much less than the near-million dollars they've contributed to Our Washington.
Meanwhile, Democrats have criticized McKenna's plan because of the harsh impact it would have on social services—$645 million in cuts, according to the lefty Washington Budget & Policy Center.
Inslee has also promised to increase education funding, though he's been vague about his plan, pledging simply that he'll bolster government spending on education by finding efficiencies in state worker health care costs through preventive care.
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