TRENTON — Labor unions dominated political spending by special interest groups last year, accounting for 66 percent of donations from political action committees. Altogether, political action committees donated $35.3 million to state, county and local candidates or committees last year, when the governor’s office and all 80 Assembly seats were up for grabs. Of that, union PACs, which most...
Political action committees donated $35.3 million to state, county and local races. TRENTON — Labor unions dominated political spending by special interest groups last year, accounting for 66 percent of donations from political action committees.
Altogether, political action committees donated $35.3 million to state, county and local candidates or committees last year, when the governor’s office and all 80 Assembly seats were up for grabs. Of that, union PACs, which most often donate to Democrats, were responsible for $24 million.
The numbers were compiled by the Election Law Enforcement Commission and released in a report this morning, and show spending by special interest PACs up 22 percent from 2005 – the last year the same number of seats were up. Twenty of the top 25 highest spending PACs were labor unions.
“With a large falloff in contributions from contractors, one consequence is that many candidates may be more dependent on other special interest groups to fund their New Jersey campaigns,’’ said Jeffrey Brindle, the commission’s executive director.
The top spender was the NJ State Laborers PAC – the state political arm of the Laborers International Union of North America -- which donated $1.25 million. They were followed closely by the New Jersey Education Association, which gave $1.13 million, and the NJ State Carpenters, who spent $1.08 million.
The next highest spending category of PACs, for professional organizations, spent $3.89 million, or 11 percent of total PAC spending.
The disparity between union PACs and others is even greater when grassroots lobbying activity and donations to outside organizations that spent money in New Jersey races are taken into account. For instance, The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees was the fourth highest campaign contributor, giving out $907,366. But it also spent $1.75 million on grassroots lobbying activity related to the New Jersey gubernatorial race and donated $2.25 million to the Democratic Governors Association. The Democratic Governors Association and its Republican counterpart both spent heavily in New Jersey during last year’s election.
On his first day in office, Christie – who has publicly feuded with the NJEA and other public workers unions -- signed an executive order that would hold unions with state contracts to the same $300 campaign contribution limits that firms with state business are subject to. The order, however, was struck down a three-judge appeals panel in May.
The report also noted that new, vaguely defined PACs are turning up in large numbers and often appear to be vestiges of candidates or political parties. These have been used to solicit donations from contractors with public business who are subject to $300 limits.
“These PACs should not be used to indirectly funnel larger contributions to candidates. This is an ongoing concern for the Commission,” said Brindle.
Related coverage:
• Fundraising by N.J. county political parties declines
• Contractors donating less to N.J. political campaigns due to pay-to-play ban