How much does corporate America
compared to labor unions spend on political campaigns? This question
was central to the debate over California's Proposition 226, which
would have required labor unions in the Golden State to receive
written permission from members before using their dues for
political purposes.
Many reporters repeated the claims
of one study in particular, from the liberal Center for Responsive
Politics, which purported to show that there is much more corporate
money in politics than labor money. But these reporters didn't
mention that the study may have vastly overstated corporate
political contributions.
In a May 18 story, Associated Press
writer Steve Geissinger wrote: "Labor unions, although outspent
11-to-1 by corporations in 1996 federal campaigns, still sank $58
million into the election, according to the nonpartisan Center for
Responsive Politics." USA Today's Martin Kasindorf cited the
same study on the same day, reporting that labor "gave $115 million
to state and federal candidates in 1996 and was outspent 11-to-1 by
business interests."
But however much unions gave to
politicians in 1996, the 11-to-1 figure has been called into
question. Glenn Ellmers, director of research at the Claremont
Institute in California, reviewed the CRP study for the May 20
Investor's Business Daily and found some problems. For example,
CRP included any individual donation over $200 from anyone who works
for a business as being from "corporate interests." Such donors were
not necessarily giving for business reasons, and could even have
been union members. These individual donations made up "close to
half of the $653 million supposedly spent by firms," noted Ellmers.
He also learned that "CRP counts as
'business spending' donations from large groups that aren't
businesses -- including some that are openly hostile to business."
Incredibly, this included $51 million in donations from "lawyers and
lobbyists." Overall, he found that "CRP's calculations are wildly
out of synch with official figures from the Federal Election
Commission," which "reported that business political action
committees spent a total of $130 million, compared with $99 million
spent by labor union PACs."
But Ellmers' expose didn't stop
reporters from quoting the CRP study. "Unions argue that the measure
will hand more political power to business, which already has the
upper hand in political contributions," staff writer Karen Brandon
told readers of the May 28 Chicago Tribune. "In the 1996
elections, for instance, business interests outspent labor 11-1 in
contributing to the major political parties and for candidates for
president and Congress, according to the Center for Responsive
Politics, a nonpartisan group based in Washington, D.C." And in a
May 28 New York Times story on Proposition 226, Don Terry
noted in passing that "corporate America outspent labor 11-1,
contributing $653 million, of which 60 percent went to Republicans."
