Political Power Cycle Comes Back to Treasurer McCord

State Treasurer Rob McCord received endorsements for governor last week from two government unions—UFCW 1776 and AFSCME. That means big money from union PACs to his campaign.

The irony is that all of that money was first signed over by McCord to the unions. In a perfectly legal practice, the state collects unions dues and fees—even the union PAC money—directly out of workers paychecks and sends that money over to the union leaders. As state treasurer, McCord was the one actually signing the really big checks over to union leaders.

Total Payments from PA Treasury to Government Unions
Fiscal Year
Treasury Payments 2010-11 2011-12
To Union PACS $707,398.81 $736,300.59
For Dues/Fair Share $41,002,733.68 $41,377,039.16
Source: Data provided from PA Department of the Treasury to Commonwealth Foundation via Right to Know Request

This method of government collecting and sending union political money, for unions to spend on politics, is what we call the Political Power Cycle. Because of this unfair political advantage, Pennsylvania’s government unions were able to spend nearly $5 million on political activity and lobbying last year, and another $4 million from PACs in contributions to candidate.

A full 79 percent of Pennsylvania voters oppose the practice of using taxpayer resources to collect union political money.

The photo below shows one such check from the State Treasury to AFSCME, though the really big payments are sent via electronic transfer.

McCord AFSCME Check

Largest Monthly Payment from PA Treasury to Government Unions
UFCW Local 1776 AFSCME AFLCIO Council 13
January $172,467.98 $1,845,881.52
February $177,539.90 $1,459,320.39
March $156,046.15 $1,456,502.30
April $237,307.98 $1,817,830.28
May $158,969.57 $1,469,781.49
June $160,052.19 $1,455,403.00
July $170,863.26 $1,823,058.69
August $171,981.20 $1,446,289.44
September $253,252.10 $1,788,435.69
October $162,960.46 $1,438,090.96
November $162,063.23 $1,438,383.52
December $173,045.66 $1,828,636.08
2012 Total $2,156,549.68 $19,267,613.36
Source: Data provided from PA Department of the Treasury to Commonwealth Foundation via Right to Know Request