Top Public Employee Union AFSCME Gave $65 Million Taxpayer Dollars Mostly To Progressive Groups and Democrats

06 Apr, 2015 by John Brodgian

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Raise your hands if you are surprised by this. Yeah, I didn’t think many of you would be. It’s still outrageous though…

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — the country’s largest trade union for public employees — gave more than $65 million last year to politicians, lobbyists and activist groups, according to 2014 federal reports obtained by Watchdog.org.

AFSCME is funded by roughly 1.4 million members and mandatory fees taken from 125,255 nonmembers. Critics argue AFSCME gets its revenue from taxpayers so its donations are essentially indirect support for Democratic politicians, political activist groups and bigger government.

AFSCME’s 2014 report to the Labor Department showed $64,585,115 in Political Activities and Lobbying spending.

They also reported more than $1 million in donations to non-profits.  Over $125,000 went to MSNBC host Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.