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Ask President Burrus

Question:

I contribute to COPA, but I believe we are playing in a rigged game that we cannot hope to win. I think some COPA funds should be used to push for public funding of our elections.

Nels, Petersburg (AK) Local

President Burrus:

Thank you for submitting your question regarding COPA contributions. The system our nation uses to finance political campaigns is broken — and it needs to be fixed. Under the current system, successful candidates must raise millions of dollars to finance their campaign — money they collect from donors.

Typically, the majority of donors are corporate executives and other wealthy individuals, often motivated by special interests. Unions the size of the APWU struggle to compete in raising and contributing campaign funds.

To make matters worse, corporations often “persuade” each of their high-ranking officials — and sometimes not-so-high-ranking officials — to make the maximum contribution of $4,600 for a candidate, then “bundle” the checks they collect into a very large contribution. Assuming there are 10 vice presidents in a company, each could give a candidate $2,300 for a primary contest and $2,300 for a general election, for a total of $46,000. Similar contributions from their spouses and other company officials could more than double the amount to $100,000. These bundled contributions have great impact.

In addition to making direct contributions to candidates, many large companies encourage their executives and managers to contribute to political action committees they operate. These committees can give up to $10,000 to each candidate they support per election cycle ($5,000 for primary contests and $5,000 for general elections), and they can contribute higher amounts to political parties, and political funds operated by congressional leaders.

Under federal law, political contributions by corporate officials must be voluntary, but there is virtually no limit to the amount of financial assistance they can give to political candidates and political committees.

Unions, on the other hand, face several obstacles in matching corporate influence in the political process. Our members are not wealthy and cannot afford to make large, individual contributions to candidates, and we cannot use union treasury funds to make political contributions. Instead, we rely on relatively modest voluntary contributions from our union members to funds like COPA, the union’s Committee on Political Action.

The maximum that COPA and other union political action committees can give to a political candidate is $10,000 ($5,000 for a primary contest and $5,000 for a general election).

There is good news, however. While it is difficult for APWU and other unions to compete with corporations in making financial contributions to candidates, we supplement our efforts with committed volunteers. Corporations may have the money, but unions have voters. We maximize our efforts by combining our financial contributions with union volunteers who will work telephone banks and go door-to-door to engage voters with our message.

Until we achieve meaningful campaign finance reform, we must work within the system. And, while we cannot raise contributions equal to the corporations and the wealthy, we have our advantage: millions of ordinary citizens who are willing to give their time and their modest contributions to elect candidates who support working people.

The 300,000 members of the APWU and their relatives help level the playing field in the political arena. If every APWU member makes a small contribution — of time and money — we can hold our own in the election process.

Aug. 28, 2007

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