The Freedom Foundation on Dec. 14 presented SEIU 775 with an early and unwelcome Christmas gift – a complaint filed with the Washington State Attorney General’s Office that has the potential to cost the union millions and alter the way it conducts its political affairs.
The complaint, which cites wrongdoing going back as much as five years, alleges the union qualifies as a political committee but hasn’t adhered to reporting requirements a political committee must under Washington state campaign finance laws.
“The impacts of this are huge for the union and the whole political landscape in Washington,” said Freedom Foundation Litigation Counsel James Abernathy. “Organized labor is one of the biggest political contributors in this state, and SEIU 775 is without question Washington’s most politically active union. In spite of that – or perhaps because of it – they’re going to extraordinary and illegal lengths to conceal the extent of their political activity.”
Under state law, the term “political committee” refers to “… any person (except a candidate or an individual dealing with his or her own funds or property) having the expectation of receiving contributions or making expenditures in support of, or opposition to, any candidate or any ballot proposition.”
A recent article on the website of Seattle NPR station KUOW describes SEIU as the “2016 heavyweight champion of election influencing” after spending $2.6 million on Washington candidates and causes – including $1.8 million on Initiative 1501.
SEIU has spent even more in previous elections, for example its campaign to pass the $15 minimum wage initiative in SeaTac in 2013, and could hardly deny “making expenditures in support of, or opposition to, any candidate or any ballot proposition.”
“SEIU will certainly argue that collective bargaining, rather than politics, is its single most important activity,” he said. “But you can’t spend as much time, effort and money to influence elections as SEIU does and still argue that isn’t one of your primary functions.”
In the past two years, the Freedom Foundation has filed numerous complaints with the AG’s Office about union campaign finance law violations by Big Labor, and at least four of those cases have led to hefty fines.
“(Attorney General) Bob Ferguson doesn’t file these lawsuits against the unions because he wants to,” Abernathy said. “Remember, he’s one of the political candidates who’s benefited from union money over the years. But he knows he has to take them to court because the violations are blatant, the Freedom Foundation does the investigation for him, and we’ll file a lawsuit if he doesn’t.”
If the AG’s Office declines to act on the Freedom Foundation’s complaint, the organization can bring its own lawsuit. Abernathy said the latest case “once again serves up the union on a silver platter,” and he expects the AG to do his duty.
“The complaint letter itself runs more than 20 pages,” Abernathy said, “and we have hundreds of pages of evidence to back it up. All the evidence we compiled was readily available, but the powers-that-be chose to ignore it, making it necessary for the Freedom Foundation to once again hold SEIU 775 accountable. Indeed, a great deal of the evidence consists of documents produced and distributed by SEIU 775 itself, as well as the words of SEIU 775’s own officers. It just goes to show you how arrogant SEIU 775 really is. They’ve been engaged in this sort of behavior for many years, and it’s reached the point where they don’t ever bother hiding it anymore.
“They just assume the law doesn’t apply to them,” he said, “because for far too long, it hasn’t.”
The AG’s Office has 45 days from the date the complaint was filed to decide whether it wants to pursue a lawsuit. If not, the Freedom Foundation may file a lawsuit of its own 10 days later.
If Ferguson decides to file suit, Abernathy said, it’s likely he and SEIU 775 will agree to an out-of-court settlement before the union can be asked too many embarrassing questions.
“Either way, it’s going to hurt,” he said. “This case is many orders of magnitude more serious than the previous complaints. A slap on the wrist won’t be enough this time. It’s time for Big Labor to be held accountable. No more excuses.”
