Legislators cripple unions PACs

Dec. 21, 2006 - Besides shortchanging voters on minimum wage. . .  besides cutting consumer protections. . . besides guaranteeing private prison companies a piece of the state’s action. . . you can now add political revenge against unions to the list of last-minute misdeeds foisted on Ohioans by the lame-duck legislature. In what was literally a middle of the night maneuver, Republicans introduced and won passage of a bill that would sharply limit union-related contributions to political candidates.

HB 694 was originally supposed to stop “pay to play” schemes between private contractors and politicians that have been in headlines over the past few years. Government vendors were to be limited to a maximum $2,000 donation to the campaigns of public officials. But a 1:45 a.m. vote added a requirement that union Political Action Committees be treated the same as government vendors because of their labor “contracts” and fall under the same contribution limits. The OCSEA PAC, which uses member’s voluntary contributions to make political donations, would be affected. The old ceiling was $10,000 per candidate per election cycle.

Union leaders and legislators who opposed the measure said the union limits were ridiculous since unions have played virtually no role in the various corruption schemes that have come under investigation. The same politicians who proclaimed that the union restrictions would help restore the public’s trust in government were the same ones who 24 hours earlier voted to give private prison companies a sweetheart deal guaranteeing them at least two state prisons to operate.

OCSEA and other union officials believe there is a strong possibility the union restrictions in HB 694 will be challenged in court.