PA Teachers Union Accused of Laundering $1.5 Million in Union Dues to Bankroll Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro’s 2022 Campaign
According to a Freedom Foundation press release, the organization has filed multiple complaints with state and federal authorities concerning the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) and the Democratic Governors Association (DGA).
The complaints allege PSEA “executed an illegal scheme during the 2022 Pennsylvania general election to surreptitiously use nearly $1.5 million in teachers’ union dues to back then-candidate Josh Shapiro’s gubernatorial campaign.”
Shapiro is reportedly under consideration as Kamala Harris’s running mate.
The Freedom Foundation explains that Pennsylvania campaign finance and collective bargaining laws prohibit unions from using their general treasury funds to contribute to political candidates.
Yet, according to complaints filed by the organization, “PSEA made two six-figure contributions from its general treasury to the Fund for Student Success (FSS), a little-known political fund operated by the union, which then contributed the funds to the DGA in May 2022 which, in turn, contributed heavily to Shapiro’s successful campaign for governor.”
“Additionally, the transactions were not publicly disclosed as required by the Pennsylvania Election Code. PSEA failed to register the FSS, which it quietly launched in 2018, as a political committee with the Department of State, meaning none of its contributions or expenditures — including the two contributions to the DGA in 2022 — have been publicly disclosed as required. While the DGA has registered as a political committee and files the applicable disclosures, it failed to report receiving the two contributions from the FSS in May 2022.”
Maxford Nelsen, the Freedom Foundation’s director of research and government affairs, said, “PSEA’s scheme to secretly launder nearly $1.5 million in members’ dues through the Democratic Governors Association to support Josh Shapiro’s 2022 candidacy appears to have violated both an array of Pennsylvania laws and the Internal Revenue Code.”
Nelsen added, “In the process, PSEA executives displayed as much contempt for their own members as they did for Commonwealth law and voters. Pennsylvania teachers deserve to know that their union’s assurances that the dues deducted from their hard-earned paychecks aren’t being used to back political candidates are worth no more than a politician’s campaign promises.”
The exhaustive complaints show that although PSEA officers were well aware of the applicable laws, they ignored them anyway and deceived Pennsylvania teachers in the process.
Freedom Foundation shared the three complaints filed against PSEA:
The first complaint — alleging violations of the Election Code and certain criminal statutes by the PSEA, FSS, and DGA — was filed with the Pennsylvania Department of State, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, and the Dauphin County District Attorney. A copy of the complaint is available here.
The second complaint was filed with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board and alleges violations of the Public Employee Relations Act by PSEA. A copy of the complaint is available here.
And the third complaint, which alleges the Fund for Student Success submitted a fraudulent 2022 tax return, was filed with the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Philadelphia field office. A copy of the complaint is available here.
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