Coffman Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Decision

Court’s Opinion a “Victory for Transparency”

Denver, June 14, 2007 – Secretary of State Mike Coffman today applauded the United States Supreme Court’s opinion in Davenport v Washington Education Association that said it is not a violation of the First Amendment to require unions to obtain permission before using union dues for political purposes.

“Today’s opinion by the highest court in the land supports the basic principle that it is reasonable to ask for and obtain permission from union members prior to spending their membership dues on political activity,” Coffman said.

In 2002, Coloradans overwhelmingly passed Amendment 27, a law that clearly expressed the concern that large, anonymous campaign contributions may corrupt our political process.

Many large membership organizations, such as labor unions, circumvent the intent of Amendment 27 by taking a portion of their members’ dues and transferring the money to a small donor committee without asking for, or receiving, permission from the member. They take these dues in small increments of under $20 to avoid having to identify who the members are. But the small increments add up to big money when labor unions are able to tap into the dues of members who are non-Colorado residents from all across the country.

Since the passage of Amendment 27, small donor committees have raised more than $7.3 million and the vast majority of those contributions came from twelve membership organizations — all labor organizations; of that total, $6 million came from unidentified members of these organizations (see attachment). These small donor committees are then authorized to donate to political campaigns ten times the amount of individuals.

The net result is having $6 million pumped into political campaigns from unidentified individuals.

“Today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision protected the right of citizens to know where this money is coming from,” Coffman said.

“The U.S. Supreme Court today held that a state, either through the voters or the legislative process, may adopt laws that require a union to gain permission from members before using their dues for political purposes. This is a victory for transparency in our political processes.”

Attachment: An analysis of Small Donor Committee filings with the Secretary of State’s office showing contributions from 2003 though February 20, 2007.