{"id":34808,"date":"2013-03-05T12:00:17","date_gmt":"2013-03-05T18:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=34808"},"modified":"2014-10-02T10:19:18","modified_gmt":"2014-10-02T15:19:18","slug":"the-unions-buy-minnesota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=34808","title":{"rendered":"The Unions Buy Minnesota"},"content":{"rendered":"

So how much money\u00a0did\u00a0<\/em>Big Labor spend along with Big Lefty Plutocrat to buy the Governor’s Office and the Legislature?<\/p>\n

If you believe the\u00a0Strib<\/em>, it’s “around $3 million.<\/p>\n

If you believe the\u00a0Strib\u00a0<\/em>is going to tell the truth about DFL perfidy – and especially the big money behind the DFL, I’ve got a 50% stake in the next Lindsay Lohan movie to sell you.<\/p>\n

Bill Walsh, long-time Minnesota political operative, did a little digging into the story – and he’s got something the Twin Cities’ mainstream media doesn’t want to give you; the facts:<\/p>\n

I’m publishing his piece as a guest writer at Shot In The Dark today.<\/p>\n

———-<\/p>\n

Unions Spent $11.1 Million in 2012 to Buy Friendly Legislature for Gov. Mark Dayton<\/h2>\n

Bill Walsh,\u00a0Shot In The Dark\u00a0<\/em>Guest Writer<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago the Star Tribune published an article about campaign spending in the 2012 election focusing on two big individual donors<\/a> \u2013 Alida Messinger and Bob Cummins. The conclusion? Each party has a big donor that gave lots of money, it\u2019s all a wash. I\u2019m afraid this story is all we\u2019re going to get from the Strib on campaign spending analysis. Today, in an otherwise well written article on union influence at the capitol this year, Rachel Stassen-Berger writes that unions \u201cput at least $3 million into elections.\u201d I guess $11.1 million is \u201cat least\u201d $3 million. She\u2019s only off by $8.1 million.<\/p>\n

I took the time to go through the campaign finance reports of 111 different union organizations in Minnesota and nationally for the 2012 election. Spending ranged from Education Minnesota at $1.8 million to the Bemidji Central Labor Body AFL-CIO Political Fund at $250. State and local unions accounted for $9.1 million in campaign spending with national unions kicking in the other $2 million.<\/p>\n

Union Contributions 2012<\/a> by<\/p>\n