Unions, Energy Industry Tops in Political Contributions

(Warner Todd Huston) – According to FollowTheMoney.org unions were some of the most generous with donations to political candidates and causes during the 2007-2008 donation cycle, the last cycle full reporting is known for. A close second place goes to the energy industry with Indian interests coming in third.

Out of the top 50 highest amounts given to political efforts unions donated $223,533,678 to political causes showing that, while unions make up less than 20 percent of the American work force, they account for some of the largest in political donations.

Unfortunately, many of those top donors are public employees unions meaning that our tax dollars are caught in a revolving door with tax money going to public employees who then turn around and donate some of that tax money right back to politicians and their campaign funds in order for those politicians to themselves turn right back around and pass laws that give public employees unions more money!

Six categories dominate the top 50 highest donations to political causes in 2007-2008. Unions; energy interests and public utilities; Indian interests and tribes; gambling interests; healthcare industry groups; political organizations.

Here’s the break down:

• Unions = $223,533,78
• Energy/Public Utilities = $214,103,620
• Indian Tribes = $170,276,962
• Gambling Interests = $69,108,107
• Healthcare Groups = $39,897,713
• Political Organizations = $6,432,826

That is an awful lot of money floating around out there going to politicians and political causes, isn’t it? Of course, the shame of it is that this money has to be spent at all. After all, the only reason these groups (many of them extremist left-wing groups) are throwing all this money around is because government has taken on more power than it should.

Cut legislation, cut regulation, and take power away from government and you’d see most of this many millions of dollars going to improve business, grow the economy, and make our lives better. Instead, as government steals away more power from us and forces itself upon our daily lives more every year, these groups must spend more to guard their interests.

You can’t blame lobbyists for this obscene waste of money, people. THIS is ALL the fault of overweening government involvement in our lives.

(Mr. Huston writes The Union Label blog)