WEA to pay nearly $1 Million for Rights Violation

On December 3, 2008, the Attorney Generals Office announced that it had reached a settlement with the Washington Education Association to finalize litigation over the union's improper political spending.

Evergreen Freedom Foundation tells us in the January 09 edition of Living Liberty, that "This is one of the largest campaign finance settlements in state history. Eight years ago the Evergreen Freedom Foundation filed a complaint with the attorney general against the WEA for using non-member teacher dues for politics. Teachers are required to pay dues regardless of whether they join the union, but state law required unions to get permission first before using their dues for politics. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it was a long road. After EFF filed its complaint in August 2000, the union admitted to “multiple violations.”


Then-Attorney General Christine Gregoire filed a lawsuit, and a trial court judge imposed a $590,375 penalty on the union. Subsequently, a group of teachers, represented by EFF and National Right to Work, filed the Davenport class-action lawsuit to recover their improperly-spent dues (named for lead plaintiff Gary Davenport)."

The rest of the post can be read here:http://www.effwa.org/files/pdf/1_NL_09.pdf