Big Spenders

Did you ever wonder who the big political spenders are? Here is a list of the largest spenders to influence votes. Notice that half are labor unions.

Rank	Organization	Total '89-'09	Dem%	Rep %
1	AT&T Inc	$45,656,394	44	55
2	Amer. Fedn of State, Cnty & Municipal Employees	$43,026,011	98	1
3	ActBlue	$42,628,917	99	0
4	National Assn of Realtors	$37,617,499	48	50
5	Goldman Sachs	$32,878,402	62	37
6	American Assn for Justice	$32,681,779	90	8
7	Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers	$32,680,295	97	2
8	National Education Assn	$31,113,780	93	6
9	Laborers Union	$29,816,800	92	7
10	Service Employees International Union	$28,889,132	95	3
11	Teamsters Union	$28,876,259	93	6
12	Carpenters & Joiners Union	$28,827,308	89	10
13	American Federation of Teachers	$28,194,891	98	0
14	Communications Workers of America	$27,958,106	98	0
15	Citigroup Inc	$27,583,712	50	49
16	American Medical Assn	$26,846,420	39	60
17	United Auto Workers	$26,509,902	98	0
18	Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union	$25,924,777	98	0
19	National Auto Dealers Assn	$25,613,758	32	67
20	United Parcel Service	$24,987,614	36	62

Wow, over 331 million bucks of union dues that did not go for the members welfare.

Unions

Seems unions are suffering based on labor figures by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The overall unionization rate in the US was 12.1 percent, down from 12.4 percent the previous year.

The private sector, for the first time ever, employed fewer union members than the public sector. The number of union workers employed in the private sector fell from approximately 7.91 million in 2008 to 7.19 million in 2009, while the number of public-sector union workers dropped from 7.86 million to 7.76 million.

In California, the highest unionized state, unionization rates were down across a range of groupings, with the most significant losses in:

    * Transportation and utilities fell from 41.7 percent to 36.4 percent
    * Public administration fell from 58.1 percent to 52.1 percent