California law enforcement union misreporting political spending, anti-union group alleges

The Fair Political Practices Commission is investigating allegations that a California state law enforcement union improperly funneled dues money to politics.

An extensive complaint filed by the anti-union Freedom Foundation says the California State Law Enforcement Association has spent more than $100 per member on politics each year, which should have triggered reporting requirements that the union didn’t follow.

In addition, the union — which represents about 8,000 state employees including alcohol and beverage control agents, dispatchers and fish and game wardens — reported political contributions to the Secretary of State through organizations that aren’t registered with the Internal Revenue Service, according to the complaint.

“They’re acting as if they don’t have to abide by those reporting requirements,” said Sam Coleman, a Freedom Foundation spokesman.

The group, which encourages public employees to leave their unions and doesn’t disclose its donors, filed a complaint with the FPPC on Jan. 5. The commission notified the foundation on Feb. 16 that it had opened an investigation based on the complaint.

“CSLEA believes the complaint filed by the Freedom Foundation, a group whose goal is to discredit unions and discourage union membership, is grossly inflated,” union spokeswoman Teri Cox said in an emailed statement. “CSLEA is currently conducting an internal review of records and is fully cooperating with the FPPC. CSLEA is, and always has been, vigilant about complying with FPPC rules and regulations and looks forward to the conclusion of the FPPC’s investigation.”

Under state law, political action committees that receive contributions of more than $100 from any individual must identify the contributor, including their address, occupation and employer.

Until recently, CSLEA’s website said that it spent $28 per month of each member’s dues on politics. The information was part of a post on filing taxes, informing members that they couldn’t deduct the portion of their dues that went to politics. The union recently took the page down from its site.

When multiplied by 12 months, that comes to $336 per year per member, according to the foundation’s complaint. The committees haven’t disclosed union members’ names or their personal information, according to the complaint.

The complaint identifies the period during which the $100 limit applies as a calendar year, based on the foundation’s interpretation of statutes. Under another interpretation, the limit could apply to a six-month reporting period. In that case, the per-member amount would be $168, still exceeding the $100 limit.

The complaint identifies five political action committees the union uses to contribute to candidates and make other political expenditures.

“Their consistent failure to comply with the state’s campaign finance disclosure laws has significantly damaged California election transparency by obscuring the source of millions of dollars in political contributions from public view,” the foundation’s complaint says.

The union had 4,888 dues-payers among the 7,998 workers it represented as of August, when The Sacramento Bee analyzed union membership rates.

Members may request that CSLEA not spend their money on politics, instead depositing the $28 per month into the union’s general fund. If none of the dues-payers made that request, the union would have spent about $1.6 million on politics last year, according to the Freedom Foundation’s figures.

“It’s a huge amount for such a small union,” Coleman said.

In 2018, the union reported about $4.4 million in revenue, according to publicly available tax documents.

Campaign finance records show CSLEA, like other state employee unions, contributed to a wide range of state Assembly members and senators, including Democrats and Republicans, in 2019 and 2020.

Its primary political action committee, the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association PAC, contributed $237,000 to the state Democratic Party over the two years, but none to the Republican Party, the records show.

Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert’s 2022 campaign received one of the union’s largest contributions last year, of $75,000. Gov. Gavin Newsom received $10,000 in 2019.

The five political action committees, whose donations may be viewed at the state’s Cal-Access website, are the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association Political Action Committee, the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association Independent Expenditure Committee, the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association 1M Governors Fund, the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association Issues Committee and the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association Public Works Political Action Committee.

This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 5:25 AM.