Press Release
July 8, 2003
Contact: Marsha
Richards, Communications Director
(360) 956-3482
OLYMPIA—In a unanimous vote this morning, the state
Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) decided to appeal its case against
the Washington Education Association (WEA) to the State Supreme Court.
In a 2-1 ruling June 24, a panel of judges in Washington’s
Court of Appeals ruled that a state law designed to protect the free speech
rights of teachers violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The law made it illegal for the WEA to take money from non-member
teachers and use it to influence elections without permission from those
teachers. The Appeals Court said it was "unduly burdensome"
for the union to comply.
The case was on appeal after the WEA was sued by the state
Attorney General (AG) and found guilty in July 2001 of willfully violating
the law. The WEA was ordered to pay $590,000 in fines and state legal
costs, and has since been required to return about $300,000 to teachers.
Attorneys for the WEA have argued that money taken from
teachers’ paychecks belongs to the union and any attempts to limit
their unauthorized use of teachers’ money is an abridgement of the
union’s free speech rights.
By contrast, the Attorney General’s office has focused
on the free speech rights of teachers, arguing that the union’s practice
of spending teachers’ money on politics without their consent amounts
to "forced political speech."
More than 500 citizens contacted the PDC and AG to request
an aggressive appeal of the case to the State Supreme Court.
"We’re delighted this case will be appealed,"
said Bob Williams, president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. "We
hope the State Supreme Court will uphold our nation’s constitution
and the free speech rights of teachers by overturning the outrageous ruling
from the Court of Appeals."
The Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a long-time advocate of
free speech and fair elections, filed the original complaint against the
WEA that sparked the Attorney General’s case.
RCW 42.17.760 -- Agency shop fees as contributions.
A labor organization may not use agency shop fees paid by an individual
who is not a member of the organization to make contributions or expenditures
to influence an election or to operate a political committee, unless affirmatively
authorized by the individual.
|
Evergreen Freedom Foundation
P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507
Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874
Email: effwa@effwa.org |
