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AFSCME
FUNNELS UNION DUES TO MIKE MADIGAN
Illinois Policy Institute/
Mailee Smith
State records show AFSCME Council 31
funnels membership dues into its political action committee, which just
gave a record-breaking $767,800 donation to Illinois House Speaker Mike
Madigan.
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 The American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees Council 31 just handed a major political gift to Illinois House
Speaker Mike Madigan – at the expense of union members.
According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, Council 31’s political
action committee transferred $767,800 to Friends of Michael J. Madigan, the
longtime speaker’s election committee, on Sept. 24. It’s the largest political
contribution the union’s PAC has transferred to a politician’s personal election
committee on record.
Records show that union dues directly contributed to that transfer.
Specifically, AFSCME Council 31’s political account – which is
subcategorized as “membership dues” with the state board of elections – first
transferred over $1.8 million to its PAC between Sept. 4 and Sept. 24.
Then the PAC transferred $767,800 to Madigan’s election committee on Sept. 24.
That money will, in turn, be funneled to various Illinois House of
Representatives candidates across the state.
This sort of political spending is business as usual for AFSCME. The PAC spent
over $6.8 million between 2013 and 2017 on Illinois politics, according to
records with the Illinois State Board of Elections.
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As a chairman of multiple organizations, the top
recipient of AFSCME’s political funding between 2013 and 2017 was
Mike Madigan. Between his campaign committee (Friends of Michael J.
Madigan), the Democratic Party of Illinois (which Madigan chairs)
and Democratic Majority (which Madigan also chairs), the speaker
took in over $541,000 from Council 31 over that time. Of course,
this total does not include funds Council 31 sent directly to other
Democratic lawmakers backed by the speaker, at his direction.
Filings also reveal that between 2013 and 2017, the PAC directed
over $2,780,000 to the election committees of lawmakers currently
sitting in the General Assembly. The majority of that spending –
almost $2.7 million (96 percent) – was directed toward the election
committees of Democrats. Filings show Republican election committees
received only $101,000 during the same time period.
AFSCME Council 31 has claimed to be a “leading voice for working
families in the state of Illinois.”
But its members may not agree with what that voice is saying – or
with just how much of their money the union is using to be that
voice.
AFSCME members upset by the union’s political spending do have
recourse. They can stop their hard-earned money from being funneled
to Madigan and his allies by resigning from the union and telling
their employers to stop deducting dues from their paychecks.
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