NEA fined for illegal use of dues

Judge sets fine at $800,000

    The National Education Association, the nation's largest and most politically powerful teachers union, has been fined $800,000 for failing to show up for court to face charges that the union illegally spent member's dues to support selected politicians.
    A group calling themselves the Evergreen Freedom Foundation filed the suit against the NEA alleging that the union violated a Washington state law that protects union members from having their union dues used to support political campaigns without their permission.
    In Washington state, teachers do not have to be official members of the union, but are required to pay a "representative fee" that supposedly covers the cost of collective bargaining and other services provided by the union for all teachers. Reports indicate that some 4,000 of the state's 75,000 teachers are non-union members who pay the fee.
    Fox News reports that some 90 percent of the dues-paying NEA union members have chosen an option not to have any of their dues contribute to the union political action committee that gives money to national political parties. More than 80 percent of those funds went to Democrats during the 2000-2001 elections, according to public records.
    Union leaders are alleging that the Evergreen Freedom Foundation filed the charges "to silence the voices of teachers." However the fact remains that the NEA with all of its legal staff failed to respond to the deadline set by the court and Washington state law prescribes that when lawsuits go unanswered, judges may presume the allegations are valid and use that as a basis for their ruling.
    Evergreen leader Bob Williams, in recent testimony, told a congressional committee that so many teachers have opted out of the system that NEA officials apparently found it necessary to ignore state law in order to fund their political programs.
    The NEA has already been fined $400,000 in another suit that is currently under appeal. Also the Washington Education Association, the state affiliate of the NEA was fined $190,000 in legal fees by the state attorney general's office with $143,000 returned to teachers as compensation for illegally spent dues.