Union helps non-profit groups pay for attack ads

WASHINGTON -- The nation's largest public employee union has funneled more than $5 million to a series of non-profits running ads attacking Republican congressional candidates, federal election records show.

Since July, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has donated almost $5.5 million to three groups: Campaign Money Watch, Patriot Majority and Patriot Majority Midwest. Those groups have spent more than $2 million on TV ads attacking GOP Sens. Ted Stevens of Alaska and John Sununu of New Hampshire and five GOP lawmakers and House candidates in Florida, Michigan and Ohio. The ads don't mention AFSCME by name.

If the AFSCME targets lose on Nov. 4, the results could help expand the Democrats' majorities in Congress. Since January 2007, AFSCME has given more than $1.6 million to Democratic candidates.

Dozens of independent groups have paid for advertisements targeting various politicians in the past two months. AFSCME, however, stands out for the size of its contributions and the lack of clear identification of its role in paying for the advertising.

The union discloses its connection to the ads in its filings to the Federal Election Commission, says Paul Booth, executive assistant to the AFSCME president. He said the union helps finance the non-profit organizations but does not manage them.

"Our motivation is simply this: There are issues that we want aired as soon as they can be," Booth said. "We want to promote policy changes that ought to be attended to immediately in Congress."

Allowing non-profits to raise and spend unlimited union or corporate funds violates the spirit of laws aimed at curbing special interests in elections, said Meredith McGehee of the non-partisan watchdog Campaign Legal Center. "These groups can play the role of a hit man in a campaign and do it in a way that's not very transparent," she said.

Labor groups are hiding "behind shadowlike front groups to prop up their candidates of choice," said Ken Spain, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. This week the group asked the FEC to investigate Patriot Majority, saying it should not operate as a non-profit.