MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Democratic Party may be all but defunct in the state of Alabama, but Democrats in the state legislature — and a handful of more liberal Republicans — were still able to count on their closest ally during the 2014 election cycle.
A list of Alabama’s largest Political Action Committees (PACs) compiled by the Birmingham Business Journal shows that the Alabama Education Association’s (AEA) A-VOTE PAC had the most cash to work with in 2014 — and it wasn’t even close.
At $4.62 million, A VOTE piled more money into its coffers than the next four largest PACs on the list combined.
1) AL Voice of Teachers for Education- $4.62 million
2) Alabama Republican Executive Committee- $846,556
3) Trust Representing Involve Alabama Lawyers – $837,461
4) Progress PAC (Business Council of Alabama) – $816,761
5) Stop Common Core PAC – $725,035
Interestingly, the 5th PAC on the list, Stop Common Core PAC, is widely believed to have been little more than a front group for AEA as well.
In 2014, the AEA and its tangled web of affiliated PACs and interest groups, spent upwards of $20 million in a desperate attempt to oust incumbent Republicans around the state. But in spite of their unprecedented expenditures, the group only won a handful of victories in the primaries, then were unable to claim a single victory on election night in November.
Remember that time AEA spent like $20 million of teachers' money in a scorched earth campaign and didn't win, like, anything? #alpolitics
— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) November 5, 2014
Much of A VOTE’s contributions come from the dues of teachers, which until 2014 were automatically deducted from teachers’ checks each month. Last year the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the AEA could no longer use state resources to collect those donations.
Despite this ruling, the AEA campaigned in teachers’ lounges and in schools to get a large percentage of their members signed up through automatic bank account withdrawal.
But after their millions of dollars in donations were squandered without much success in 2014, it is unclear whether or not the group will ever be able to recover.
The Republican-lead legislature was recently able to pass charter schools legislation for the first time in history, dealing yet another blow to the beleaguered union.
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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
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