The state lawyers' union political action committee is one of the most ... frugal? ... of any state employees PAC.
The 3,700-member California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment (which goes by the economized acronym, CASE), filed just $516,000 of political expenses with the Secretary of State's office -- for both 2011 and 2012.
It's top expenditure: $100,000 to the No on Proposition 32 campaign. It's No. 2 expense: $55,000 to Ellison Wilson Advocates for campaign consulting.
Like we said, frugal. To be fair, the union is one of the smallest bargaining units . Its members are widely agreed to be among the lowest paid professionals in state government, particularly when compared with their counterparts in local government and the private sector.
And CASE dues are among the lowest among rank-and-file state employees, a flat $45 per month, of which $10 goes to the union's PAC.
As you look through the tables below, tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheets open worksheets with more detailed information.
Remember that expenditures show everything a union PAC spent on political activities, including operating costs. Contributions pages break out donations given to political campaigns and causes. Late contributions are money that came in after the regular filing deadline.
Political spending via larger umbrella organizations, such as SEIU California, is not reflected in the data.
This is the next in a series of posts detailing the political spending by California state workers' unions. The records are downloaded from the California Secretary of State's office and reflect activity filed as of Nov. 21, 2012.
To get a sense of similar spending in California by other interest groups, check out the National Institute on Money in State Politics. The California data on that site run through September 2012.
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