The California Association of Professional Scientists' spent half of its political money last year on defeating Proposition 32, the failed campaign finance ballot measure.
With about 2,500 members, CAPS is one of the smallest state employee unions. Still, the $100,000 it gave to the anti-32 effort amounted to $40 per member.
By comparison, SEIU Local 1000, the state's largest employee labor group, sent about $15 per represented employee (both fair-share and full members) to the anti-Proposition 32 campaign. The 13,000-member Professional Engineers in California Government, gave about $46 per member to defeat Proposition 32.
The scientists total political spending for the year came to $200,000, with about 1 percent, $2,400, going non-campaign contribution expenses such as legal and consulting services, Internet costs, meetings and appearances.
As you look through the CAPS PAC data that follows, tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheets open pages with the information parsed and totalled a few different ways.
Remember that expenditures show everything a union PAC spent on political activities, including operating costs. Contributions break out donations given to political campaigns and causes.
This is the latest installment in a series detailing 2012 political spending by California state workers' unions. The records are downloaded from the California Secretary of State's office and reflect activity posted online as of Dec. 31, 2012.
To get a sense of similar spending in California by other interest groups, check out the National Institute on Money in State Politics.
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