Between 2000 and 2010, CTA spent over $210 million on political campaigning

◼ more than any other political donor in California. - Discover The Networks

In fact, this total exceeded the combined political expenditures of the pharmaceutical, oil, and tobacco industries during that same period. From 2003-2012, only eight-tenths of 1% of CTA's political contributions went to Republicans. The rest went to Democrats, making CTA the largest supporter of the Democratic Party in California.

...An affiliate of the National Education Association, the California Teachers Association (CTA) is the Golden State's largest labor union. Founded in 1863, CTA currently represents some 325,000 teachers, counselors, librarians, social workers, psychologists, nurses, office workers, bus drivers, and maintenance staff employed in approximately 1,000 K-12 school districts statewide. Other CTA members include community-college and California State University faculty.

As recently as the 1960s CTA was a politically moderate entity that eschewed labor activism, as reflected by then-executive director Arthur Corey's 1962 declaration that: “The strike as a weapon for teachers is inappropriate, unprofessional, illegal, outmoded, and ineffective. You can’t go out on an illegal strike one day and expect to go back to your classroom and teach good citizenship the next.” The union began drifting leftward in 1975, however, when California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill permitting the state's teachers to bargain collectively. Over the ensuing 37 years, CTA staged more than 170 strikes.

Among the most well-funded institutions in America today, CTA's revenues derive mostly from mandatory annual dues that, in some cases, can amount to more than $1,000 per member. The Association's income in 2009 exceeded $186 million, all of it tax-exempt.

For many years, CTA has used its massive resources to fund its ever-expanding political activism. Learn more at Discover The Networks