Education

NEA fined $800,000 after missing deadline
Ruling comes in lawsuit over use of union fees for campaigns
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Paul Queary
Associated Press Writer

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- A judge has fined the National Education Association $800,000 after the teachers' union missed a deadline to respond to a campaign finance lawsuit filed by the conservative Evergreen Freedom Foundation.

It wasn't clear whether the order Thurston County Superior Court Judge Daniel Berschauer issued Monday will stand. If lawsuits go unanswered, judges can presume the facts and allegations contained in them are true and rule accordingly, but such cases are rare.

Berschauer ruled in favor of the foundation's claim that the NEA violated state law against spending -- for political purposes -- fees paid to the union by nonmember teachers when it poured more than $500,000 into recent initiative campaigns.

The order also blocks the NEA from collecting fees from any nonmember teacher in Washington unless the union gets the employee's permission to spend the money on politics.

"Apparently NEA officials think complying with state laws isn't a high enough priority to merit close attention, but we expect this judgment to remind them that we value teachers rights here in Washington," said Bob Williams, the foundation's president.

Kathleen Lyons, a spokeswoman for the National Education Association, said the paperwork the union received was date-stamped May 2, requiring a response within 60 days. That timeline would have expired Tuesday, and the union sent a response by overnight mail on Friday, she said.

"We did everything in plenty of time," Lyons said. "We're just perplexed."

However, court records show the Washington, D.C.-based union was served on April 23, meaning the 60-day clock ran out last week.

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation sought and received a default judgment when the deadline expired, said Marsha Richards, a foundation spokeswoman. Richards conceded that the judge may take back his order if he receives a response from the union.

The case pits the tiny conservative foundation against the largest teachers' union in the country. The foundation has been a constant opponent of the union's Washington affiliate, the Washington Education Association, winning a $400,000 judgment in a similar case.

Union leaders denounce the foundation as a front used by shadowy national conservative groups to attack teachers unions and push private school vouchers and other conservative education policies.

The law cited in the lawsuit is designed to protect people from having unions spend their money on causes they don't support. However, nearly all the money in question was spent on campaigns to increase teacher pay and shrink class sizes.

The foundation filed the lawsuit April 8 after the Public Disclosure Commission referred its complaint to Attorney General Christine Gregoire for negotiation of a settlement. The foundation wanted the case prosecuted more aggressively.

The PDC's investigators found the union violated the law several times by spending money from its general fund for several initiatives. That fund, investigators said, apparently mingles nonmember fees with union member dues.

The NEA gave $500,000 to support Initiative 728 and Initiative 732. Both measures passed in 2000, mandating smaller class sizes and yearly cost-of-living increases for teachers. The union gave smaller amounts in earlier initiative campaigns.

The 2.6 million-member NEA contends its lawyers and accountants take care to segregate fee payers' money from the dues of politically active members.

Berschauer's order imposes a $50 penalty for at least 8,000 separate violations for a total of $400,000. The judge then doubled the fine as a punishment for intentional violations. He also ordered the union to pay $10,500 to the Evergreen Freedom Foundation for legal fees and $3,103 to the PDC for the costs of its investigation.

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