New Report Raises Serious Questions About Napolitano Pay Off for Public Employee Union Contributions

"Governor Napolitano's 'meet and confer' executive order is nothing more than a quid pro quo to the unions for their generous campaign contributions to the Democrat party during her administration."-Nathan Nascimento, Executive Director of Arizonans In Action.


Phoenix, AZ - Arizonans In Action (AIA) Executive Director Nathan Nascimento today released a 10-year summary of public employee union contributions to the Arizona Democrat Party showing that union contributions rose from under $75,000 to more than $1 million over the past decade, with most of the increase coming after Governor Janet Napolitano took office.

"Governor Napolitano's 'meet and confer' executive order is nothing more than a quid pro quo to the unions for their generous campaign contributions to the Democrat party during her administration," said Nathan Nascimento, Executive Director of Arizonans In Action. "It is as clear a case of influence peddling as the state of Arizona has ever witnessed, at the very highest levels of government."

Arizonans In Action discovered in their research that political contributions from AFSCME and SEIU were virtually nonexistent to the Arizona Democrat Party from 1998 through 2000. Then in 2002, AFSCME began making more substantive political contributions to the Democrat party for a total of $74,500. The political contributions and in kind donations have steadily increased since that time. In the past 10 years, AFSCME and SEIU have contributed over $1 million in political contributions and in kind donations with most of those dollars coming in the past three election cycles and during the Napolitano administration.

The full data for this research can be found at http://arizonansinaction.com/Files/AIA PR Union Contributions Chart.pdf

"Governor Napolitano believes that she can, in the remaining moments of her administration, payback the union bosses' by expediting the process of union organizing in state agencies through executive order," said Nascimento.

"If the people of Arizona do not stand up, the Governor may well get away with it," Nascimento added.


# # #


Arizonans In Action is a 501c4 organization focused on the principles of limited government, protecting private property rights, government accountability and transparency, and true education reform.