The National Education Association has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission, alleging that the National Right to Work Committee, an anti-union organization, violated federal campaign-finance laws by hiring investigators to infiltrate the Democratic Presidential campaign.
The nea action last Friday came two days after the Right to Work Committee announced its own complaint with the fec against Americans for Civic Participation, the parent of Project Vote, a voter-registration organization. The nea Right to Work has accused tax-exempt Project Vote of conducting illegal partisan political activities, to which nea is a party since the 1.7-million-member union donates office space to Project Vote, according to a Right to Work spokesman.
nea claimed that Right to Work’s hiring of two operatives to infiltrate Walter F. Mondale’s primary campaign violated federal election law which bars corporations from contributing to federal campaigns.
Right to Work has spent over $100,000 on these undercover activities, a committee spokesman said. Since the investigators actually work for the Mondale campaign, nea claims that their salaries constitute illegal contributions to the effort.
