An organization of Democratic governors that Tim Walz has led since late last year is facing allegations that during the 2022 election cycle it illegally served as a pass-through entity for teachers union political contributions to make their way to the campaign of then-gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro.
A conservative think tank that specializes in “countering the power and influence of government-worker labor unions” has filed a federal complaint with the Internal Revenue Service that alleges a Pennsylvania teachers union and the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) partnered in an “illegal scheme during the 2022 Pennsylvania general election to surreptitiously use nearly $1.5 million in teachers’ union dues to back then-candidate Josh Shapiro’s gubernatorial campaign.”
Washington-based Freedom Foundation filed its complaints with the IRS and the Pennsylvania Attorney General on July 24 that name the Pennsylvania State Education Association and Democratic Governors Association and allege the entities violated Pennsylvania campaign finance and collective bargaining laws that prohibit unions from using their general treasury funds to make contributions to political candidates.
Both complaints allege that the PSEA made two, six-figure contributions from its general treasury to the Fund for Student Success, a little-known political fund operated by the union, which then contributed the funds to the Democratic Governors Association in May 2022. The DGA then contributed those funds to Shapiro’s campaign for governor, which he won, according to the complaint.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has served as chair for the DGA from December 2023 until this week when he announced he would step down from the role as he pivots to being Kamala Harris’s vice presidential running mate. But as recently as Sunday, both Walz and Shapiro were widely reported as the two finalists Vice President Kamala Harris was vetting to serve as her running mate.
In its 21-page complaint to the IRS, the Freedom Foundation chronicles the donations the DGA made to the Shapiro campaign and alleges those transactions were not publicly disclosed as required by the Pennsylvania Election Code.
“PSEA failed to register the FSS, which it quietly launched in 2018, as a political committee with the Department of State, meaning none of its contributions or expenditures — including the two contributions to the DGA in 2022 — have been publicly disclosed as required,” the organization wrote in its complaint.
Walz re-election campaign benefitted from $7 million donation from DGA
While Walz wasn’t chair of the DGA at the time of the alleged campaign finance violations, his 2022 gubernatorial re-election campaign in Minnesota benefitted from $7 million in DGA donations to Alliance for a Better Minnesota, a Democratic-allied political action committee that targets Republican candidates with negative advertising. The next closest dollar amounts that the DGA contributed to efforts during the 2022 election cycle to elect Democratic governors were $5.9 million it donated to the “Terry for Virginia” campaign and $4 million it donated to “Friends of Tina Kotek.”
Hank Long
Hank Long is a journalism and communications professional whose writing career includes coverage of the Minnesota legislature, city and county governments and the commercial real estate industry. Hank received his undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, where he studied journalism, and his law degree at the University of St. Thomas. The Minnesota native lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and four children. His dream is to be around when the Vikings win the Super Bowl.
