UFT Illegal PAC United for the Future 786

If the Best Way For A Child is A Good Education Why is the UFT Allowed to Use Students As A Political Prop?

Federal officials said there was an “organized political campaign” against standardized tests in New York and that districts could lose money if 95 percent of their pupils don’t take exams, Gannett Albany report

UFT Advance Secret Relationship Secret Illegal Relationship During the 2013 Campaign

 The Advance Group also faces a CFB probe into an outside-spending campaign the firm ran on behalf of the United Federation of Teachers under the name "Strategic Consultants, Inc.," and separately, NYCLASS gave donations to the anti-Quinn efforts far above state-imposed limits.United Federation of Teachers' super PAC had paid more than $370,000 to a fictitious political consulting firm "Strategic Consultants Inc.," which was actually the well-known Manhattan consulting firm the Advance Group. Advance Group puts logo on phony firm's invoice( CrainsNY)* The advance group got paid $28,000 by gay city council candidate Yetta Kurland at the same time the firm work for the City Action Coalition PAC, which on its website touts itself as supporting candidates who oppose gay marriage and abortion rights.Advance was on both side of the Kurland race.  The firm also secretly worked to have been promot Johnson’s candidacy through an IE paid for by the UFT via a company called Strategic Consultants—apparently a dummy shell corporation set up to obscure the Advance Group’s double-dealing.  "Questions Raised Over U.F.T. Campaign Filing" [Beth Fertig]* * UFT under fire for apparently trying to hide identity of consulting firm(NYDN) *UFT paid $370,000 to fake consultant (CrainsNY)* Advance Group puts logo on phony firm's invoice( CrainsNY)

Daily News Charges Against Advance and Mark-Viverto

EXCLUSIVE: City Council Speaker candidate Melissa Mark-Viverito may have violated city ethics rules(NYDN) Mark-Viverito, an East Harlem councilwoman, accepted unpaid assistance from the Advance Group, a prominent lobbying firm working to further her candidacy (Daily News 11/27/2013)

Education Lobbyist Spend Big

Teachers, Gambling, Campaign Finance Dominate Lobbying Scene(YNN) * Charter advocates, teachers union are state’s biggestlobbying spenders (NYP)The city and the teachers unions spent a combined $3.3 million trying to influence government officials in the first half of 2014 and was listed first in the state by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, which released the report. Families for Excellent Schools shelled out $5.95 million during the same period, dwarfing the union spending. Teacher Union Blasts Cuomo The city and state teacher unions blasted Cuomo Tuesday for referring to public schools as "one of the only remaining public monopolies,” the Daily News writes: 

UFT Protected From Illegal Campaign Spending by Prosecutors 

The report draws particular attention to what it calls the "remarkable influx of independent spending" throughout the election cycle. Its data shows that outside groups spent about $8 million to promote and detract from candidates in the mayoral race and $6.2 million in city council races.Jobs for New York, which was one of two PACs responsible for half of all 2013 election spending, aggregated $6.9 million from "over 120 LLCs and partnerships associated with specific [real estate] development projects" to influence city council races, according to the CFB. Voters received mailings financed by Jobs for New York, often portraying candidates negatively, with no more than a "Paid for by Jobs for New York" label on them, essentially revealing nothing about those LLCS or the fact that the PAC was founded and backed by the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY). United for the Future, another PAC, channeled more than $2.7 million into Bill Thompson's bid for mayor. The organization is a proxy for the New York City teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT).  Lastly, anyone who followed last year's elections should recall the demise of early Democratic front-runner and then-City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Several groups opposed her bid for mayor and, under the slogan "Anybody but Quinn," independent groups New York City is Not for Sale (NYCN4S) and New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets (NYCLASS), an animal rights group which opposed Quinn for her support of the local horse and carriage industry, invested almost $1 million to damage Quinn's candidacy. According to the CFB's Post-Election Report, "this amount was by far the highest devoted to opposing any candidate in the primary."

Dark Pools Lobbyists Campaign Consultants and Money 8 Lobbyists Consultants and Citizen United Advance Group