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By ROY MAYNARD
Staff Writer

State Rep. Leo Berman has requested an attorney general’s opinion on whether it’s lawful for teachers unions to use payroll deductions to fund political campaigns.

The Tyler Republican and chairman of the House Elections Committee says it’s a direct challenge to the Texas State Teachers Association Political Action Committee, which tends to contribute to far more Democrats than Republicans.

The payroll deductions are voluntary, but Berman says it takes state time and resources to administer the deduction system — and that’s what he is against.

“The Democrats have raised a lot of their money through the teachers’ unions,” Berman says. “So through using the payroll deduction process, they’re using state funds, state equipment and state time to raise political money. That doesn’t fit with Texas state law.”

The TSTA’s Richard Kouri responded today that he was surprised at the request.

“This was debated when the payroll deduction bill was passed,” Kouri said. “I think the legislative intent was clear, that adults can decide how to spend their money. And that the deduction system set up for things like the United Way and insurance and other things can be used for this purpose, too. Perhaps (Berman) doesn’t have as much legislative history as I do.”

In the request for an opinion, Berman asks, “Is it permissible for government resources to be utilized to process government paycheck deductions for political campaign donations?”

He cites the TSTA specifically, which sends payroll deduction forms to new members.

“These TSTA forms are forwarded to local school districts, which process the payroll deduction authorizations,” Berman says in his request. “The school districts then, every month, deduct political contributions from teachers’ paychecks and distribute the political contributions to TSTA PAC and NEA (National Education Association) PAC. Hence, school district employees and resources, funded by taxpayer dollars, are being actively used on a regular basis to collect and distributed political contributions.”

While state law allows for TSTA membership fees and dues to be deducted from checks, Berman says, “I find nowhere where state law authorizes a payroll deduction for political contributions.”

He also points to a Texas Ethics Commission ruling that says “the use of state equipment or state employees’ work time to handle campaign contributions or expenditures is a misapplication of state property.”

If not, he adds, “we would have to conclude that school districts could, and perhaps must, also process paycheck deductions for any number of other political causes in the interest of fairness: National Rifle Association, pro-life, pro-choice, AARP, etc.”

Berman made his request in his capacity as Elections Committee chairman. That committee has jurisdiction over campaign finance issues.