Calif. GOP garners donations from unions
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Public employee unions, long a major source of funding for California Democrats, are making new calculations as the 2014 elections approach - as evidenced by generous donations to Republicans.
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association, representing 27,000 guards and other prison employees, has given $50,000 to the California Republican Party in the last month alone, including $25,000 to be a sponsor at the party's recent convention in Anaheim.
The California Teachers Association donated $10,000, and the Service Employees International Union pitched in $15,000 for the Republican gathering, where - in a move that suggested a newly conciliatory approach - an SEIU leader even posed for pictures with a GOP blogger who has been highly critical of public-employee unions.
The donations were a political and financial watershed for the state party, which recently was operating at a deficit. Under Jim Brulte, who took over as state Republican chairman earlier this year, the party has aggressively courted unions and other traditionally Democratic groups. It has taken in $3 million in 2013, putting the state party in the black.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Calif-GOP-garners-donations-from-unions-4933890.php
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For instance, San Jose mayor Chuck Reed, he of the Vanity Fair profile 
, is planning to push a statewide version of his infamous Measure B (illegally slashes retiree benefits after the fact) after he's (mercifully) termed out next year.
