JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.—Three weeks before the Aug. 7 vote on a ballot initiative to repeal Missouri’s law
banning the union shop, the pro-repeal coalition had raised more than four times as much money as the forces supporting the so-called “right to work” measure. We Are Missouri collected more than $7.4 million from April through of mid-July, according to reports by the Missouri Ethics Commission, while the three groups backing the law had raised somewhat more than $1.6 million. We Are Missouri, aided by donations from AFL-CIO, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and United Food & Commercial Workers locals around the country, spent more than $6.8 million in the April-June quarter and still had more than $3.7 million on hand at the end of June. On the other side, Missourians For Freedom to Work and another group called Freedom To Work each brought in between $500,000 and $600,000, while Missourians For Worker Freedom got $5,000. That money came from about a dozen large donors, including multimillionaire David Humphreys, the state Chamber of Commerce, and $500,000 from A New Missouri, disgraced former Gov. Eric Greitens’ dark-money outfit. Read more
