SEIU smacks down former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen for baseless column

Most of the political work of the Service Employees International Union is funded by about 300,000 janitors, nurses' aides, child-care providers and other members who voluntarily contribute on average $7 per month to SEIU's Committee on Political Education (COPE). To be eligible to contribute to COPE, you must be a U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident.

And if Mr. Thiessen had looked at public disclosures, he would know that money from SEIU's Canadian members pays for Canadian programs for workers. It is not used on U.S. political campaigns.

Here's the irony: Anyone who wants to know where SEIU political dollars come from can go on the Internet and check out the detailed public reports all unions and their political action committees are required to file with the Federal Election Commission and the U.S. Labor Department. But just try to find out where the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Crossroads and other right-wing front groups are getting the hundreds of millions of dollars they are spending to try to cut people's health-care coverage, privatize Social Security and let Wall Street make its own rules. (Hint: It's not possible because they don't disclose the sources of their big checks.)