Teachers unions top spending by Kentucky PACS

No surprise here: According to The Kentucky Gazette, teachers unions topped the list of the 155 political action committees that spent $2.8 million in 2010 to elect Kentucky politicians "friendly to their cause."

Editor Laura Cullen Glasscock combed through Kentucky Registry of Election Finance records and found that the Kentucky Educators Political Action Committee (KEPAC) -- the statewide teachers union -- spent more than $435,000 last year while the Better Schools Kentucky, a PAC of the Jefferson County Teachers Association "began the year with roughly $10,600 in its coffers, but raised more than a half million dollars. It spent more than $419,000 and ended the year with almost $130,000."

Glasscock also reported that: "direct contributions to candidates tallied $134,400 for KEPAC and $27,000 for Better Schools."

Is it any wonder that politicians "friendly" to the unions' cause are stubbornly refusing to allow reform measures that give parents a choice, hold teachers and administrators accountable, cut wasteful spending and demand measurable results from the bureaucracy?