Not a penny went to help the 2012 re-election bid of Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), whom UAW President Bob King blamed for disrupting the vote by taking a strong public stance against unionization. “Sen. Corker entered into the fray just to intimidate workers,” King told MSNBC Monday night. “I’ve never seen a campaign where politicians have threatened workers and the company.” Business interests account for about 82 percent of Corker’s PAC contributions over the course of his Senate career, including about $419,000 from the auto industry.

UAW V-CAP dedicated one-third of its contributions to Southern Democrats, including many lawmakers and candidates in Florida. The Southern candidates with the highest haul were Reps. David Scott (D-Ga.) and James Clyburn (D-S.C.), who each received $5,000.

Help us keep government accountable by making a donation today.

A post-Citizens United boost

In the 2012 cycle, the UAW sent $11.4 million from its treasury to its brand new super PAC, the UAW Education Fund. But the Education Fund spent less than a quarter of that, and all of the spending came in the form of gifts to Democratic super PACs. The largest recipient was Priorities USA Action, the liberal super PAC that supported President Obama’s re-election effort; it received $1 million. The Education Fund also handed out $700,000 and $255,000 to Majority PAC and House Majority PAC, respectively.

The UAW’s pattern of giving less money directly to candidates and more money to outside groups than four years earlier is mirrored by the labor sector as a whole, though less dramatically. In 2008, labor put about $75.7 million into federal politics. In 2012, that amount increased about 88 percent to $143 million. But the sums unions sent to outside spending groups alone in the last cycle equaled what they gave directly to candidates via PACs in 2008.

Experts like Peter Francia, a professor at East Carolina University who specializes in the intersection of unions and politics, say unions have taken advantage of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision and other legal developments that allow them (as well as corporations) to dip into treasury funds to make direct contributions to outside spending groups. That’s what happened in the UAW’s case.