TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Kern High School District Trustee Ken Mettler took on the district's teachers union Monday for directing dues to a "new" political action committee that will "affect local elections."

But the group's actually been around for at least three years and weighed in quite a bit on the 2006 KHSD board race, campaign finance filings show.

Mettler, who is considering a run for Assembly next year, complained the Kern High School Teachers Association has just mandated that $15 of the yearly union dues of the 1,600 KHSD teachers be directed to the "new" Kern High Teachers for Sound Schools PAC.

The PAC, Mettler said, could amass $24,000 a year and "defeat local school board candidates who are not 'teacher-friendly.'"

The teachers pay $943 in union dues annually, he said, which is about 2 percent of their pay.

The re-directed money comes out of teachers' existing dues, according to a letter union President Mitch Olson sent to members and Mettler distributed. Teachers can opt out of having their money go to the PAC.

Mettler also said Olson has been holding "free lunch" meetings with teachers saying Mettler is "anti-teacher" because he has proposed cutting teacher pay 5 percent to deal with dire budget woes.

"I think what Mitch is doing here is earmarking a board member -- me -- to kill the messenger," Mettler said. He said three teachers have called him about the issue.

Mettler wants teachers to be able to "opt in" to the union PAC instead.

Union bylaws allow the PAC to be active in local school board elections or bond measures, Olson said in an interview.

"We feel that teachers in the district should have a voice in who gets elected to our school board, and what we're doing is legal," he said.

In the second half of 2006, Kern High Teachers for Sound Schools raised $43,000 and spent nearly $29,000, according to campaign finance reports. The money supported the candidacies of now-Trustees Joel Heinrichs and Bryan Batey.

The group raised and spent very small amounts in 2007, filings say.

Other unions spend money on politics.

Three years ago, the Kern County chapter of the Service Employees Union International (SEIU) switched from a reverse declaration system to a voluntary donation for members to contribute to its committee on political education, said SEIU Regional Director Chuck Waide.

Waide estimated about 20 percent of SEIU Local 521's 10,585 members donate anywhere from 25 cents to $10 per pay period.

The local SEIU system for supporting politicians has existed for more than 20 years, Waide said.

Many of the 1,000 local branches of the California Teachers Association form political action committees to focus on local school issues, and people have the option to opt out, said spokesperson Dina Martin.