Who Is Josh Shapiro?

The money trail shows the prospective veep is an appendage of the teachers’ unions and an instrument of radical anti-energy activism.

Originally published at the American Spectator (July 28, 2024)

When Josh Shapiro ran for governor of Pennsylvania against a weak Republican candidate in 2022, he postured as a moderate Democrat willing to embrace school choice and mollify critics of energy tax schemes.

But because he is bought and paid for by government unions and progressive environmental activists, Shapiro has cut a left-leaning path since taking office that leaves school children and trade unions in the lurch. Although a broad cross section of Pennsylvania residents favor scholarships for students stuck in failing schools, and regulatory relief for companies that deliver affordable energy, Shapiro clearly takes his stage direction from well-endowed benefactors who operate against the public interest. His duplicity on policy may yet pay off so long as voters remain focused on what their governor says and not what he does. Polls show Shapiro remains reasonably popular in the state despite his lack of any tangible legislative accomplishments.

That alone could suffice for Vice President Kamala Harris to select Shapiro as her running mate. With 19 electoral votes, Pennsylvania is arguably the most critical swing state and one that at least until recently leaned toward Democrats in presidential races. Donald Trump appears to have made inroads with blue collar workers and union members that eluded previous Republican contenders.

Before President Biden dropped out of the race, he consistently trailed Trump in Pennsylvania. If anything, Harris performs worse in a head-to-head matchup against the Republican presidential nominee, according to fresh figures. In a revealing survey of “likely Pennsylvania voters” conducted July 20-23, Steve Cortes with the League of American Workers found Trump leading Harris by 47 to 45 percent. Not exactly a big lead, but the favorable press coverage Harris received in the past few days may have inflated her numbers. Shapiro would presumably give Harris a much-needed boost in a state that could decide the election.

Recall that Trump was the first Republican since President Reagan to win Pennsylvania back in 2016 when he defeated Hillary Clinton. He narrowly lost the state to Biden in 2020 but improved his margins in certain areas. So, would Shapiro be able to cancel out Trump’s advantage? The short answer is: only if Republicans let him.

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Does He Have the Courage of His Convictions?

The more comprehensive answer delving into who Josh Shapiro is, what he believes, and what likely voter should know segues into public policy questions that have become more prominent not just in Pennsylvania but across the country. This is where Shapiro could run into the buzzsaw of public opinion.

Proponents of school choice, for instance, were initially encouraged when Shapiro expressed support for scholarships that would enable students in the worst performing schools to cover the cost of private schools. But when his leadership was most needed, Shapiro bowed and yielded to the demands of his benefactors in the teachers’ unions. The governor’s flip flop first appeared in August 2023 when he vetoed legislation that would provide students in the worst performing schools with “Lifeline Scholarships.” The proposal, which Shapiro repeatedly endorsed on the campaign trail, would enable parents to receive a portion of their tax dollars back in the form of “Education Opportunity Accounts” to cover private school tuition, and other school related fees.

Shapiro had another bite at the apple during state budget negotiations a few weeks ago, but capitulated once again to the opponents of educational freedom. Even as he continues to feign support for school choice in his public statements, the hard reality is that Shapiro’s

2024 budget proposal omits the funding needed for the scholarships. The sly technique at work is reminiscent of what President Richard Nixon’s attorney general once told the press: “Watch What We Do, Not What We Say.”

John Mitchell has nothing on Josh Shapiro. But the Nixonian tap dance around the cause of education reform is ripe for exposure on the presidential campaign trail. Recent polling from the Commonwealth Foundation, a free market think tank based in Harrisburg, shows that 64 percent of Pennsylvania voters support scholarships benefiting the poorest families victimized by failing schools.

At the national level, polls show that public support for additional options in K-12 education has continued to expand since the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest data from Real Clear Opinion Research shows that more than 70 percent of registered voters across party lines support school choice while a survey of parents this past January found that 72 percent “considered new schools for their children” in 2023, a figure which represents a 35 percentincrease from 2022.

By walking back his campaign pledge, Shapiro is running against strong currents of public opinion. If he is elevated to the national stage, the Trump team could have field day exposing how beholden the Pennsylvania governor is to far left special interests. During the 2021-2022 election cycle, Shapiro was the number one recipient of government union money in the whole country —receiving more than $4.5 million, according to campaign finance records. The National Education Association (NEA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) were the top contributors.

Each of the unions has a long history of supporting progressive causes that run counter to the values of American voters in critical swing states like Pennsylvania. The NEA, for instance, has been a persistent opponent of initiatives that empower parents with the ability to select from a range of private and public educational options, according to Influence Watch. NEA also makes substantial contributions to progressive organizations through its grant program and its political action committees. Union operatives clearly view Shapiro as an ideal conduit for advancing a radical agenda.

Campaign finance records show that some of the largest and more recent donations from the NEA’s PACs to Shapiro include $250,000 and $150,000 in 2022. The Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state affiliate of the NEA, also rang the bell that same year, making contributions through its political action committees in the amount of $350,000, $125,000, and $100,000.

The American Federation of Teachers contributed $500,000 in 2023, and its affiliate group the Pennsylvania Federation of Teachers contributed $250,000 that same year. AFSCME made two contributions in the amount of $500,000 in 2022 and one in the amount of $250,000. So, it’s not just the teachers’ unions, but government unions as whole that are driving Shapiro further away from his campaign rhetoric.

The incestuous relationship may yet trip him up politically. As it turns out, the PSEA may have engaged in what litigants describe as a “money laundering” operation to camouflage the actual amounts the union funneled into Shapiro’s gubernatorial campaign. Just a few days ago, the Freedom Foundation, a free market “action tank” that challenges the political power of public employee unions, filed complaints with federal and state officials that allege the PSEA, in collaboration with the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), engaged in illegal funding techniques to obscure the actual amounts they were donating to Shapiro.

A press release from the foundation describes how the two groups orchestrated an “illegal scheme” during the 2022 Pennsylvania general election “to surreptitiously use nearly $1.5 million in teachers’ union dues to back then-candidate Josh Shapiro’s gubernatorial campaign.”

The state’s campaign finance and collective bargaining laws prohibit unions from using their general treasury funds to make contributions to political candidates. Yet, the PSEA “made two six-figure contributions from its general treasury to the Fund for Student Success (FSS), a little-known political fund operated the union, which then contributed the funds to the DGA in May 2022, which in turn, contributed heavily to Shapiro’s successful campaign for governor,” according to the release. These revelations come at an inopportune moment for Democrats looking to Shapiro as their salvation against Trump in Pennsylvania

Regardless of what the fallout might be from the Freedom Foundation’s allegations, there’s a compelling argument to be made that Shapiro is merely an appendage of the teachers’ unions unwilling to extend a lifeline to K-12 students in failing schools. The fact that he would veto his own campaign pledge just a few months after taking office suggests he has been auditioning for the Oval Office for some time. Union officials would never countenance allowing someone on the Democratic Party ticket who supported school choice no matter how modest the proposal.

But the perfidy does not end here.

Trade unions that have made generous contributions to Shapiro stand to lose out under energy tax initiatives the governor has embraced. As an alternative to making Pennsylvania an active player in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate climate agreement widely known as RGGI, Shapiro has floated his own version of an energy tax plan. Officially dubbed the Pennsylvania Climate Emissions Reduction Act or PACER, Shapiro’s plan would produce a massive new tax further exacerbating costs for Pennsylvania businesses and households already beset with high inflation. Like RGGI, Shapiro’s PACER plan is built around “cap and trade” regulations that would limit greenhouse gas emissions in the name of climate change. Union workers attached to fossil fuel companies in Pennsylvania are especially vulnerable to new climate regulations that could shut down their energy companies. By contributing to Shapiro, the unions have effectively financed the demise of the jobs their members depend upon in the energy sector.

Campaign finance records show that since 2021 several trade unions donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Shapiro. Local 0690, Plumbers Union Political Action Fund donated $110,000; Western Pennsylvania Laborers PAC, $290,000; Teamsters Local 0115, $200,000; Local 0449, Steamfitters Union PAC, $321,000; Local 5, IBEW PAC, $455,000; Local 19, Sheet Metal Workers Union League for Political Education, $459,500; Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 520 PAC, $107,500; Local Union 712, IBEW COPE, $26,000; Greater PA Carpenters PAC, $1,014,073; and Local 0524, United Association Steamfitters, $3,500.

The unions did a receive a bit of good news last fall when the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled in their favor against having the state become part of RGGI. Unions, along with industry groups and lawmakers, successfully argued in court that executive agencies did not have the authority to join the agreement since RGGI would result in new taxes on energy production that only the Pennsylvania General Assembly can approve. But Shapiro, supposedly a friend of organized labor, decided to appeal the ruling to the state supreme court.

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Whose Side Is Shapiro On?

One reason the unions may not be receiving any return on the investment they made into Shapiro is because the Democratic Party has become beholden to left-leaning environmental activists that support RGGI. These include the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, and the Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, which have all contributed to Shapiro.

The split between trade unions and green activists among Democrats provides Trump with yet another opportunity to capitalize on the gains he has made with blue collar workers. By running against energy taxes, the Trump ticket could easily put Shapiro on defense. A new poll from the Commonwealth Foundation shows that rising household energy bills are a major concern of voters.

But there’s additional intrigue.

House Republicans have opened an investigation into an entity that calls itself the Energy Foundation China, a former affiliate of the Energy Foundation, a left-leaning grant operation. Although both organizations list San Francisco as their headquarters, a Fox News investigation concluded that the “majority” of the operations for the Energy Foundation China take place in China and that the foundation’s staff is closely tied in with the Communist Party of China (CCP). For its part, the Energy Foundation has pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to groups in Pennsylvania that actively oppose oil and gas production throughout the United States. Big Green Inc., a project of the Institute for Energy Research, a free market group in Washington, D.C., carefully tracks these grants. The NRDC is among the top recipients of Energy Foundation grants. Although the group has denied receiving money from China, NRDC has maintained close relationships with Chinese officials and the CCP, according to Influence Watch.

Since Pennsylvania is No. 2 only to Texas in terms of natural gas production, there are geopolitical implications attached to Shapiro’s anti-energy plans. By working to impose costly new regulations on Pennsylvania, Shapiro — Trump could argue — is doing the bidding of Beijing either knowingly or unknowingly.

Shapiro, a Georgetown law graduate, first entered the political fray in 2004 when he won a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives representing the 153rd district. He was reelected in 2006, 2008, and 2010. From there he continued to move up. Shapiro was elected as the state’s attorney general in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. Given his long, successful political history in Pennsylvania, he would seem a compelling choice for Harris. That fact that he won the 2022 governor’s race by a wide margin is another point in his favor. But he also ran against a candidate who didn’t bother doing any campaigning or fundraising. That’s not going to be the case with Trump.

If Shapiro is tapped, voters could quickly discover that the money trail flowing into his campaign does not lead back to parents and children who benefit from school choice or to union workers concerned about their jobs. Then there are the average citizens who favor what Trump might call an “America First” energy policy who are also left out.

There’s a lot to expose if the Republicans are game.

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