Chet Edwards Has His Own Radical Ties

Nearly one third of Edwards' campaign donations come from Labor Organizations and Unions. One of these contributing groups is the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) which is a member group of the AFL-CIO. The SEIU was created by and currently operated by Wade Rathke, who also founded ACORN.

Wade Rathke was a member of the 60's radical group Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) along with Tom Hayden. It was SDS, under operational leadership of Hayden that led the 1968 Democratic Party Convention Riots in Chicago. It was SDS that took over buildings on university campuses, in particular Columbia University. SDS organized several Viet Nam War Protest events in Washington, D.C..

At a meeting in Austin, Texas, SDS, along with its splinter cell, Revolutionary Youth Movement, wrote a new manifesto declaring, "You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." and SDS evolved [sic] into the Weather Underground Movement.

Today, Wade Rathke serves as leader of both SEIU and ACORN. He is also chairman of the organizers forum for the AFL-CIO, and is a co-founder and board member of the Tides Foundation. Both SEIU and AFL-CIO are donors to Chet Edwards' campaign.