Scandal! Teachers Unions Doing a Little Cheating on the Democrats

Oh-oh, trouble on the Love Boat ...

The Democrats and the teachers' unions, entwined for many decades, find themselves in something of a lovers quarrel. And the fierce debate over the future of education playing out in Chicago now has sent the unions looking for love in new and unexpected places.

The teachers' strike going on in Chicago most of this month drew national attention to the future of education and, according to a story in the New York Times on Monday, it "exposed the ruptured relationship between teachers' unions and Democrats like Mayor Rahm Emanuel."

All of a sudden, there's a little cheating going on, and with the strangest of bedfellows -- the Republicans.

The Times claims that in Illinois, the top two recipients of political contributions from the Illinois Education Association through June 30 were Republicans, including a state House candidate who has tea party support and advocates lower taxes and smaller government.

"William Seitz, a Republican state senator in Ohio who is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative business-backed group, has received more money this year from the Ohio Education Association than from any other donor," the Times reports. Teachers organizations in Georgia and Texas have also donated to a lot of Republicans.

In all, teachers groups donated $1.23 million to Republican state candidates through June 30, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

While donations to Democrats still outweigh contributions to Republicans, the proportion of union money going to Republican candidates this year, just over 8 percent, has doubled since the last election cycle, according to the institute.

This is a soap opera worth watching.