To The Editor: In a recent letter to the editor, Gerald Stahlecker listed the union political contributions between 1990-2010. I am not questioning the accuracy of those numbers. What I am questioning is why Stahecker concluded that that money bought votes. Or why he concluded “unions are shameless in their grab for power.” Why am I questioning it? Simply because if Stahecker had thought about it for five seconds, he would have realized that those union donations are pitifully, pathetically small. According to his calculations, the unions contributed $430 million between 1990-2010. That includes contributions to senate, house of representative and presidential elections. It averages around $20 million a year (or $40 million every two years) to all those different races - 100 senate races, 435 House races as well as the presidential races. Does the writer have any idea how much is spent on political races? Just the 2008 elections alone cost $5.8 billion. Both the Republican and Democratic national committees spent around $450 million each. And you feel that $40 million spent by unions is a big deal? Just one Republican representative from New York spent $5 million of his own money to try to gain the seat and his opponent spent $3.5 million. And that’s just one race for one seat in the House. There were 434 more races. It is estimated by the Center for Responsive Politics that the average amount spent on congressional races (all 435 of them) was $3 million per race, or a total of over $1 billion. And that’s every two years. Just for the House of Representative races. That doesn’t include the cost of senate races or the presidential races. And you think that $20 million per year is a big deal? Get serious. That’s only around 2-4 percent. That’s about the most anemic “grab for power” I have ever seen. So, while I whole heartedly support limiting campaign costs and contributions from all groups, the amount that unions donate is really tiny potatoes and to assume that their money somehow buys more votes than money from other sources or that they are trying to influence legislation more than other interested parties is simply ludicrous. I am not particularly pro-union, but I am adamantly pro-truth. I only wish that others were as well. BRUCE ALLEN Del Haven