The House Ethics Committee on Monday approved a bill to end state payroll deductions for the Alabama Education Association and the Alabama State Employees Association.

The bill will go to the House of Representatives for consideration Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.

This particular bill would end state government’s longstanding practice of taking payroll deductions for membership dues and political contributions for AEA and ASEA.

The bill is designed to weaken the two organizations, which came out against Bradley Byrne during the Republican primary last summer for governor.

AEA’s financial reports showed it had given $35,000 to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ron Sparks and $10,000 to Dr. Robert Bentley, the Republican challenger to Byrne. Bentley won the election.

Gov. Bob Riley and Byrne are close. This is no surprise that Riley should be the avenger.

And this particular bill certainly hits the sweet spot. Consider AEA didn’t pour folks into GOP voting places with members. It used the mother’s milk of politics — money — about $1.5 million on anti-Byrne ads.