While Americans across the country celebrated the holidays with their families, one government agency in Washington was busy bullying Santa Clause in full Grinch fashion.

Every year, the Washington-based think and action tank, the Freedom Foundation sends Santa or “Sandi” Clause to Washington public office buildings with a special Christmas gift. This year, Sandi Claus visited multiple state office buildings where there are employees represented by the Washington State Federation of State Employees (WFSE).

The Christmas gift? To inform government employees that they no longer have to fill union‘s politically motivated coffers with automatic dues withdrawn from their paychecks.

Washington employees can go online to opt out of giving political donations to the unions, but until they do so, the money is automatically taken from their checks.

That’s where the Freedom Foundation comes in. The group sent Sandi Claus to hand out literature and inform the workers they could save a little extra money

“WFSE’s SSF made $957,000 in political contributions last year alone,” the flyer reads. “Every penny came from state employees’ dues. Thankfully your ability to avoid supporting WFSE’s political expenditures is constitutionally-protected.”

But when Sandi Claus arrived at the Department of Ecology in Lacey, Washington, she ran into trouble.

The Freedom Foundation says the Department forced them to leave the property, violating their Constitutional rights.

The WFSE Local 443 posted on their Facebook page in response to the Freedom Foundation:

“The Freedom Foundation is at it again,” the group wrote. “Ask Santa if permission was granted to distribute literature on the premises.”

The Freedom Foundation responded with the First Amendment and a pending legal battle that they called a “Santa Suit.”

“Instead of informing workers of their rights, it turns out that the Department of Ecology needs some informing about the First Amendment.”

Article by Casey Harper