Dear Everyone;
I wonder how this rule would effect priests, pastors, reverends,
rabbis, imams etc etc etc when they espouse political statements
from the pulpit as defined by the new proposed regulations.
Will the goverment and its minions also target the pulpit as
strongly as all other non-profits who don't kowtow on bended knee
and bowed head to the thought control police dilberts at the FEC???
Ron Getty
SF Libertarian
--- In lpsf-discuss@yahoogroups.com, "Rob Power" <robpower@r...>
wrote:
I have mixed feelings on this.
On one hand, I don't like any new government regulations,
especially
mandates like this one which are made by unelected bodies.
On the other hand, the current ability of nonprofit organizations
to use
their resources for "communications that promote, support, oppose,
or attack
federal candidates for office" almost always works to the
advantage of
special interests that want to grow the government.
We already know why the LGBT Center considers this such a threat,
given
their increasing partisanship as we approach the November
elections. For
those of you not on the Marriage Equality lists, it's become
apparent in the
last week or two that the LGBT Democrats are circling wagons
around Barbara
Boxer, despite her negative comments on same sex marriage (as
opposed to our
Libertarian candidate, Judge Gray).
Comments, anyone?
From: The LGBT Community Center [mailto:info@s…]
Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2004 6:38 PM
To: robpower@r…
Subject: Federal Elections Commission considers new rules to
silence
non-profits
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) proposed new rules that will
potentially redefine many not-for-profit organizations as political
committees. Under this new ruling, not-for-profit organizations
that carry
out voter participation activities or make any public comments that
"promotes, supports, attacks or opposes" any federal candidate
would be
deemed a "political committee". Under this status, the FEC would
restrict
the not-for-profit in how they can fundraise, and the not-for-
profit would
also be ineligible from receiving grant donations and federal
funding. The
FEC is accepting public comment on this issue until next Friday,
April 9.
Hearings are scheduled on April 14 - 15 in Washington DC.
The following is a summary of the proposed ruling:
Summary
The current federal rules define a political committee as any
organization
that has $1,000 in contributions or expenditures and whose major
purpose is
to elect federal candidates to office. Organizations meeting this
threshold
have to register and report to the FEC and are subject to certain
fundraising restrictions.
The proposed regulation changes the factors that the FEC considers
when it
decides if any organization is a political committee. If the new
rule is
approved the following activities will lead to political committee
status
for all 501(c)(3)s that spend $10,000 on:
communications that promote, support, oppose, or attack federal
candidates
for office; OR
voter registration within 120 days of an election; OR
get-out-the-vote activity; OR
voter identification.
These communications activities include web postings, email alters,
speeches, canvassing messages, direct mail marketing, print ads,
etc. For
example, it would bar comments made by The Center in support of the
marriages that have taken place recently or in opposition to the
president's
proposed constitutional amendment.
How will this affect fundraising?
The FEC has not proposed any definition for this standard. In
addition to
having to register with the FEC and report all contribution and
expenditures, political committees can not accept soft money
contributions.
Soft money contributions are contributions from foundations,
corporations,
or unions or individuals in excess of $5,000.
The proposed ruling would seriously impair vigorous free speech
and advocacy
now and in the future. The proposal restricts the ability of not-
for-profit
organizations to mention the names of federal officeholders while
speaking
out o public issues, a practice long approved by the Internal
Revenue
Service (IRS). Because non-for-profit organizations are already
prohibited
by existing IRS codes and Congressional rulings, this proposed
ruling would
essentially exclude not-for-profits from participating in public
debate and
advocacy. For example, under the proposed rules, not-for-profits
would be
virtually prohibited from criticizing or praising President Bush
until after
the November election.
The proposed ruling far exceeds the FEC's regulatory authority
created by
Congress. The FEC's proposal to abandon the express advocacy
definition of
"expenditure" and replace it with the "promote, support, attack or
oppose"
standard is not authorized by the FEC by Congress.
Congress and the Supreme Court have addressed the core issues
raised in the
FEC proposal and it stopped far short of the radical proposal now
being
considered. The recent McCain-Feingold campaign reform law and the
Supreme
Court's decision to uphold it provides no basis for any of these
rules.
For more information:
Visit People for the American Way online at www.pfaw.org; or
Alliance for
Justice at www.afj.org.
Special thanks to Horizons Foundation and Mercy Housing for their
analysis
of this issue.
You are subscribed to this list as robpower@r... Click here to
unsubscribe, or send email to
unsubscribe.513.1782260.2117608594422104782-
robpower_robpower.com@e...