How Political Should Nonprofits Be?
Close the windows, lock the doors, hold your kids’ ears, and package the candidates in bubble wrap: People are — gasp! — forming nonprofits to give their political views greater voice!
The horror!
Such is the breathless commentary from Paul Kiel at TPMMuckraker, an offshoot of the influential political blog Talking Points Memo, in a recent post titled "Nonprofits Are The New 527s":
[O]utside groups are increasingly taking the form of 501(c)(4) groups this year. … [F]or the groups it means they can take any amount of contributions from virtually any source, including corporations, provided that their ads never cross the line into explicit advocacy — i.e. "vote for candidate X this election." And the groups never have to disclose their donors, which makes everyone involved happy. That’s much more freedom than 527 organizations, like the Swift Boat Vets for Truth, had in the last election.
Kiel does point out that ads run by such 501(c)(4)s already this year have gotten the blessing from George Washington University’s nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute, where a spokesman said that as longs as they don’t push the candidate over the issue, they’re well within the bounds of the law. Indeed, Kiel’s chief beef seems to be that, unlike the much-maligned 527s of 2004, nonprofits aren’t required to name their donors, a plus for conservatives, according to the CFI official, because "it allows corporate contributions and Republicans tend to be ‘more sensitive’ about donor disclosure."
I’m hardly one to wave the flag for well-heeled Republicans who fund slimy political advertisements marked only by half-truths and innuendo, but if it’s legal, then stop whining. So long as the law applies to everyone equally, I find it hard to get upset.
Moreover, anonymity in politics is a sacred tenet of the system: We aren’t required to leave the voting booth with a tattoo on our forehead announcing for whom we pulled the lever. I understand the desire for transparency in the system, but people with common interests have a right to be heard — and in as public or private a manner as they desire.
Tags: Talking Points Memo, TPMMuckraker, nonprofits and politics, 527s, Campaign Finance Institute
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POSTED IN: Politics
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