Mystery Health Care Group Funneled Millions to Conservative Nonprofits
A secretive, well-funded group whose name gives the misleading impression that it is solely concerned about health care gave more than $44 million in 2010 to other tax-exempt groups, many of which spent millions on TV ads attacking Democrats running for the House and Senate and have begun spending for the same purpose this year.
None of the groups -- including eight of the most politically active nonprofits in 2010 -- disclose their donors, and the role of the Center to Protect Patients' Rights (CPPR) in funding them has not previously been reported.
Based in Arizona, CPPR provided large grants to a cluster of well-known conservative organizations that operate under section 501(c)(4) of the tax code, which classifies them as "social welfare" groups and allows them to keep their funding sources from public view. Politics is not supposed to be their primary purpose, although critics say many of the organizations have stretched the rules too far.
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/05/cppr.html
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