With ALEC Exposed, Common Cause Demands an IRS Audit of Corporate-Funded Group's Gaming of State Law

[iwishiwas]

I do hope something can step on ALEC!!


With ALEC Exposed, Common Cause Demands an IRS Audit of Corporate-Funded Group's Gaming of State Lawmaking

John Nichols
July 15, 2011



.........One day after the details of ALEC’s activities became public, Common Cause asked the IRS to investigate evidence that suggests the group has under-reported its lobbying activities and may have engaged in federal tax law violations.

“The American Legislative Exchange Council is the mechanism through which some of America’s largest corporations are seeking to secure legislation designed to advance their bottom lines,” explains Edgar. “They have every right to do so, but they appear to be evading lobbying disclosure laws and the tax breaks they’re exploiting constitute a public subsidy for their profit-driven lobbying. That’s not right.”

Specifically, Common Cause is arguing that, while ALEC has claimed in repeated IRS filings that it does no lobbying, its bylaws state that its goals include the dissemination of model legislation and the promotion of that legislation in Congress and state legislatures. The nonpartisan watchdog group notes that ALEC’s 2009 tax return reported an expenditures of more than $2.6 million for the work of the council’s corporate/legislator task forces and an additional $1.9 million for a series of annual conferences at which bills are drafted and presented to legislators.

A letter from Common Cause’s lawyers to the IRS outlines concerns that ALEC—which has more than 2,000 conservative legislators, along with more than 300 corporations and conservative foundations—may have filed false tax returns. The letter raises detailed questions about whether ALEC, which operates under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (a section that places strict limits lobbying activity) has engaged in activities that put its tax-exempt, charitable status at risk. Corporations, which peovide major funding for ALEC currently take advantage of those tax benefits to deduct contributions to ALEC from their taxable income.

..................


John Nichols
July 15, 2011
http://www.thenation.com/blog/162043/alec-exposed-common-cause-demands-irs-audit-corporate-funded-groups-gaming-state-lawmaki

[midnight]

1. Awsome.... This article not only takes into consideration the legality of gaming our state law

making, but it lists the names:

Alumni
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)
Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois)
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (1995 Chair of ALEC Business Policy Board)
Speaker Tom DeLay (R-Texas)
White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card (for George W. Bush’s Administration)
Senator Don Nickles (Oklahoma)
Congressman Joe Wilson (recently called Obama a "liar")
Representative Dan Burton (Indiana)
Congressman Billy Tauzin (Louisiana)
Representative Katherine Harris (Florida)
Senator Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma)



Katherine Harris's name leaps right off this list.....

[Scuba]

2. Many (most?) of the Wisconsin Republicans in power are members. Taxpayers pay for the membership.

[midnight]

3. Wisconsin Scott Walker... AlEC Member.....

Rep. Frank Urban (WI), Member (1993), Health and Human Services Task Force

Scott Suder (R-WI), Executive Committee member, Public Safety and Elections Task Force<47>

Phil Montgomery (R-WI; Secretary, ALEC Board of Directors), Member (2009), Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force<54>

State chairs from Wisconsin:

Wisconsin - Sen. Scott L. Fitzgerald (R)
Wisconsin - Rep. Michael D. Huebsch (R)

2009
Rep. Leah Vukmir (R-WI), State Legislator of the Year

1991 Award-Winners
Tommy Thompson (R-WI), Thomas Jefferson Award<57>

Many Wisconsin legislators are ALEC approved.... couple that with fraudulent software from Accenture and they are running our State...

[Scuba]

4. Thanks for posting this... and for your activism. n/t

[NYC_SKP]

5. Katherine Harris. We need a DU friendly word for her... struggling...

Evil Shitsmear.

That'll have to do.

[starroute]

6. There have been questions about ALEC's tax status since the 1970's

It's a scandal that nothing has ever been done about it -- but perhaps they were just too obscure. I'm hoping that the recent publicity will be enough to overcome whatever cloaking effect they've benefited from in the past.