:wtf:
"Legal requirements aside..."??????!!!!!
Is that like * signing the McCain torture bill, with the caveat, "I don't agree and will not abide by it"?
http://www.aei.org/about/Policy Advocacy
As a tax-exempt educational organization governed by Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, AEI is generally prohibited from attempting to influence legislation in the U.S. Congress or other legislative bodies. Legal requirements aside, AEI has important reasons of its own for abstaining from any form of policy advocacy as an institution. Policy research of the kind AEI specializes in--emphasizing empirical analysis, intellectual depth and originality, unflinching criticism, and concrete proposals for reform--is an inherently individual activity, best pursued by a single scholar (or a pair or small group of scholars) rather than by a committee or hierarchy. Moreover, AEI scholars or authors may disagree on particular policies or on the conclusions to be drawn from a set of research findings. Attempting to forge an Institute-wide consensus or corporate position would interfere with the intellectual independence of individual scholars and with the sharpness, clarity, and interest of AEI publications. For these reasons, AEI takes no institutional positions on policy issues (whether or not they are currently before legislative, executive, or judicial bodies) or on any other issues.
AEI scholars and fellows frequently do take positions on policy and other issues, including explicit advocacy for or against legislation currently being considered by the Congress. When they do, they are speaking for themselves and not for AEI or its trustees or other scholars or employees. It is customary for AEI scholars and fellows to include an explicit disclaimer to this effect when they present formal testimony to a congressional committee or other government body. Many also include such a disclaimer in books, articles, speeches, and other presentations addressed to the general public, especially when they are addressing subjects of active controversy and disagreement--but the disclaimer is often well understood in these contexts and the appropriateness of stating it explicitly varies from case to case.
AEI's abstaining from institutional positions on policy issues does not, of course, apply to policy issues affecting its own institutional interests.
Political Campaigns and Other Partisan Activities
AEI's 501(c)(3) tax status also forbids it from participating in any campaign for elected public office. This means that AEI may not take an institutional position for or against any political candidate and may not permit its resources, including the on-the-job time of its salaried employees, to be used in an electoral campaign. As in the case of policy advocacy, AEI's own purposes lead it to broader policies against partisanship in any of its activities. AEI research and publications, participation in its conferences, and the policy advice of its research staff and other employees, are available to government officials, legislators, political candidates, and others regardless of party affiliation. When the policy positions of AEI scholars and fellows coincide with those of a particular political party or electoral candidate, this is without any purpose of advancing the partisan interests of the party or candidate. During election campaigns, AEI employees who endorse particular candidates, or who become engaged in campaigns as candidates, advisers, volunteers, or employees, must do so as individuals and on their own time and resources, and must arrange for part-time or full-time leaves-of-absence if necessary. During each national election year, AEI's president provides each employee with a memorandum setting forth these requirements in detail; the most recent such memorandum is available here.
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