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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (July 25, 2018)
Page 6 The Skanner July 25, 2018 News US Political Spending Getting More Secretive With IRS Change By Geoff Mulvihill Associated Press olitical spending in the U.S. is about to become even more secretive after the IRS this week dropped a requirement that many nonprofits have to pro- vide lists of their major donors. The federal govern- ment will stop collecting donor information from certain types of non- profit groups, including business associations, labor unions and “social welfare” organizations, which have become ma- jor players in the nation’s politics over the past de- cade. Election watchdogs, al- ready concerned about opaque political funding, say the lack of transpar- ency could get worse and make it easier for certain groups to take money from foreign entities. “Taking away a law enforcement tool is not a good idea, especially when one of the things this information could do is help look for for- eign money being fun- neled into elections,” said Ian Vandewalker, a law- yer who works on cam- paign finance issues at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU. Meanwhile, the conser- vative groups that domi- nate this kind of political P giving are supporting the announcement. It was made late Monday, the same day President Donald Trump dominat- ed the news cycle for his summit with Russian President Vladimir Pu- tin. Dan Backer, a campaign finance lawyer whose cli- ents include Great Amer- ica Alliance, a social wel- fare group that supports “ companies, nonprofits, associations and unions. Many of them have been able to ramp up their po- litical spending without publicly disclosing the sources of their money. Most of these “dark money” groups are clas- sified as social welfare organizations by the IRS. They include such disparate groups as the National Rifle Associa- Taking away a law enforce- ment tool is not a good idea, especially when one of the things this information could do is help look for for- eign money being funneled into elections Trump’s policies, said the information was not useful to the IRS. He said states that collected it used it to target conser- vatives for audits. The rule change, he said, “takes away that weapon for state en- forcement —rather for state harassment.” Political spending throughout the country has changed significant- ly over the past decade. A big part of the rea- son is the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling, which found that the gov- ernment cannot limit political spending by tion, the NAACP, orga- nizations in Charles and David Koch’s empire of free-market groups such as Americans for Pros- perity, and other organi- zations on both the right and left. The Center for Respon- sive Politics, a Washing- ton, D.C., nonprofit that tracks money in politics, has tallied more than $27 million in dark money reported spent so far this year, and more than $160 million in 2014’s mid- term elections. The center found that the vast majority of that money is spent by groups on the right that support AP PHOTO/SUSAN WALSH, FILE Federal government will stop collecting donor information from certain types of nonprofit groups This March 22, 2013 file photo shows the exterior of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building in Washington. The Trump administration is lifting requirements for some tax-exempt groups to disclose the identities of their donors to federal tax authorities, announced late Monday, July 16, 2018. The change benefits groups that spend millions of dollars on political ads, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and an organization tied to the billionaire Koch brothers. Republican candidates or conservative policies. Annual political spend- ing hits billions of dol- lars, but the Brennan Center found that “dark money” is concentrated in competitive elections where it can pack the biggest punch. In 2014, it amounted to more than $1 of every $4 spent on close U.S. Senate elec- tions and was $1 of every $6 in such elections in 2016. Several states have tried to enact laws aimed at requiring political spenders to reveal their individual donors, but federal efforts to do so have not gotten far. While the organiza- tions did not have to dis- close to the public where their money came from, they did have to provide the IRS with a list of ev- eryone who contributes more than $5,000. That’s the rule the IRS is dropping for the busi- ness associations, unions and social welfare groups, starting with tax filings that cover this year. Charities — the largest group of nonprof- its — are still required to file the papers. The IRS said organiza- tions must still keep re- cords of donors that they could share if the agency requested it. The agency also said the information was not being used sys- tematically and was at risk of being leaked. The IRS settled a law- suit in 2014 with the Na- tional Organization for Marriage, which oppos- es same-sex marriage, af- ter its list of donors was made public. Donors to several groups, includ- ing Planned Parenthood, were accidentally made public on a California state website. California and New York are among a hand- ful of states that require nonprofits that solicit money in their states to file lists of donors. Mike Cooney, a Washington lawyer who represents nonprofits, said those states might be able to continue collecting do- nor lists even as the IRS stops doing so. Advocates for more transparency in politi- cal spending say there are no signs that the IRS has done much in recent years with the donor data. Ann Ravel, a chairwom- an of the Federal Election Commission under Pres- ident Barack Obama, said the documents could have helped the IRS de- termine whether social welfare groups were meeting the requirement that they spend at least half their money on work other than politics. “There won’t be any enforcement of that,” she said. “I guess they’re do- ing it purposely because they don’t really want to enforce it.” John Pudner, executive director of Take Back Our Republic, a conser- vative group that calls for election spending transparency, has been pushing for regulations on credit-card campaign donations, arguing that they make it easier to hide foreign contribu- tions. Dropping disclo- sure requirements for the IRS is a step in the wrong direction, he said. “Anything that looks like an easy way to fun- nel money illicitly,” he said, “is logically going to lead to more money.” AUG. 11 Curious Comedy Theater 5225 NE MLK, Portland presents meet the playwrig ht! Plus a bo ok Signin g: T he Love L ies by Leasharn M. Hopkins A STAGED READING A comedy about love, relationships and communication among married couples. Meet the playwright Leasharn M. Hopkins and enjoy a conversation and book signing with Debrena Jackson Gandy, relationships coach and author of The Love Lies. TICKETS AVAILABLE AT PASSINART.ORG.
