Robert Reich, Common Cause…Citizens United
Robert Reich
(website:http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=8281551). Please join us.
Robert Reich, Common Cause…Citizens United
(website:http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=8281551). Please join us.
Update, Sept. 11: For clarity, we have added two paragraphs to this story (see *) explaining that the IRS and FEC definitions of political spending are not identical, and have rephrased headlines to two charts.Building on our previous work on “dark money” nonprofits, the Center for Responsive Politics is rolling out new information on the activities of these groups that are playing an increasing role in U.S. elections.Dark money groups — politically active 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations and 501(c)(6) trade associations that, under tax law, don’t have to disclose their donors — aren’t supposed to spend the majority of their resources on politics. But over the last six years, a combination of Supreme Court decisions that loosened restrictions on their electoral activity, coupled with regulatory confusion, has led to a surge in their political expenditures. Direct spending on federal elections by 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(6) groups has risen from $10 million in 2004 to well over $300 million in 2012 — and that’s just counting what they reported to the Federal Election Commission, which doesn’t include all of their political spending.And the nature of their activity has changed in recent elections. Nearly half of the political spending by these groups in 2004 went for communications to their own members — what the FEC calls “communication costs.” Now, it shows up almost entirely in the form of negative, often misleading ads aimed at influencing the outcome of elections. In 2012, only 2 percent of the spending by these groups was directed at their own members.
But trying to sort out exactly what these groups are doing ranges from very difficult to impossible, given how little information is available to the public. For example, the groups must disclose their total spending on their IRS Form 990s, due annually. But nowhere do they have to break down those expenditures in detail and say exactly how they spent the money, as unions must in reports with the Department of Labor. On top of that, the 990s are filed anywhere from five to 23 months after the spending in question actually takes place. Once they’re filed, the IRS offers no searchable database or machine readable data to the public. It provides only scant summary data.To help get around some of the hurdles posed by the dearth of IRS data, CRP has manually input more than 14,000 records, with the aim of bringing more clarity to the financial activities of nonprofits that have spent money to influence, directly and indirectly, federal elections over the last three cycles.CRP’s data includes all politically active 501(c)(4)s and 501(c)(6)s, whether or not they have been granted tax-exempt status by the IRS. Such groups as Crossroads GPS, American Commitment, and Citizens for Strength and Security either have not received or not applied for exempt status. The IRS does not include such groups in the data it makes available. Also, CRP’s new data includes other information that’s absent from the IRS data: total expenditures, total grants and total political spending reported to the IRS, over a period of multiple years.On the other side of the divide, at the FEC, these groups must file reports when they make certain political expenditures, but the agency doesn’t require them to provide identifying information — such as Employee Identification Numbers (EINs). So CRP has gone through three cycles of outside spending data and matched FEC filers with IRS identifiers, allowing us to link the two sets of data.The result is that we are providing multiple years of data reported to the IRS and the FEC, matched over the same time periods that the spending took place. We’ve included direct political spenders as well as what we call “dark money mailboxes” that reported no spending to the FEC themselves, but sent more than half their funds to politically active nonprofits.Not only have we matched spending reported to the FEC for the spenders themselves over the exact dates covered by each IRS report, but we have also incorporated recipient political spending into the donor profiles, so that users can get a better understanding of how much a donor’s grant recipients spent on politics. This information has never been provided anywhere until now.Here are some of the larger findings that stand out in the new data.
Update, Sept. 11: For clarity, we have added two paragraphs to this story (see *) explaining that the IRS and FEC definitions of political spending are not identical, and have rephrased headlines to two charts.Building on our previous work on “dark money” nonprofits, the Center for Responsive Politics is rolling out new information on the activities of these groups that are playing an increasing role in U.S. elections.Dark money groups — politically active 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations and 501(c)(6) trade associations that, under tax law, don’t have to disclose their donors — aren’t supposed to spend the majority of their resources on politics. But over the last six years, a combination of Supreme Court decisions that loosened restrictions on their electoral activity, coupled with regulatory confusion, has led to a surge in their political expenditures. Direct spending on federal elections by 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(6) groups has risen from $10 million in 2004 to well over $300 million in 2012 — and that’s just counting what they reported to the Federal Election Commission, which doesn’t include all of their political spending.And the nature of their activity has changed in recent elections. Nearly half of the political spending by these groups in 2004 went for communications to their own members — what the FEC calls “communication costs.” Now, it shows up almost entirely in the form of negative, often misleading ads aimed at influencing the outcome of elections. In 2012, only 2 percent of the spending by these groups was directed at their own members.
But trying to sort out exactly what these groups are doing ranges from very difficult to impossible, given how little information is available to the public. For example, the groups must disclose their total spending on their IRS Form 990s, due annually. But nowhere do they have to break down those expenditures in detail and say exactly how they spent the money, as unions must in reports with the Department of Labor. On top of that, the 990s are filed anywhere from five to 23 months after the spending in question actually takes place. Once they’re filed, the IRS offers no searchable database or machine readable data to the public. It provides only scant summary data.To help get around some of the hurdles posed by the dearth of IRS data, CRP has manually input more than 14,000 records, with the aim of bringing more clarity to the financial activities of nonprofits that have spent money to influence, directly and indirectly, federal elections over the last three cycles.CRP’s data includes all politically active 501(c)(4)s and 501(c)(6)s, whether or not they have been granted tax-exempt status by the IRS. Such groups as Crossroads GPS, American Commitment, and Citizens for Strength and Security either have not received or not applied for exempt status. The IRS does not include such groups in the data it makes available. Also, CRP’s new data includes other information that’s absent from the IRS data: total expenditures, total grants and total political spending reported to the IRS, over a period of multiple years.On the other side of the divide, at the FEC, these groups must file reports when they make certain political expenditures, but the agency doesn’t require them to provide identifying information — such as Employee Identification Numbers (EINs). So CRP has gone through three cycles of outside spending data and matched FEC filers with IRS identifiers, allowing us to link the two sets of data.The result is that we are providing multiple years of data reported to the IRS and the FEC, matched over the same time periods that the spending took place. We’ve included direct political spenders as well as what we call “dark money mailboxes” that reported no spending to the FEC themselves, but sent more than half their funds to politically active nonprofits.Not only have we matched spending reported to the FEC for the spenders themselves over the exact dates covered by each IRS report, but we have also incorporated recipient political spending into the donor profiles, so that users can get a better understanding of how much a donor’s grant recipients spent on politics. This information has never been provided anywhere until now.Here are some of the larger findings that stand out in the new data.
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What do Germany, Colombia, Ireland, Mexico, Georgia, Indonesia, Macedonia, and Serbia have in common? According to the nonprofit global governance watchdog Global Integrity, they all beat out the United States on regulating money in politics. – See more at: http://unitedrepublic.org/u-s-flunks-corruption-indexs-money-in-politics-test/#sthash.UYbFqZiX.dpuf |
Do you recall the major issues surrounding the revelations of IRS scrutiny of non-profit 501(c)(4)s and 501(c)(6)? You recall, I am sure. An Open Secrets look at the issue is available (below).
While the revelations initially appeared and sounded like a nefarious plot against conservative organizations, the issue later fizzled like Benghazi, Fast and Furious and Issa’s embarrassment based on his failures as a GOP hit-man. The unsettling revelations eventually proved to have been exaggerated. The director of the IRS field office responsible for investing initial request for non-profit tax status held a piece of information. Information that could be called a secret if the information been intentionally held. The man is a Republican appointed by George W. Bush! Moreover, we have recent revelation liberal and progressive organizations received like investigations and were required to answer same or similar questions.
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission | ||||||
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Argued March 24, 2009 Reargued September 9, 2009 Decided January 21, 2010 |
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Full case name | Citizens United, Appellant v. Federal Election Commission | |||||
Docket nos. | 08-205 | |||||
Citations | 558 U.S. 310 (more)
130 S.Ct. 876
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Prior history | denied appellants motion for a preliminary injunction 530 F. Supp. 2d 274 (D.D.C. 2008)[1] probable jurisdiction noted 128 S. Ct. 1471 (2008). | |||||
Argument | Oral argument | |||||
Reargument | Reargument | |||||
Opinion Announcement | Opinion announcement | |||||
Holding | ||||||
A provision of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act prohibiting unions, corporations and not-for-profit organizations from broadcasting electioneering communications within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary election violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. United States District Court for the District of Columbia reversed. | ||||||
Court membership | ||||||
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Case opinions | ||||||
Majority | Kennedy, joined by Roberts, Scalia, Alito; Thomas (all but Part IV); Stevens, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor (only as to Part IV) | |||||
Concurrence | Roberts, joined by Alito | |||||
Concurrence | Scalia, joined by Alito; Thomas (in part) | |||||
Concur/dissent | Stevens, joined by Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor | |||||
Concur/dissent | Thomas | |||||
Laws applied | ||||||
U.S. Const. amend. I |
OpenSecrets.org published a quick view set of charts related to nonprofits. (Don’t miss both links (Types and Viewpoint)
Politically active nonprofits — principally 501(c)(4)s and 501(c)(6)s — have become a major force in federal elections over the last three cycles. The term “dark money” is often applied to this category of political spender because these groups do not have to disclose the sources of their funding — though a minority do disclose some or all of their donors, by choice or in response to specific circumstances.These organizations can receive unlimited corporate, individual, or union contributions that they do not have to make public, and though their political activity is supposed to be limited, the IRS — which has jurisdiction over these groups — by and large has done little to enforce those limits. Partly as a result, spending by organizations that do not disclose their donors has increased from less than $5.2 million in 2006 to well over $300 million in the 2012 election.
View totals by: (See Charts by Type of Group and By Viewpoint)Special credit to and mention of the Center for Responsive Politics.
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Congress’ Secret Pipeline! |
H.R. 3 Northern Route Approval Act (Project as an Eden’s Garden for Members of Congress)
Keystone XL: The Push
Keystone XL: Imminent Danger
More to come on Keystone XL……
1986 Code | Description of Organization | General nature of activities | Application Form No. | Annual return required to be filed | Contributions allowable |
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501(c)(1) | Corporations Organized Under Act of Congress (including Federal Credit Unions) | Instrumentalities of the United States | No Form | None | Yes, if made for exclusively public purposes |
501(c)(2) | Title Holding Corporation For Exempt Organization | Holding title to property of an exempt organization | 1024 | 9901 or 990EZ8 | No2 |
501(c)(3) | Religious. Educational, Charitable, Scientific, Literary. Testing for Public Safety, to Foster National or International Amateur Sports Competition, or Prevention of Cruelty to Children or Animals Organizations | Activities of nature implied by description of class of organization | 1023 | 9901 or 990EZ8, or 990-PF | Yes, generally2,3 |
501(c)(4) | Civic Leagues, Social Welfare Organizations, and Local Associations of Employees | Promotion of community welfare; charitable, educational or recreational | 1024 | 9901 or 990EZ8 | No, generally2,3 |
501(c)(5) | Labor, Agricultural, and Horticultural Organizations | Educational or instructive, the purpose being to improve conditions of work, and to improve products and efficiency | 1024 | 9901 or 990EZ8 | No2 |
501(c)(6) | Business Leagues, Changers of Commerce, Real Estate Boards, Etc. | Improvement of business conditions of one or more lines of business | 1024 | 9901 or 990EZ8 | No2 |
Note: For groups that want to be politically active, alternative corporate structures are available, such as super PACs and “527” groups — and those groups aren’t limited to spending just 49.9 percent of their resources on politics. However, they are required to disclose their donors.
Political Nonprofits: Top Donors
These are the top donor organizations to politically active 501(c) nonprofits — or, rather, these are the donors the Center for Responsive Politics has been able to identify. Groups on the receiving end aren’t required to publicly reveal who their contributors are. However, 501(c) groups must disclose the names of organizations to which they make donations. By sifting through hundreds of 990 tax forms, where the disclosure occurs, we have come up with this list.
Other donors — such as individuals and corporations — aren’t required to publicly report such gifts, so the sources of much of the money flowing to politically active tax-exempt groups remain unknown.
Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center.
Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center.
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Enjoy while the caffeine kicks-in!!!!
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On a secondary basis, I recognize that there are times when dynamics place pressure points of systems and those systems need additional “propping-up”; for lack of a more expedient term. One such dynamic was the Citizens United SCOTUS Decision in 2010. It should be noted that the Koch Brothers are major contributors to the founding of citizen’s United. Do you think for one second the Koch Brothers have interest in so called, “social programs” regarding federal governance? Enough said on that point, for now. Post Citizens United the number of requests for 501 (c)(4) certification grew exponentially. despite Justice Alito’s consternation and mouthing, “that’s not true at the President State of the Union Speech, the president’s words became prophetic.
Characteristics | 501(c)3 | 501(c)4 | 527 |
Ability to engage in politics
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Not supposed to engage in any political activities, though some voter registration activities are permitted
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May engage in political activities, as long as these activities do not become their primary purpose
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Politics is what 527s are *required* to do
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Endorsing Candidates
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CANNOT Endorse Candidates
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CAN Endorse Candidates
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CAN Endorse AND Field Candidates
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Campaign Spending
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Prohibited
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Permitted but taxed
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Required
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Lobbying
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Some lobbying
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Substantial lobbying
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No direct lobbying
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General Political Advocacy (not related to legislation or the election of candidates.)
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Yes, as an educational activity.)
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Yes, provided it is not the primary activity of the organization
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Yes
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Contributions
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Able to accept unlimited, tax-deductible donations
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Able to accept unlimited, non tax-deductible donations
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Able to accept limited (based on FEC regulations), non tax- deductible donations.
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Donor Reporting
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Donors kept anonymous.
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Donors kept anonymous.
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Donors are publicly reported.
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Must apply with the IRS
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YES
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NO
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YES
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Outside the Beltway published the following analysis, and for me it seems very credible and laden with facts.
The following chart, included in the IRS audit, demonstrates that in the wake of Citizens United, there was a marked increase (~40% a year) in the number of 501(c)4 applications being submitted to the IRS.
Let me note that this period—2010 to 2012—also saw the maturation of the Tea Party. And research into Tea Party communities shows that the accepted wisdom was that new Tea Party chapters should immediately file as 501(c)4 organizations. Ironically, of the three organization tax designations in question—501(c)3, 501(c)4, and 527—only 501(c)4 allows for a group to self-declare their status without first filing with the IRS. The advantage to filing is official recognition, which is only necessary if an outsider challenges the group’s 501(c)4 status. Otherwise, for all intents and purposes, the only thing required to operate as a 501(c)4 is to say that you‘re a 501(c)4.
Getting back to the IRS scandal, the broader point I’m trying to make is that, whether intentional or not, the very structure of 501(c)4, combined with the Citizens United decision, and the rise of the Tea Party, unexpectedly transformed the 501(c)4 from simply being about social welfare to being about politics. And that this was, generally speaking, a relatively rapid change.The scenario so far is as follows.
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Nation of Change published a piece on Monday of this week related to what some insist on calling a scandal. The writer at Nation of Change questions, “Scandal or Hoax.“
William Boardman
(See permission statement at article end) Published: Monday 3 June 2013
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Minor premise: The Koch Brothers are supporters of ultra conservative causes and contribute millions to conservative campaigns (state and national elections). The millions they contribute are subject to taxation unless hidden in a 501 (c)(4) organization.
Conclusion: Conservative causes can be advanced via Koch Brothers’ contributions and billions from other secret contributors (especially if untaxed) if the contributions go through the 501 (c)(4) organization.
As we move away fro a 30.5 million to 3.9 million drudging in Wisconsin, it is impossible to avoid reflection on a few points.
I. The horrors of Citizens United, despite Alito’s ignominious, “…thats not true” mouthing at President Obama’s State of The Union Speech.
II. The Left has major work to do in helping people understand issues associate with the ability to collective address issues that affect employees. A more critical factor unions comprise a historic Democratic voting bloc. This, pacing organized labor as a major force for GOP dismantling.
III. The clear difference between Right-Wing Billionaires and Left-Wing Billionaires. It seems the “uber” wealthy on the Right relish thoughts of plutocracy, while on the Left the views is direct opposite.
The latter of my three points (and there are more), is thoroughly addressed in a most creative and crafty manner at Groobecat.blogspot.com.
Excerpt
So, let’s take a look at the numbers: The Scott Walker campaign raised $30.5 billion–66% of which came from outside groups. Tom Barrett raised on 1/8 of that, or $3.9 million, only 26% of which came from out-of-state donors.
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Source: Rachel Maddow show from June 5, 2012 |
So, as a numbers guy, you know that an 8:1 disadvantage in spending are not good odds for defeating a union-busting, plutocratic candidate like Walker. Advertisements don’t have to be true, they just have to be effective at scaring people, and in this particular election, those advertisements won.