Schneiderman: In The Absence Of Action By The IRS, My Office Is Ensuring New York’s Political Nonprofits Will No Longer Operate In The Shadows
(NEW YORK) – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today published an op-ed in the Albany Times Union on the growing need to address the proliferation of shadowy, tax-exempt groups serving as vehicles for unlimited and anonymous election spending, also known as “dark money.” The op-ed also discusses Attorney General Schneiderman’s recent adoption of new disclosure requirements for nonprofits registered in New York that spend on elections. The following are excerpts of the article:
ON THE IRS: The scandal embroiling the Internal Revenue Service — involving impropriety and outright abuse of power in its regulation of nonprofits — goes beyond targeting conservative-leaning groups based on crude word searches. It runs counter to the law for the IRS to allow any “social welfare” organization — right, left or center — to spend funds for partisan political purposes, at all.
ON THE TRUE PURPOSE OF 501(c)4 NONPROFITS: The only reason for a wealthy individual or corporation to spend money on elections through a nonprofit front group, instead of a Super PAC, is to take advantage of the fact that nonprofits can conceal their donors.
ON NEW YORK’S NEW CHARITY DISCLOSURE REGULATIONS: After seeing the growth of 501(c)(4) political spending in New York, my office proposed new regulations to require nonprofits that spend more than $10,000 on state and local elections to disclose who funds these efforts and how they spend the money. After a lengthy review process, the new rules went into effect in New York. Many other states — including a number of key electoral battlegrounds — have laws on the books that give regulators the authority to enact similar disclosure requirements.
ON ENCOURAGING ACTION BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: While we cannot control spending in federal campaigns we can, for example, ensure that New Yorkers will know who is paying for attack ads in this year’s mayoral campaign and next year’s race for governor. State action will also expose the scope of the problem of dark money in campaigns, adding to pressure on Congress and the IRS to take action.
The full op-ed by Attorney General Schneiderman can be read here.
