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House Ready to Exempt Groups From Campaign Finance
Josey1
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House Ready to Exempt Groups From Campaign Finance Rules
Times Headlines
Stakes Are High in Push for Latino Court Nominee
Ohio Ban on Concealed Guns Voided
Facing Goose Eggs in Texas, Democrats Field Big Hitters
Inmate Indicted in Hate-Crime Deaths
INS Tried to Hide Elian Case Memo, Group Says
more >
By NICK ANDERSON, TIMES STAFF WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The House is poised this week to approve legislation that would ease donation-reporting rules for a broad class of political groups, opening a new front in the campaign finance debate.
Critics say the measure, coming just weeks after the enactment of a landmark law to limit donations to national political parties, could encourage certain groups to receive huge contributions from wealthy donors while escaping effective scrutiny.
The groups in question are tax-exempt political organizations that claim to not be involved with federal campaigns. While many focus on purely local matters, some of the groups do align themselves with parties or advocate positions on important social issues, such as abortion rights or gun control. Some campaign reform advocates fear these groups will soon become new magnets for the unlimited political donations called soft money. Under the new law, federal candidates and national parties will no longer be able to raise soft money after this fall's elections.
But this latest twist in the campaign finance debate has more to do with disclosure rules than with donation limits.
Nearly two years ago, Congress passed a law requiring these political groups--known as "527 committees" for the section of the tax code that governs their activities--to report their sources of financial support and their expenditures to the Internal Revenue Service. At the time, the law was described as a reform to shine a spotlight on a little-known but growing arena of political activity.
Now, however, many local groups complain that they have been caught by the reporting requirements, even though they have nothing to do with federal campaigns.
Under a bill scheduled to come before the House as early as Wednesday, the 2000 law would be amended to exempt many state and local groups from the federal disclosure rules.
Rep. William M. Thomas (R-Bakersfield), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said his measure aims simply to fix a law that forces local political organizations across the country to disclose their financial activities twice--once to state authorities and once to the IRS.
Thomas denied that his measure would weaken existing campaign regulations.
"Nobody gets out of reporting," Thomas said. "There are no loopholes." Every significant political group, he said, would be forced to report either to a state or a federal authority.
The Thomas measure is part of a broader bill to strengthen taxpayer protections that enjoys wide bipartisan support. Democrats, led by Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, failed last month in a largely party-line vote to strip the provision from the bill. The bill itself cleared the committee on a 34-6 vote.
But campaign reform advocates are taking aim at the provision as the House vote approaches. Today they plan to attack the Thomas measure as they release a report from the liberal watchdog group Public Citizen that details the prominent role of 527 committees in national politics.
Citing the report as evidence that independent groups are a growing force in politics, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) said the Thomas measure could "open up new loopholes for secret money to be funneled into election campaigns." Opponents of Thomas' proposal say it would allow national issue-oriented organizations to set up state or local committees that would be exempt from the current reporting requirements.
One example of a major political expenditure through a 527 committee emerged late in the 2000 campaign. The actress Jane Fonda gave about $12 million in three chunks to the Washington-based group Pro Choice Vote, IRS records show. The money was then spent on political activities supporting abortion rights in several states.
But Thomas said his measure would continue to require federal disclosure for such donations.
While Thomas is expected to succeed in the House, his provision faces stiff opposition from some senators, including Lieberman and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the leading advocate of the new campaign law.
If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives. For information about reprinting this article, go to www.lats.com/rights. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000025400apr09.story
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Times Headlines
Stakes Are High in Push for Latino Court Nominee
Ohio Ban on Concealed Guns Voided
Facing Goose Eggs in Texas, Democrats Field Big Hitters
Inmate Indicted in Hate-Crime Deaths
INS Tried to Hide Elian Case Memo, Group Says
more >
By NICK ANDERSON, TIMES STAFF WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The House is poised this week to approve legislation that would ease donation-reporting rules for a broad class of political groups, opening a new front in the campaign finance debate.
Critics say the measure, coming just weeks after the enactment of a landmark law to limit donations to national political parties, could encourage certain groups to receive huge contributions from wealthy donors while escaping effective scrutiny.
The groups in question are tax-exempt political organizations that claim to not be involved with federal campaigns. While many focus on purely local matters, some of the groups do align themselves with parties or advocate positions on important social issues, such as abortion rights or gun control. Some campaign reform advocates fear these groups will soon become new magnets for the unlimited political donations called soft money. Under the new law, federal candidates and national parties will no longer be able to raise soft money after this fall's elections.
But this latest twist in the campaign finance debate has more to do with disclosure rules than with donation limits.
Nearly two years ago, Congress passed a law requiring these political groups--known as "527 committees" for the section of the tax code that governs their activities--to report their sources of financial support and their expenditures to the Internal Revenue Service. At the time, the law was described as a reform to shine a spotlight on a little-known but growing arena of political activity.
Now, however, many local groups complain that they have been caught by the reporting requirements, even though they have nothing to do with federal campaigns.
Under a bill scheduled to come before the House as early as Wednesday, the 2000 law would be amended to exempt many state and local groups from the federal disclosure rules.
Rep. William M. Thomas (R-Bakersfield), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said his measure aims simply to fix a law that forces local political organizations across the country to disclose their financial activities twice--once to state authorities and once to the IRS.
Thomas denied that his measure would weaken existing campaign regulations.
"Nobody gets out of reporting," Thomas said. "There are no loopholes." Every significant political group, he said, would be forced to report either to a state or a federal authority.
The Thomas measure is part of a broader bill to strengthen taxpayer protections that enjoys wide bipartisan support. Democrats, led by Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, failed last month in a largely party-line vote to strip the provision from the bill. The bill itself cleared the committee on a 34-6 vote.
But campaign reform advocates are taking aim at the provision as the House vote approaches. Today they plan to attack the Thomas measure as they release a report from the liberal watchdog group Public Citizen that details the prominent role of 527 committees in national politics.
Citing the report as evidence that independent groups are a growing force in politics, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) said the Thomas measure could "open up new loopholes for secret money to be funneled into election campaigns." Opponents of Thomas' proposal say it would allow national issue-oriented organizations to set up state or local committees that would be exempt from the current reporting requirements.
One example of a major political expenditure through a 527 committee emerged late in the 2000 campaign. The actress Jane Fonda gave about $12 million in three chunks to the Washington-based group Pro Choice Vote, IRS records show. The money was then spent on political activities supporting abortion rights in several states.
But Thomas said his measure would continue to require federal disclosure for such donations.
While Thomas is expected to succeed in the House, his provision faces stiff opposition from some senators, including Lieberman and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the leading advocate of the new campaign law.
If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives. For information about reprinting this article, go to www.lats.com/rights. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000025400apr09.story
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878