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opinion guest_columns
Thursday, June 19, 2008
If You Play Politics, Play by the Rules
By D.R. Herrera
West Side Resident
Some confusion of the laws exists in the minds of the two executive directors of Albuquerque nonprofits who wrote the guest opinion article “Nonprofits Are Watchdogs, Not Attack Dogs.”
When they applied and were granted their 501(c)3 status, they asked to be exempt from paying taxes. In return, the IRS requires that they follow certain rules, including the prohibition against “directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.”
Before this year's statewide primary, New Mexico Youth Organized sent out mailers as part of a project by another nonprofit group, the Center for Civic Policy. The slick mailers criticized several incumbent legislators in the weeks leading up to the primary election.
And according to the IRS' “Compliance Guide for 501(c)3 Private Foundations,” even if a nonprofit group is conducting voter education support, which is what New Mexico Youth Organized and the Center for Civic Policy claim, they still can't just proclaim open season on a candidate who doesn't suit their political agenda.
The compliance guide states “voter education or registration activities with evidence of bias that would favor one candidate over another, oppose a candidate in some manner” will “constitute campaign intervention.”
The mailers did exactly what the tax code says nonprofits cannot do. New Mexico Attorney General Gary King is correct in asking Secretary of State Mary Herrera to change the status of NMYO, forcing it to comply with the same standards as other political action groups.
The groups' efforts to unseat incumbents have considerable consequences for many of us on the West Side and in the South Valley. We lost the seniority of several legislators — particularly Dan Silva, who served the West Side well for more than 20 years. At a time when the West Side and South Valley need political clout the most — we are growing faster than any other area of the city and our needs continue to mount — the political advantage we held through seniority has been lost.
Eli Il Yong Lee states in the guest opinion column that the groups involved in the mailers were simply “exercising our First Amendment right to free speech” when they sent out political materials.
He is just plain wrong. He's mixing constitutional law with tax law. Lee, the individual, has every right to say what he would like to about political candidates. But the Center for Civic Policy or NMYO cannot without risking their tax-exempt status.
If the Center for Civic Policy and similar entities want to “educate and inform” the public by providing “voter information outreach,” they must do so openly and objectively and in compliance with the IRS.
The state and nation can and should have watchdogs, both in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. It's time, however, for this state and the Internal Revenue Service to take the bite out of nonprofits that have sunk their teeth into politics, because those watchdogs are really attack dogs, and that's against the law.
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