What Karl Rove's Dark Group Promised the IRS
Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS ‘has helped remake how modern political campaigns
are financed.’ (photo: Fred Prouser/Reuters)
What Karl Rove’s
Dark Group Promised the IRS
n a confidential 2010 filing, Crossroads GPS – the dark money group
that spent more than $70 million from anonymous donors on the 2012 election -
told the Internal Revenue Service that its efforts would focus on public
education, research and shaping legislation and policy.
nonprofit acknowledged that it would spend money to influence
elections, but said “any such activity will be limited in amount, and will
not constitute the organization’s primary purpose.”
Karl Rove, had characterized its intentions to the IRS.
application for recognition of tax-exempt status, filed in September 2010. The IRS
has not yet recognized Crossroads GPS as exempt, causing some tax experts to
speculate that the agency is giving the application extra scrutiny. If
Crossroads GPS is ultimately not recognized, it could be forced to reveal the
identities of its donors.
political campaigns – and to keep their donors private – as long as their
primary purpose is enhancing social welfare.
focus half its efforts on “public education,” 30 percent on
“activity to influence legislation and policymaking” and 20 percent
on “research,” including sponsoring “in-depth policy research on
significant issues.”
filing the application, experts said. Within two months of filing its
application, Crossroads spent about $15.5 million on ads telling people to vote
against Democrats or for Republicans in the 2010 midterm elections.
align with what they actually did, which was to raise and spend hundreds of
millions to influence candidate elections,” said Paul S. Ryan, senior
counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, who reviewed the group’s application at ProPublica’s
request.
questions about the material in the application or whether the IRS had sent a
response to it.
pending, in which case it seems that either you obtained whatever document you
have illegally, or that it has been approved,” Jonathan Collegio, the
group’s spokesman, said in an email.
to a public-records request. The document sent to ProPublica didn’t include an
official IRS recognition letter, which is typically attached to applications of
nonprofits that have been recognized. The IRS is only required to give out
applications of groups recognized as tax-exempt.
record of an approved application for Crossroads GPS, meaning that the group’s
application was still in limbo.
application materials of organizations that have not been recognized by the IRS
as tax-exempt,” wrote the spokeswoman, Michelle Eldridge. She cited a law
saying that publishing unauthorized returns or return information was a felony
punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and imprisonment of up to five years, or
both. The IRS would not comment further on the Crossroads application.
publishing is not barred by the statute cited by the IRS, and it is clear to us
that there is a strong First Amendment interest in its publication,” said
Richard Tofel, ProPublica’s general manager.
Crossroads’ financial information.
Crossroads GPS has helped remake how modern political campaigns are financed.
almost $105 million on election ads in the 2012 cycle. For its part, Crossroads
GPS poured more than $70 million into ads and phone calls urging voters to pick
Republicans – outlays that were reported to the Federal Election Commission. It
also announced spending an additional $50 million on ads critical of President Barack Obama that
ran outside the FEC’s reporting window.
Obama’s re-election campaign asked the FEC in June to force it to register as a
political action committee and disclose its donors. The FEC has yet to rule on
the request.
have proliferated since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in January 2010 opened the door to
unlimited political spending by corporations and unions.
these groups exploit gaps in regulation between the IRS and the FEC, using
their social welfare status as a way to shield donors’ identities while spending millions on
political campaigns. The IRS’ definition of political activity is broader than
the FEC’s, yet our investigation showed many social welfare groups
underreported political spending on their tax returns.
its efforts, but the breakdown of expenses on its tax returns from June 2010 to December 2011 gives some indications.
million, of which $1.4 million – or just 2 percent – was identified as being
spent on research. That compares with the 20 percent of effort Crossroads said
it would devote to research in its application.
based on statements in their applications. It’s more common for the agency to
deny recognition or revoke a group’s tax-exempt status.
engaged in “more than 70 ongoing examinations” of social welfare
nonprofits. Earlier, in its work plan [15] for the 2012 fiscal year, the agency said it
was taking a hard look at social welfare nonprofits with “serious
allegations of impermissible political intervention.”
21 and has filed several complaints to the IRS about Crossroads, said the
group’s application for recognition showed why more aggressive enforcement is
needed.
are a lot of words there. But I find them to be disingenuous and to have little
to do with why Karl Rove founded this organization,” Wertheimer said.
“If you believe this is a social welfare organization, I have a rocket
that can get you to the moon very quickly and at very little cost.”
NESARA- Restore America – Galactic News
2012-12-17 11:01:50
Source: http://nesaranews.blogspot.com/2012/12/what-karl-roves-dark-group-promised-irs.html
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