I was looking through an old Stop the School brochure and I noticed the telephone number 215-295-2900 listed as a place where the Stop the School people would tirelessly answer the phone and get you a voter registration form. I even blogged this back a month ago and never did this search. So I Googled the number. Imagine what I found.
Did the Historic Morrisville Society make an illegal campaign contribution to the Stop the School candidates by providing this service?
5 comments:
I wonder if that's covered in the Historical Society's bylaws. I think I know just the people to ask about that.
Ironically, while Morrisville Schools were making the front page of the Sunday Courier Times, it looks like Robert J. Sugarman, Esq. was making a front page article in the Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer. If it's the same guy who assisted the QSRE/Stop the School folks, he's the lawyer representing the only property owner who would be displaced by a group of nuns who want to open a non-religious school for disadvantaged/minority children on a blighted block in North Philly.
If his Morrisville friends could persuade him to drop that suit, perhaps he could help arrange a tuition program, for a nominal fee?
The Historic Morrisville Society is registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.
Online record HERE.
Under IRS government rules a non-profit can lose its exempt status if it engages in political activities.
IRS rules publication HERE.
Specifically:
“Section 501(c)(3) provides for the exemption from federal income tax of organizations organized and operated exclusively for charitable or educational purposes, … which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.”
“Section 1.501(c) (3)-1(c)(3)(i) of the Income Tax Regulations states that an organization is not operated exclusively for one or more exempt purposes if it … participates or intervenes, directly or indirectly, in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office.”
The flyer itself is not incriminating, however, if the person at the HMS phone-bank presented political views or steered a caller in a particular direction, HMS is in violation of the code. Also, if this flyer was distributed by HMS along with other campaign material on behalf of any candidate, they are in violation.
In short, they could lose their status as a non-profit.
Anyone want to take the lead on this? Anyone know a pro-bono lawyer who would advise? Anyone want to rat HMS out to the IRS, the PA State Department and the BC Attorney general and start an investigation? Anyone?
Here is something I found on the National Council of Non-profit Orgainzations. Is the Historic Morrisville Society an actual 501(c)(3)?
501(c)(3) Organizations Cannot:
• Show favoritism for one candidate or political party.
• Target voter registration drives, get-out-the-vote campaigns, or other efforts at members of a
particular political party.
• Provide support (financial or in-kind) to a political candidate.
• Coordinate efforts with a candidate or political party.
Anyone have campaign literature from QSRE endorsing the Stop The School candidates?
There is video footage of their president and secretary endorsing them at the microphone during public comment. It's also in the minutes, which are available on-line. A side not, the president of QSRE is also the president of the Morrisville Historic SOciety.
Post a Comment