On the day after Thanksgiving, the IRS quietly introduced a set of proposed rules regarding the political activity allowed by 501(c)(4) non-profit organizations. The IRS is required to give the public 90 days to comment, meaning that open period will end on February 27th.
These new rules could put in danger the First Amendment rights of Alabama’s politically active citizens, and even increase the unconstitutional scrutiny that the Obama administration has heaped on conservative non-profits.
The increased paperwork and hassle that many groups were forced to go through under the Obama administration’s discrimination led many of them to simply give up on their quest to become non-profits, and the proposed rules could make that even worse.
The new rules would count “any public communication that is made within 60 days before a general election or 30 days before a primary election and that clearly identifies a candidate for public office (or, in the case of a general election, refers to a political party represented in that election),” including any content on an organization’s website that was there before the time window, as “Candidate Related Political Activity (CRPA).”
Also included as CRPA under the new rules are andidate forums, debates, and townhalls, even if they are offered to everyone in the race.
Under this definition, a watchdog non-profit would essentially have to clear their website of any information about candidates, including voting records and other non-partisan educational information, in order to stay in the IRS’s good graces. Instead of educational candidate forums, many would be left to get their information on candidates from highly biased television ads.
Because they are 501(c)(6) organizations, not (c)(4)s, labor unions and industry groups would be given further preferential treatment under these new rules, and would be able to conduct these same activities without penalty or burden.
A group of GOP Senators have weighed in on the controversy, introducing a bill that would not only stop the rules from being implemented, it would also strengthen protections for non-profits’ free speech rights.
Conservatives are not alone in fighting against this assault on free speech, even the liberal ACLU has gotten in on the fight, saying the proposed rules, “[threaten] to discourage or sterilize an enormous amount of political discourse in America.”
For local groups such tea parties, and larger national groups like Heritage Action, this would be a major imposition on their missions, and more importantly, their Constitutional rights to free speech and redress of grievances. More than 23,000 Americans have left comments on the IRS website alone, but make sure that your voice is heard in this battle, too.
