Pro-Republican ‘social welfare’ group blatantly violates election laws, and the IRS does nothing

"To see how easy it is for a dark money group to ignore the Internal Revenue Service, look no further than the loftily named Government Integrity Fund.

The Fund, an Ohio nonprofit, spent more than $1 million in 2012 on TV ads attacking Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and praising his Republican opponent, Josh Mandel. Now the Fund's tax return, which ProPublica obtained from the IRS this week, indicates that the group spent most of its money on politics 2014 even though IRS rules say nonprofits like the Fund aren't allowed to do that.

The Government Integrity Fund was founded in May 2011 and applied later that year for IRS recognition of its tax-exempt status, swearing under penalty of perjury that it would not engage in politics but would instead "promote the social welfare of the citizens of Ohio." Within two months, the IRS had recognized the group.

It then devoted much of its resources to backing Mandel's unsuccessful bid to unseat Brown. Aspreviously detailed by ProPublica, the Fund was linked to a former top Mandel staffer.

The Fund's return highlights the ways such nonprofits, known as dark money groups because they are not required to disclose their donors, can skirt IRS rules designed to limit their political activities. Such groups are playing an increasingly prominent role in elections, spending more than $256 million on election activity in 2012.

Dark money groups can spend money on politics as long as they can persuade the IRS that their primary purpose is social welfare. This can lead to quite creative accounting on tax forms, with groups describing ads that should qualify as political under IRS rules as "education" or "issue advocacy."

On the Government Integrity Fund's latest tax return 2014 for 2012 2014 the group told the IRS it spent $5.2 million overall. Of that, $2 million went to two super PACs 2014 mostly the Fund's sister super PAC, the Government Integrity Fund Action Network 2014 which then used the money to pay for different ads than the ones the Fund bought. According to the filing, this $2 million made up all of the Fund's political spending in 2012.

But that didn't include an additional $1.08 million the Government Integrity Fund spent on TV ads praising Mandel and attacking Brown in the spring and summer of 2012, which ProPublica reported on in September 2012. (The spending was tallied by Brown consultants. The lawyer listed on the Fund's incorporation papers confirmed that the group spent more than $1 million on the ads.)

If the Fund had categorized the additional money it spent on the ads as political, almost 60 percent of its expenditures would have gone toward elections 2014 which would seem to violate IRS rules that say a social welfare nonprofit's primary purpose can't be politics...."

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/28/pro-republican-social-welfare-group-blatantly-violates-election-laws-and-the-irs-does-nothing/

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