{"id":10019,"date":"2013-02-22T04:01:09","date_gmt":"2013-02-22T12:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=10019"},"modified":"2013-02-22T04:01:09","modified_gmt":"2013-02-22T12:01:09","slug":"help-crew-shine-a-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2013\/02\/22\/help-crew-shine-a-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Help CREW Shine a Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donors to 503(c)(4) groups may remain anonymous, because 503(c)(4) groups are required to focus exclusively on social welfare.  However, Republicans are using 503(c)(4) groups, like Rove\u2019s Crossroads GPS, for political purposes illegally.  They are getting away with it because of an IRS loophole.  Here is the full text of an email I received yesterday.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Dear TomCat, <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

This week, CREW sued the IRS in federal court for undermining a law barring political activity by dark money groups.<\/a><\/strong><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"22CREW\"Although the law says 501(c)(4) groups must operate \u201cexclusively\u201d for social welfare purposes, an IRS regulation says the groups may operate \u201cprimarily\u201d for such purposes. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Groups like Karl Rove\u2019s Crossroads GPS and the American Action Network (AAN) have flooded the airwaves with political attack ads secretly funded by anonymous billionaires and corporations. Joining CREW\u2019s lawsuit is Dr. David Gill, a former congressional candidate in Illinois who lost his race last year as a result of a barrage of scurrilous attacks from AAN. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Unable or unwilling to enforce even the weakest regulations on the books, the IRS has sat on its hands for the past two election cycles. It\u2019s time for the agency to explain its deplorable inaction to the American public. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

No other organization has taken a more aggressive stance against dark money than CREW. We\u2019ve revealed information about <\/font><\/font><\/span>who funds these groups<\/font><\/strong><\/a><\/font><\/span>, and highlighted the failures of the agencies charged with regulating them<\/font><\/a><\/strong><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font>. <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Our lawsuit is a key step in exposing the special interests eroding our democracy. We know there is much more work to be done, and we need your help. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Donate today to help us shine a light on dark money.<\/font><\/a> <\/strong><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We\u2019re honored to have you behind us as we continue to fight for a Washington that works for everyone. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Thank you,<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Melanie Sloan <\/em><\/strong><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Not all of us can help financially, but please spread the word and inform others about the issue, and the fine work CREW is doing.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donors to 503(c)(4) groups may remain anonymous, because 503(c)(4) groups are required to focus exclusively on social welfare.  However, Republicans are using 503(c)(4) groups, like Rove\u2019s Crossroads GPS, for political purposes illegally.  They are getting away with it because of an IRS loophole.  Here is the full text of an email I received yesterday. Dear […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10019\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}