Finally, US SENATE to INVESTIGATE ILLEGAL 501c4s

Take a look at the last paragraph of a column by Joe Nocera in today’s NYTIMES:

Toward the end of (Joe’s) interview with Levin, he let slip a tantalizing tidbit. Sometime in the next few months, the permanent subcommittee plans to call the Internal Revenue Service to task for allowing the political super PACs to be classified as tax-exempt 501(c)(4)s. “Tax-exempt 501(c)(4)s are not supposed to be engaged in politics,” he said. “It is against the law to do so.” Then he added, with a certain undeniable relish, “We’re going to go after them.”  Oh, boy!”  

I can't wait for these 501c4 hearings mentioned in the last paragraph. I've been waiting for someone in government to take on this issue because it seems that the nonprofit sector itself doesn't want to raise the issue.   Levin is exactly right when he says it's against the law for 501c4 organizations to engage in politics--certainly at the scale being practices. Let's get the IRS to enforce its own laws and regulations so that the nonprofit legal structure can't be abused and manipulated by those who want to avoid our campaign finance laws.

The entire column is available at

(http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/opinion/nocera-the-senates-muckraker.html?hp&_r=0)

What do you think?  

OBAMA's 501c-4 Organizing For Action: "Fish" or "Fowl" or "Something Else"

So what is a very liberal Democrat to do when my candidate, President Obama, seems to be adopting methods that I have criticized conservative Republicans for using?   In particular, below is a link to a 2/23/13 NYTIMES article about the expansive agenda being formulated by Organizing for Action (OFA), Obama’s new 501c-4 “social welfare” organization. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/us/politics/obamas-backers-seek-deep-pockets-to-press-agenda.html?hpw&_r=0

While OFA states that it will make public the names of its donors and at least initially seems to be focused on direct and grassroots organizing, OFS looks like an overtly political organization that will try to directly influence election outcomes if this is deemed necessary to advance the President’s legislative agenda.   This goes beyond the IRS’s permissable boundaries for 501c-4 organizations.   What I don’t understand is why Obama is choosing to achieve his legislative goals by setting up a separate 501c-4 rather than using and building upon the existing Democratic Party structure.  Where is the appropriate line for nonprofit organizations between legitimate lobbying designed to influence legislation, and nonprofit electioneering designed to influence who is in the legislature casting the critical votes?  Can someone help me out here?