The Illegal NEA donations.
Document 029.0.0.2.1 # 4
Complaint: NEA of misusing funds to aid
DNC.. http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020423-317848.htm
By Ellen Sorokin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The National Education Association concealed its use of millions of dollars
in tax-exempt teachers' dues and fees for political activities, primarily
for Democratic candidates and causes, according to a complaint filed
yesterday by the Landmark Legal Foundation.
In its complaint to the Labor Department, the foundation claims the NEA -
the country's largest labor union -- did not report to its 2.7 million
members tax-exempt revenue it spent to recruit and support candidates
running for local, state and federal elective office since at least 1994.
Most of the expenditures were coordinated with the Democratic National
Committee (DNC), Democratic Party campaign organizations, the AFL-CIO and
Emily's List, the nationwide network of political donors helping to
elect Democratic pro-choice women, the complaint said.
"The NEA obviously doesn't want America's teachers, parents and taxpayers
to know how it is using tax-exempt membership dues and fees," said Mark
Levin, the foundation's president. "But federal labor reporting laws require
the union to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about
its political activities and expenditures."
Mr. Levin said the action violates a federal law that requires labor unions
to report their revenues and expenditures annually to the Labor Department.
Unions must report their financial activities in enough detail to accurately
reflect the union's operations, they say. NEA officials called the
complaint "completely baseless."
"This complaint is without merit," said Kathleen Lyons, a spokeswoman for
the union. "NEA is very careful, very meticulous with our paperwork. We
follow all the rules and procedures. There is completely no basis for this
complaint."
NEA's failure to report the expenditures makes it impossible for its
members to determine the full extent of the union's political activities,
foundation officials argue. A union and its leaders could be held liable for
substantial civil and criminal penalties for violating the labor law.
"The law was enacted to ensure that union members could make informed,
responsible decisions about their union's leadership and its activities,"
Mr. Levin said. "The NEA's leadership spends millions of tax-exempt dollars
on political activities ever year, in coordination with the DNC, yet reports
none of it on its Labor Department filings."
Yesterday's complaint was the fifth filed by the public interest law firm
since the mid-1990s. The foundation filed several complaints with the
Federal Election Commission and the Internal Revenue Service.
In the IRS complaints, Landmark claimed that the NEA and its state chapters
violated their tax-exempt status consistently by engaging in politics and
campaign coordination activities with the Democratic National Committee.
Landmark argued in the complaints that since 1994, the NEA has reported that
it has made no such political expenditures on its tax returns. By law, a
labor organization is allowed to engage directly in political activity if it
fully accounts for political expenditures and activities and reports them to
the IRS as taxable income.
In its complaints, the foundation said the NEA's 1998-2000 strategic plan
and budget earmarked $350,000 for training programs that strengthen
organizational capacity to support elections of pro-public-education
candidates.
An additional $540,000 was allocated for developing a "national political
strategy" that would address congressional and legislative redistricting,
campaign finance reform, candidate recruitment, early voting, and
vote-by-mail programs "in order to strengthen support for pro-public
education candidates," according to Landmark records.
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"I do verily believe that a single, consolidated government would become the
most corrupt government on earth." Thomas Jefferson to Gideon Granger, 1800.
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the
argument of tyrants, it is the creed of slaves." William Pitt speech to the
House of Commons.
"You shall have one world government, whether or not you like it, by consent
or by conquest." Former FDR aide, James Warburg CFR/TC, in testimony before
the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 17 Feb 1950.