Grassroot Institute lobbying defense makes no sense
Doug White notes Grant Jones'
response
at Hawaii Reporter
(also posted
on his Dougout blog) on behalf of Grassroot [sic] Institute of Hawaii regarding
Doug's observation (noted here Tuesday)
about the claim in their nonprofit tax filing that they did no lobbying. Grant's
response completely misses the point.
...those that support the Grassroot Institute do so voluntarily and know for what purpose their money is going to be used.
Irrelevant.
The question isn't whether supporters know how their money is being used, it's
how the money is actually being used. Non-profits are prohibited from doing
"excessive" lobbying activities, and can lose their tax-exempt status if they
do. Supporters' donations would no longer be tax-deductible. Doesn't matter one
bit if the supporters know that is how their money is going to be used.
As everyone who lives in Hawaii is well aware, some "non-profits" are more equal than others. For example a department of the state government, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, proudly trumpets on its Web site the vast sums of tax dollars they have spent lobbying for both state and federal legislation.
Total
non sequitur. A "department of the state government" is not a "non-profit."
Hello? OHA is not a tax-exempt organization regulated by the IRS. This
comparison makes no sense whatsoever.On
a somewhat related note, Lance Foster makes
the connection between the Anti-Hawaiians and the
Anti-Indians.
Posted: Fri - September 21, 2007 at 08:23 AM