Mayer and Owens Offer Observations on Campaign Intervention
Over at HuffPost last week, Lloyd and Marcus were asked whether Trump’s speech last Thursday at Judicial Watch event violated the prohibition against campaign intervention. Judicial Watch is exempt under IRC 501(c)(3), and describes itself as “conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, which promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law.” Both gentlemen demurred, preferring instead to offer observations regarding whether something is really a duck just because it quacks, has feathers, a yellow or orange bill, and walks with an awkward sort of waddle, sometimes across busy streets:
“Making a big political speech today at TRUMP DORAL, in Miami,” Trump Wrote. “The Fake News says I am not campaigning very hard. I say they are stupid and corrupt, with the Election still a long time away.” His appearance will be hosted by Judicial Watch, which has a 501(c)(3) tax exemption. This allows donors to deduct their gifts to the group but also prohibits it from engaging in politics. Jill Farrell, Judicial Watch’s communications director, said she had no concerns about Trump’s planned remarks at a “private” event that is not permitting news media coverage. “This is not a campaign speech,” she told HuffPost. “There is no ‘there’ there.” Robert Maguire of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said Judicial Watch’s coziness with Trump is proof that the IRS is incapable of enforcing regulations on tax-exempt groups. “This is further evidence of the absolute inability of the IRS to take action against these groups that are clearly political outfits that are using their tax-exempt status as a shield,” he said.
Lloyd Mayer, a professor and tax-exempt organizations expert at Notre Dame University’s law school, said Judicial Watch had the right to invite Trump as a former president and would not be breaking rules so long as Trump did not speak about his campaign. “And even if Trump makes such a mention, if Judicial Watch instructed him not to but he went off script, Judicial Watch would have a defense because it could claim it took reasonable measures to avoid any such mention,” Mayer said. Marcus Owens, a former head of the Exempt Organizations Division at the IRS, said a “narrowly tailored” speech by Trump about his experience as president was legitimate. “The challenge for Judicial Watch is that it’s very difficult to imagine Donald Trump staying on script and not talking about his political future,” he said.
There is no audio or visual of the speech that I could find. Judicial Watch seems to think even it it was a campaign speech, it was a private event so no violation, right? But that’s not how any of this works. Take a listen to the promo for the speech (below) and consider that Judicial Watch’s website contains universally negative posts about Biden, universally positive posts about Trump. Ok guys, stop playing, jokes over. This is a duck, isn’t it?!
darryll jones