Silber, Law Reform and the Politicization of Charity
It is conventional to believe that neutrally framed statutes emerging from bipartisan adoption processes do not produce partisan political results. This springs from our inclination to focus on the language and legislative history of the statutes themselves, in isolation from the larger context of their development. The reality is sometimes different: the process of creating a piece of legislation will affect participants differently, and they take away divergent perspectives about what the new statutory scheme allows. This is what happened during the overhaul of the Tax Reform Act of 1969 (TRA69), the statute that governs, among other things, the ability of foundations to engage in political activity. Purporting to tamp down on political influence by tax-subsidized foundations and charitable organizations, TRA69 did the opposite-it opened the door wider to interference.
Lloyd Mayer