Partisanship in New York?

(I apologize that this is going to be fairly curt and matter-of-fact—I seem to have finally been hit by the cold that’s been flying around Chicago over the last few weeks.)

A couple days ago, the Times Union reported that hundreds of nonprofits and tax-exempt organizations have been making contributions to political candidates and to PACs.

To the extent that the organizations are exempt under section 501(c)(3), such donations would violate the terms of their exemption.

It also violates the terms of New York’s sales and use tax exemption, which has adopted language very similar to section 501(c)(3).

It looks, from the reporting, like this has been a consistent and bipartisan problem in New York; tax-exempt organizations are aware of this rule but flaunt it because it is unenforced.

Should it become an enforcement priority? Probably. But I’ll have to think about it more when I’m feeling better.