Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Seems that there is a bit of a double standard, laws only matter to democrats when they can use them against their political opponents....

Democrats ‘Charity’ V**er-Registration Scheme

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit isn’t supposed to engage in partisan activity.

By Kimberley A. Strassel
Sept. 22, 2022 6:36 pm ET


Senate Democrats plan to pass the Disclose Act, a bill they claim would force “dark money” groups into the light. Never mind the darkness that envelops their own epic v**er-registration s**m.

A New York Times article this week confirmed a political reality that Republicans have been slow to publicize: Democrats are openly abusing charities to stack v**er rolls in their favor. The Times story was ostensibly about “v***r r**********n” groups worried that donors weren’t giving enough to “democracy-related” programs this midterm cycle. Read closely and you notice the story is entirely about Democrats, confirming a longstanding scheme by which foundations and private donors funnel tax-exempt dollars into “charities” that microtarget and register Democratic v**ers.

Among those quoted was Nsé Ufot, head of the New Georgia Project, which the Times credits with helping “turn Georgia into a blue state” by “registering tens of thousands of v**ers of color.” Ms. Ufot bemoaned “an overall dip in fundraising” from the likes of George Soros’s Open Society Foundations and the Democracy Fund: “Folks who think Georgia is competitive do not understand what made Georgia competitive.”

The Ufot comments are stunning, given the New Georgia Project is a organized as a charity, donations to which are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the tax code. Such groups, as the Internal Revenue Service notes, are prohibited from engaging in “v**er education or registration activities with evidence of bias that (a) would favor one candidate over another; (b) oppose a candidate in some manner; or (c) have the effect of favoring a candidate or group of candidates.” Yet here is Ms. Ufot openly fretting that without more Democracy Fund cash, she won’t be able to elect more Democrats.

The left has been growing this “philanthropy” racket for decades, and as a seven-page internal 2019 memo, leaked in 2020, reveals, it is now a giant operation. The memo was from Mind the Gap, a liberal super PAC that pushes donors to give to Democratic campaigns and nonprofits. It explained that in 2020 “the single most effective tactic for ensuring Democratic victories” would be “501(c)(3) v***r r**********n focused on underrepresented groups in the e*****rate.”

Mind the Gap was brazen about its partisanship: “Provided that such efforts are well-designed and executed, on a pre-tax basis they are 2 to 5 times more cost-effective at netting additional Democratic v**es” than advertising. Even better, because these groups are “tax deductible, on an after-tax basis such programs are closer to 4 to 10 times more cost-effective than the next best alternative.” The group said that 90% of the donations it was recommending for v**er-registration and get-out-the-v**e groups would go to 501(c)(3) nonprofits.

Don’t think these are innocent charities getting “used” by cagey Democratic operatives. Among the groups the memo recommends is the V**er Participation Center, which says it’s creating “a new American majority” by targeting “young people, people of color, and unmarried women” for registration. In 2018, the most recent year for which IRS records are available, it spent 64% of its vendor money on two groups that specialize in microtargeting reliable Democratic v**es: Pivot Group ($10.5 million), which says it is “committed to electing Democrats up and down the b****t,” and Mission Control ($3.9 million), which calls itself “the most successful direct mail firm working in Democratic politics today.”

This would be the equivalent of Republicans using “charities” to microtarget and register only blue-collar gun owners, white evangelicals, and adamant pro-lifers. Totally nonpartisan, right? Only it’s hard to find a conservative foundation engaged in such activity, given a fear of IRS consequences. Democrats, by contrast, are so confident the IRS won’t question their “democracy” projects that they are pouring ever more money into this political operation and talking about the game openly.

As liberal writer Sasha Issenberg made clear in a 2012 book, “The Victory Lab,” liberal foundations and charities have been engaged in this s**m for ages, describing the Carnegie Foundation’s registration drives even back then as “a backdoor approach to ginning up Democratic v**es outside the campaign finance laws.” It’s a particular win for liberal foundations like Mr. Soros’s, which can fully write off partisan v**e-getting as “charitable” activity. And luckily for Democrats, charitable nonprofits don’t have to disclose their donors, and the Disclose Act—surprise!—wouldn’t change that.

America’s charitable giving laws have been an enormous force for good, but Democrats are cynically abusing the system for partisan gain. If Congress wants to keep dollars and politicking in the political sphere—and under the remit of the Federal E******n Commission—it needs to change tax law to prohibit “charities” outright from taking part in v**er-registration or get-out-the-v**e drives. The problem isn’t “dark money”—it’s the sham “philanthropy” v**er-registration racket, taking place in broad daylight.

Write kim@wsj.com.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

We need to drain the swamp and lock these democrats up from top to bottom and immediately shut all these sham charities ect. Down permanently and lock their leaders up.

tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

Can't we do something with those democrats??

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Doesn't seem so, several left wing activist groups receive billions from the Federal government, under Obama it got out of hand when the banks settled with the feds, billions of settlement dollars went directly to left wing political activist groups.

What makes one lose faith in the Republican Party is that they remain so silent on this issue, makes one think that the entire politic is just a show, that they are actually all play on the same team, democrats and republicans.

Watash

Yep! Let's put McConnell and McCarthy in a cell also, or at least send them home.
We need Conservatives, not back slappers and butt kissers when the cameras are off.

thom w Loc: San Jose, CA

When was the last time someone refused to register you because you are a right wing partisan? I'm going to guess no one ever has. It's legal to look for prospective v**ers where you expect mostly people that you want v****g. It is not legal to only register Republicans, or Democrats.

DennyT Loc: Central Missouri woods

Anyone that thinks this is unique is a fool.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

Kimberley Strassel is irrefutably brilliant at getting to the heart of things.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

The Republicans, who have consistently defunded the IRS for decades, and who objected to the recent refunding of the IRS, are now complaining that non-profits are getting away with being political with no consequences to their non-profit IRS status? Wow! The IRS, now that their staffing may approach what it was 25 years ago, may now start investigating non-profits who are behaving in partisan ways. This, of course, would also apply to all of the conservative organizations and CHURCHES that endorse republican candidates.

Alafoto Loc: Montgomery, AL

How about we deport them and replace them with immigrants?