In 2006 two Kansas non-profits spent about $450,000 to knock off certain members of the Kansas House and the Kansas Attorney General, and succeeded in several of the contests.
To investigate these and other Kansas non-profits, in mid-April 2008 the Meadowlark requested a DVD from the IRS of all IRS 990s for all Kansas non-profits for the last three years. The IRS cashed the check for the required payment on April 17 and then spent three months developing amnesia about the request. Yesterday the IRS said they had not received payment.
My bank says the IRS cashed the check and provided me a copy of the canceled check today dated April 10, 2008 with memo line “IRS 990s for KS Meadowlark“. How long will it take to convince the IRS they have the required fee and should process the request?
The IRS requires a 501(c)3 non-profit to file an IRS 990 form once a year to document certain facts about how it spends non-profit money. A 501(c)3 shows how much money a non-profit receives, but does not give any details about the contributors. However, a 501(c)3 provides some details of how a non-profit spends its money.
Many IRS 990 forms can be found on GuideStar, but not all are online. GuideStar crippled its search feature a few years ago, unless a rather high fee is paid.
With Kansas non-profits involved in politics in 2006 using multiple addresses and possibly variations in their names, an exhaustive search of all Kansas non-profits was planned to learn more about who may have been behind these groups and how much money they had to work with. Paying the IRS for all possible IRS 990s for the State of Kansas was cheaper than GuideStar’s subscription fees for a better search capability, especially when GuideStar may not have a desired IRS 990 anyway.
After fruitless GuideStar searches, in Sept 2007 the Meadowlark requested five years of all Kansas and Missouri IRS 990s from the IRS. The Meadowlark made a claim to the IRS that the IRS 990s should be provided for free since the Meadowlark was part of the media and had reported on non-profit abuse in politics dating back to 2002.
The IRS did not agree that a blog was part of the media and denied the request. The IRS demands full payment from any blog to receive requested IRS 990s on DVD. (A specific IRS 990 can be requested on paper for free, however.)
The IRS performed bureaucratic gymnastics from Sept 2007 till March 2008 to decide a blog was not eligible for the free media rate in obtaining IRS 990s. The IRS is unfair to charge private citizens willing to investigate the abuse of non-profits in politics, while giving the same information to the mainstream media for free.
In 2006, the Kansas non-profit, “Progress Kansas,” was used to knock out certain State Reps, and elect others, such as State Rep Gene Rardin. This non-profit received $46,775 from three PACs, including $28,775 from the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce PAC, $15,000 from the Kansas NEA PAC, and $3000 from the Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus PAC. Based on similarities to 2008 political mailings, there is considerable circumstantial evidence the Kansas Democratic Party may have been behind Progress Kansas. This Kansas non-profit, with at least two addresses, has no known IRS non-profit status, and no IRS 990 detailing its expenditures can be found online at GuideStar.
In 2006, the Kansas non-profit “Kansans for Consumer Privacy Protection” was used to knock out Attorney General Phill Kline on false arguments about medical records, since Kline’s investigation had only dealt with redacted medical records. The board of this Kansas non-profit, Julie Burkhart and Linda Joslin, also were ProKanDo PAC’s chair and treasurer. About seven months after the election defeat a Topeka Capital-Journal article in June 2007 explained: “Tiller’s influence on state debated: Committee may have contributed to Morrison’s defeat of Kline.” In this article:
Burkhart estimated that Kansans for Consumer Privacy Protection raised about $400,000. She declined to discuss other contributors, citing their privacy. …
“We live in a state and we live in a time where, unfortunately, it is not OK to be so out front if you’re pro-choice and for women’s rights,” Burkhart said.
Ironically, after the “Privacy Protection” non-profit was used to defeat Kline in his re-election bid for Kansas Attorney General, in 2008 at least three non-profits are making independent expenditures in support of his re-election bid for Johnson County District Attorney. These non-profits include Victims Voice Foundation, KCNewsWatch.com, and the Common Sense Coalition.
Even with all these non-profits involved in politics the IRS refuses to disclose what kind of non-profit they are, so one can know what rules should be followed.
Kansas voters deserve to know more about the money behind non-profits involved in politics, but reform either in the Kansas legislature or in the U.S. Congress is not likely.
Related:
- Integrity of Kansas Elections Less Important to IRS than “Privacy Rights” of Groups Abusing Non-Profit Laws, Kansas Meadowlark, Nov 16, 2007.
Tags: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Gene Rardin, Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce PAC, Greater Kansas City Women's Political Caucus, IRS, IRS 990, Kansans for Consumer Privacy Protection, KNEA PAC, Non-profits, Paul Morrison, Phill Kline, Progress Kansas, ProKanDo PAC
