Ellen Sorokin reports in the Washington Times that
Two House members have asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the National Education Association's political campaign expenditures.The NEA continues its ascent into the pantheon of organized labor. I wonder how long it will be before they start hiring goons so they can really fit in? Hey, it's "for the children".
Republican Reps. Charlie Norwood of Georgia and John Culberson of Texas sent a letter last week to the IRS's commissioners demanding they look into whether the nation's largest teacher's union uses its general treasury funds — instead of its political action committee (PAC) fund — to support political campaigns.
Furthermore, the NEA's tax returns related to its general fund do not report the money used for political purposes, the congressmen say.
Spending general treasury funds, which includes tax-exempt dues and fees from teachers, on political activities, and not reporting such expenditures on tax returns, violates the Internal Revenue Code, the congressmen contend.
"As this matter involves the allocation of millions of dollars of tax-exempt membership dues and agency fees for the purpose of influencing the electoral process, we would have thought the IRS would have taken some effective action by now," the two congressmen wrote in the July 1 letter.
...
According to the congressmen's letter to the IRS, NEA general counsel Robert Chanin acknowledged at a June 20 congressional hearing that evidence of political expenditures given to the subcommittee by the Landmark Legal Foundation, a conservative public-interest law firm, were made from the union's general treasury funds, not from its PAC.
...
The letter came two weeks after Mr. Norwood, who also is the chairman of the House Education Committee subcommittee on workforce protection, held the June 20 hearing to determine whether labor unions like the NEA violated the Internal Revenue Code by spending general treasury money on political activities and failing to report those expenditures on tax returns.
The subcommittee on workforce protection heard testimony from officials with the NEA and representatives from Landmark, which has filed at least five complaints against the union with several government agencies since 1994.
In its complaints, the foundation said the NEA did not report on its filings with the Labor Department tax-exempt revenue it spent to recruit and support candidates running for local, state and federal elective office since at least 1994.
Most of the expenditures were coordinated with the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Party campaign organizations, the AFL-CIO and Emily's List, the nationwide network of political donors helping to elect Democratic pro-choice women, the complaint said.
