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06/15/2012

National Journal: Watchdog Group Says IRS Not Monitoring Lobbying Coalitions

Read the full story here. National Journal

“The pro-transparency group Cause of Action is calling on a Treasury Department inspector general to investigate why, according to the group, the Internal Revenue Service is not overseeing lobbying coalitions.

CoA argues that these loose coalitions are spending money on lobbying but because they are not incorporated, they don’t have disclosure requirements or pay taxes. Saying that it wanted to “provide the public with a better understanding of the rules that apply to coalitions and to ensure that lobbying entities are paying taxes and are in compliance with IRS regulations,” CoA wrote the IRS in March asking for documentation showing how the agency monitors tax-exempt organizations’ lobbying ties.

“Cause of Action is concerned about the risk that lobbying coalitions are exercising political influence without paying taxes under the Internal Revenue Code,” CoA wrote in its request for documents. “In order to avoid the disclosure requirements of the Lobbying Disclosure Act, many organizations are simply not incorporating…”

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06/14/2012

Cause of Action Demands Investigation of IRS’s Failure to Address Lobbying Violations

 

CAUSE OF ACTION DEMANDS INVESTIGATION OF IRS’S FAILURE TO ADDRESS LOBBYING VIOLATIONS

Lack of oversight of stealth lobbying uncovered by Cause of Action

WASHINGTON – Following an investigation into the oversight of lobbying disclosures, Cause of Action (CoA) uncovered that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) fails to monitor activities that could violate tax-exempt statuses, prompting CoA to send a request for investigation to the Treasury Department Inspector General concerning the IRS’s lack of action.

On March 22, 2012, Cause of Action wrote to Douglas Shulman, Commissioner of the IRS, to inquire about the IRS’s monitoring of tax-exempt organizations that house lobbying coalitions. These coalitions, as has been revealed in numerous media outlets over the past several years, dodge the Lobbying Disclosure Act by existing as loosely organized groups which are not incorporated under the law.  Concerned that lobbying coalitions are exercising political influence without paying taxes under the Internal Revenue Code, CoA sought to ensure that lobbying entities are paying taxes and are in compliance with IRS regulations.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request Cause of Action submitted, on May 14, 2012, the IRS responded that it was unable to locate any documents relating to the tax-exempt status of unincorporated coalitions residing at tax-exempt corporations, their fiscal sponsors, or any investigations by the IRS into these organizations.

“The inability of the IRS to produce any documents on oversight or investigation into stealth or coalition lobbying points to a gross lack of accountability by the federal government,” stated Dan Epstein, Executive Director of Cause of Action. “The burden now lies upon the Treasury Department’s investigators to examine why the IRS has turned a blind eye to numerous coalitions that have the potential to lobby with tax-exempt dollars, which is a clear violation of the Lobbying Disclosure Act.”

On June 8, 2012, CoA sent a request for investigation letter to J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) which states that “the IRS has failed to require lobbying coalitions to report their activities and the IRS has failed to conduct oversight over tax-exempt corporations that sponsor coalition lobbying without disclosing those activities. Moreover, the IRS, despite concerns by Congress and the media, has failed to conduct any investigations of lobbying coalition activities that may be inconsistent with the Internal Revenue Code.  As a result, we strongly request that you immediately investigate these matters.”

At the time of this release, CoA has not received a response from TIGTA concerning the request for investigation.

About Cause of Action:

Cause of Action is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that uses public advocacy and legal reform tools to ensure greater transparency in government, protect taxpayer interests and promote economic freedom. For more information, visit www.causeofaction.org.

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06/3/2012

Stealth lobbying continues under the IRS’s radar

On March 22, 2012, Cause of Action  submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the IRS, seeking information concerning the IRS’ oversight of coalition lobbying, specifically:
•  All documents referring or relating to the tax-exempt status of unincorporated coalitions residing at tax-exempt corporations, including reporting requirements concerning these coalitions’ lobbying activities
•  All documents referring or relating to the disclosure requirements of tax-exempt entities that sponsor or provide resources to a coalition, concerning the coalition’s lobbying and other activities
•  All documents referring or relating to those organizations for which the IRS has:
1.  Conducted a criminal investigation, civil audit, or examination, reviewed whistleblower-informant  claims, found abusive tax schemes and published alerts or abusive tax scheme investor lists concerning coalitions which lobby and/or “stealth” lobbyists from 2004 to the present
2.  For each identified, summarize the subsequent allegations and action by
the IRS, including penalties, fines, reports, memoranda or other assessments made against those investigated coalitions.
3.  Provide any documents reflecting coalitions’ response to any IRS criminal investigation, audit,
examination, whistleblower information claim, alert or publication.

On May 14, Susan Marks-Jensky of the IRS  responded to CoA’s request, stating “I found no documents specifically responsive to your request.”

This response highlights that the IRS has failed to require lobbying coalition’s to report their stealth activities and has refused to conduct oversight over tax-exempt corporations that sponsor coalition lobbying  without disclosing those activities. Moreover, the IRS, despite concerns by Congress and the media, has failed to conduct any investigations of lobbying coalition activities that may be inconsistent with the Internal Revenue Code.

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05/25/2012

Free Beacon: CoA sues Federal Trade Commission over FOIA denials

Read the full story here. Freebeacon

“A government watchdog group has filed a court complaint against the Federal Trade Commission, claiming the agency arbitrarily denied its public records requests while granting those of liberal organizations.

Cause of Action, a non-profit organization that promotes government transparency, filed an injunction for relief Friday in the United States District Court of the District of Columbia, requesting the court to force the agency to disclose records it has so far withheld. Cause of Action filed the complaint after filing three separate Freedom of Information Act requests and sparring with the agency for nearly nine months.

“For an administration that has publicly committed itself to transparency, the Federal Trade Commission’s refusal to produce documents in response to Cause of Action’s several month-long FOIA investigation reeks of arbitrariness,” Cause of Action executive director Dan Epstein said in a statement to the Free Beacon. “As we state in our complaint, the FTC has wrongfully withheld requested agency records and has repeatedly denied our appeals.”

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05/2/2012

FOIA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is in violation of the No FEAR Act of 2002

From MSPB Watch:

“Last week, fellow advocate site Whistlewatch.org made a FOIA request to the Department of Health and Human Services and all of its operating divisions, seeking all No FEAR Act annual reports to Congress since the law’s passage in 2002, as required by section 203 of that law. Now, the following response came back from HHS’ Office of Inspector General, claiming that no such reports can be found:

HHS FOIA 12-0404

Which means that HHS is in violation of the No FEAR Act, and the public won’t get to know how much litigation damages and attorney fees HHS has spent reimbursing meritorious whistleblowers and victims of discrimination.”

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04/27/2012

Federal Agency Accountability: Data Act bill Passes House

We’ve seen in the news that the House recently approved a bill that requires federal agencies and recipients of government money to report their spending online:

“The bill, known as the Data Act, would require government agencies and recipients of federal money to use standardized methods to report their spending. The measure would also establish a Federal Accountability and Spending Transparency Board to collect and post all the information on a single website.”

Given Cause of Action’s work with FOIA requests that demand government transparency, we’re curious to see what happens with the bill. In the meantime, we will continue our efforts to expose federal spending through numerous FOIA requests and investigations.

For example,  CoA filed FOIA requests with 32 government agency offices that sought investigation into how each agency used tax dollars to purchase commemorative items for its employees.  If money is being spent on trinkets that hold no worth for taxpayers, we want to find out. CoA investigated how grant money was possibly being used by state health organizations to lobby officials.  This is an illegal use of tax-payer dollars to sway votes and pass legislation, so we asked the DOJ to investigate.

Cause of Action is staying on top of the transparency issues.  Check back soon to see what else we’ve found.

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04/23/2012

FOIA Production: National Labor Relations Board Documents Regarding the Boeing Lawsuit

Cause of Action obtained documents from the NLRB including communications among staff and counsel during the Boeing lawsuit.

Here are the full FOIA productions Cause of Action received.

NLRB – Boeing production – Disc 1

NLRB – Boeing production – Disc 2

NLRB – Boeing production – Disc 3

NLRB – Boeing production – Disc 5

NLRB – Boeing production – Disc 6

NLRB – Boeing production – Disc 7

NLRB – Boeing production – Disc 8

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