[Am-info] Re: Nader Vote

[Jim Warren]

>========== On 11/5/00 2:12 PM, Gene Gaines typed: ============
>>Engaging in political activity, SUCH AS DISCUSSIONS OF THE
>>PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ON THIS EMAIL LIST is against the law for
>>a non-profit, tax-exempt organization.

Uh, no -- you simply don't understand the tax-code re nonprofits.

As I understand it, the 501(c)(3) tax-code -- covering nonprofit 
educational organizations -- does NOT prohibit political discussions 
via the facilities of the organization.

It DOES prohibit the *organization* itself (including anyone under 
its control) from pursuing *significant* or *substantial* partisan 
political advocacy using the organization's facilities including its 
information media.

But it does NOT preclude those who are NOT under control of the 
organization from expressing partisan views within the organization's 
facilities.

Especially when there is no restriction on discourse; that is, views 
of all partisan persuasion can be expressed without control or 
censorship by the organization.  (And the am-info list *obviously* 
lacks ANY effort by the list-owner to control or censor ANYthing that 
anyone wants to post to it. :-)


If this were not so, then one would never be permitted to invite a 
political candidate to speak to an audience in a private school or 
university; no political views could ever be expressed in newspapers 
of private colleges; no partisan clubs could use private-campus 
facilities; etc.

Same restriction would hold true for nonprofits in other categories 
-- unions, trade associations, religious institutions, etc. -- all of 
which operate under various non-profit, tax-exempt code-sections.

--jim