Nader Had Campaign Office at Charity - Situation Raises Ethical Questions

[CShine]

Since October, Ralph Nader has run his campaign for president out of the same downtown Washington offices that through April housed a public charity he created -- an overlap that campaign finance specialists said could run afoul of federal laws. Tax law explicitly forbids public charities from aiding political campaigns. Violations can result in a charity losing its tax-exempt status. In addition, campaign law requires candidates to account for all contributions -- including shared office space and resources, down to the use of copying machines, receptionists and telephones.

Records show many links between Nader's campaign and the charity Citizen Works. For example, the charity's listed president, Theresa Amato, is also Nader's campaign manager. The campaign said in an e-mail to The Washington Post that Amato resigned from the charity in 2003. But in the charity's most recent corporate filing with the District, in January, Amato listed herself as the charity's president and registered agent. The office suite housing the campaign, the charity and other sub-tenants had a common receptionist for greeting visitors.

And Federal Election Commission records show the campaign paid rent to Citizen Works and Citizen Works' landlord. Nader said the campaign has taken over the charity's lease on its coveted location on 16th Street NW.

"There is nothing, no wrongdoing here," Nader said Friday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37363-2004Jun12.html

[H2O Man]

1. Yes.

This is a problem that any candidate running from a 3rd party platform faces. It goes beyond just the housing & rent; if Nader has used, for example, a photocopier from the non-profit, not only does he have to keep track of it as part of his campaign, but it clearly violates the non-profit status of Citizen Works.

[swag]

2. Yes, there are many excellent ethical questions about Ralph

including why Ralph campaigned hard in "battleground" states in 2000 in spite of his promises to the contrary to provisional supporters (ask Carl Pope of Sierra Club if you need examples).

Furthermore, I invest in the stock market, and now I understand that Ralph not only does that (despite his inveigling against corporate America) he also gambles at casinoes.

I do not trust him at all. I know people who have worked for him, and many say that he was quite a shit.

You, of course, are welcome to vote for Ralph.

But I would rather you vote for Kerry and would submit your objections to his policies to Kerry's campaign, to his Administration offices, to the first Kerry Congress, or failing all that, to the second Bush Administation.

IMAGINE 4 MORE YEARS!

Humans are probably extinct on planet earth in 4 more years.

[Moderator]

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