New Evidence Mormons Illegally Contributed to Yes on 8

[keepCAblue]

(Also posted in Political Videos forum)

From American News Projec (http://americannewsproject.com /)

By Steven Greenstreet on Jan 14, 2009

Activists claim that money from the Mormon Church was the deciding factor in passing Proposition 8 in California - banning gay marriage. The church claims to have only spent a few thousand dollars on the campaign, but ANP has uncovered evidence that may expose a gaping hole in that claim. Also, the IRS forbids religious organizations from "substantially" lobbying for political legislation. Did the Mormon Church violate this law?

Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWCum9yQhTg

The Yes on 8 bigots have sued to keep donors to future political campaigns anonymous because the whine that the Yes on 8 donors have been victimized. After seeing this video it is clear there needs to be some changes to campaign finance laws -- that CHURCHES be required by LAW to disclose their internal financial records on where their money goes. This is such bullshit that churches, like the Mormons and Catholics, do not have to disclose any financial records, even though they receive tax-exempt status. If a 501c non-profit has to disclose financial records in order to maintain their tax exempt status, then so must churches and other religious orgs that are granted tax-exempt status.

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[mr clean]

2. K&R

(I would recommend but can't yet)

[Iggo]

7. Kick and a charity rec for mr clean. (n/t)

[juno jones]

3. To the greatest...k&r n/t

[FreeState]

4. The one thing I wish is that the complaints were filed two weeks from now

and not so early. Why? The finalized election financial reports are not due until Feb 2nd (http://www.fppc.ca.gov/filingschedules/2008/Nov2008/3a-sgpfs.pdf). By complaining early we told the church what they need to report...

[truedelphi]

6. That's a very good point. n/t

[Irishonly]

5. I really hope they will pay the price

I think it should be illegal for churches to be involved with propositions as well as candidates. The Catholics and Mormon should be forced to show how much they contributed. If the law was broken as most of us suspect it was they should lose tax exempt forever. What the heads of the churches, priests, pastors and many members did was evil and vile.

[tbyg52]

12. >>I think it should be illegal for churches to be involved with propositions as well as candidates.

Amen! They should stay out of politics of any sort.

[bluedawg12]

8. "substantially" lobbying - Love it! They did, substantially, at that.

[yardwork]

9. k&r

[meegbear]

10. K&R

:kick:

[Ms. Toad]

11. A referendum is not legislation.

Legislation is law enacted by a legislative body.

And, FWIW, the law doesn't forbid religious organizations for lobbying for legislation - but an organization that engages in substantial lobbying is not entitled to tax exempt status.

Some religious organizations deliberately set up separate (non-exempt) entities in order to be able to lobby - for example, the Friends Committee on National Legislation - FCNL.org Click on the "How to Give" tab and read the box on the right side of the page to see the distinction between the lobbying (non-tax exempt) arm of the organization and the (tax exempt) educational arm.