ALEC And Us – IRS Complaint And Lobbying Issues

Editor’s note:  In our previous ALEC And Us article, we called upon New Mexico legislators in general and our own District legislators – Sue Wilson-Beffort and Jim Smith – to disclose and clarify the nature and extent of their involvement, if any, with the American Legislative Exchange Council.  We followed up with an e-mail to Ms. Wilson-Beffort and Mr. Smith on Friday.  We have not yet received a response, but let’s remember it’s the weekend and the e-mail went out on Friday.  We hope to hear from them soon.

by John Weckerle

The New York Times has run an article expanding on the activities of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), including its lobbying, and also its status as a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization.  An NPR article also casts doubt upon the organization’s charity status.  Both articles note that a watchdog agency, Common Cause, has filed a complaint with the IRS alleging that ALEC has abused its tax-exempt status.  The NPR article provides some analysis indicating that precedent suggests ALEC may be on the wrong side of the law in this regard.

The Times article characterizes ALEC as a “stealth business lobbyist.” Of particular interest to us in this regard is whether the group’s activities in New Mexico may have violated New Mexico laws governing lobbying.  A quick look over the list of registered lobbyists in New Mexico does not reveal any indication that ALEC has any registered lobbyists.  It is unclear which legislators may have received input from ALEC’s members, whether those members were registered as lobbyists in the state, and to what extent individual New Mexico legislators may have received campaign contributions from ALEC members.  While we have not completed a detailed analysis of information available through FollowTheMoney.org, a preliminary review suggests connections among the various ALEC members.

 

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