Illegal Mail Allegations Jeopardize Environmentalists’ Tax Standing

The Conservation Voters of South Carolina (CVSC) are in hot water today after the Internal Revenue Service was forwarded documentation of political activities that could jeopardize its privilege to send mail at reduced, non-profit postage rates and more importantly, to raise charitable, tax deductible contributions.

Both would be crippling blows to the 501(c)3 organization’s ability to raise money and get its message out, although if postal officials rescind their non-profit mail rate and the IRS yanks the group’s 501(c)3 status, the CVSC will have no one to blame but itself.

In what could end up being one of the most egregious violations of postal code and IRS regulations we’ve seen in any political campaign, the CVSC send out a mail piece last week attacking Republican State Rep. Mick Mulvaney and endorsing Democrat Mandy Powers-Norrell in a hotly-contested State Senate race in Lancaster and York Counties.

You can view the content of the mail piece by clicking the images below …

Obviously, the piece is intended to influence the outcome of the Nov. 4 election between these two candidates (see the word “vote,” for example), and while we’ll ignore the clumsy “tree hugger” picture and some unsubstantiated claims the piece makes about the candidates, there’s really only one part of this mailing that the USPS and the IRS will be interested in.

Take a look …

Yup, that’s a non-profit stamp on a political mailing, which is expressly prohibited by federal law, even if a political action committee sent the mailing as the CVSC disclaimer notes.

“It’s absolutely illegal,” said one legal expert we spoke with. “In fact it’s blatantly illegal. I suspect they’ll get their 501 status yanked for awhile. They’ll also be lucky if the Post Office lets ‘em buy stamps at any rate for awhile.”

Potentially even more devastating for the organization would be if the CVSC has improperly structured its organizational umbrella, putting a political action committee under a non-profit.

How come? Well, federal law also expressly prohibits 501(c)3 organizations like the Conservation Voters of South Carolina from establishing political action committees, which it certainly appears they have done not only in this instance, but in dozens of previous campaigns.

Incidentally, the CVSC has already come under fire for alleged illegal activity after reports surfaced earlier this year that its director, Ann Timberlake, was trading her group’s endorsement in exchange for votes.

To our knowledge those allegations were never prosecuted, however, and the State Senator rumored to have cut the corrupt bargain with Timberlake was defeated this summer in a GOP primary election – in spite of the endorsement from Timberlake’s group.

Comments