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kpete

(71,991 posts)
Tue Apr 21, 2015, 09:46 AM Apr 2015

At Least 3 Clear Violations Of Federal Laws-NRA committing same crimes Al Capone got busted for

The NRA’s brazen shell game with donations: A Yahoo News investigation

Alan Berlow for Yahoo News
April 21, 2015



Early last summer I began making contributions to the National Rifle Association — a dollar here, a dollar there — to see where my money would end up. Some of it quickly found its way into the account of the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund, the NRA’s political action committee. And that was of no small interest, because I never knowingly contributed to the NRA-PVF. For me, this wasn’t a big problem; my contributions were a spit in the bucket for an organization that spent $37 million on the 2014 elections and operates on an annual budget of more than a quarter of a billion dollars. But my contributions and others like them may be a big problem for the NRA because, according to some of the nation’s top experts on federal election law, they are all illegal.

The issue is not just that my donations ended up in a political fund account, but the way the NRA solicited them — and presumably those of thousands of others. In fact, each of these transactions almost certainly violated multiple provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) and a legion of state and federal antifraud statutes designed to protect the public from phony charities and false or misleading solicitations.

The FECA makes a hard distinction between solicitations for elections and other solicitations, in part because many Americans don’t like donating to politicians. An NRA member might contribute to the organization because she admires its work on behalf of hunters. She might also contribute to an environmental group because she wants to preserve forests. But this same donor may vehemently oppose the candidates endorsed in federal elections by both the NRA and the environmental group. As a result, the law makes it clear that when these groups are soliciting for electoral purposes they must disclose that fact to potential donors.

If a private citizen says he’s raising money for a cancer charity and deposits the money into his personal bank account, he can be prosecuted for committing a fraud. Similarly, under federal election law, corporations like the NRA that set up what are known as “connected PACs” must inform potential donors if a PAC is the intended beneficiary of a solicitation. The NRA can’t claim to be raising money for the corporation — to finance such things as its lobbying or research initiatives — and then deposit that money into the account of its PAC. But that’s precisely what the NRA did when it solicited my contributions.


........

Oh yes, there is MORE:
https://www.yahoo.com/politics/the-nras-deceptive-shell-game-with-donations-a-116744915796.html

19 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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At Least 3 Clear Violations Of Federal Laws-NRA committing same crimes Al Capone got busted for (Original Post) kpete Apr 2015 OP
oops it was tax evasion Romeo.lima333 Apr 2015 #1
Gunners claim NRA and its political arm are totally separate, that NRA leaders Grover Norquist, Hoyt Apr 2015 #2
Sure they are SwankyXomb Apr 2015 #14
I knew it! ileus Apr 2015 #3
Al Capone was busted for gejohnston Apr 2015 #4
It appears that the NRA evaded taxes. drm604 Apr 2015 #5
the ILA is the political arm gejohnston Apr 2015 #6
Alan Berlow is the article's author, not Yahoo. DeSwiss Apr 2015 #8
I understand that gejohnston Apr 2015 #12
''If Holder can put together a prosecutable case, then I'll be impressed.'' DeSwiss Apr 2015 #15
Yeah, but have moles inside Moms Demand Action. What? No moles inside the NRA? nt flamin lib Apr 2015 #9
It used to be there were workers that could go after this Omaha Steve Apr 2015 #7
But if the NRA gets prosecuted, as it should, the gun lovers could get even more outraged and mouth-foamy than presently. Fred Sanders Apr 2015 #10
and it's for that very reason that the DOJ won't pursue action.. frylock Apr 2015 #17
Watch the NRA's bought-and-paid-for legislative/judicial pimps get busy on this. (nt) Paladin Apr 2015 #11
Love to see them investigated/prosecuted for this. nt okaawhatever Apr 2015 #13
The NRA is a security threat. The CIA and FBI need to spend more resources watching them. vkkv Apr 2015 #16
So he knowingly donated to the NRA's separate political organization hack89 Apr 2015 #18
they can block laws that 90% of the country and 80% of their own membership want MisterP Apr 2015 #19
 

Hoyt

(54,770 posts)
2. Gunners claim NRA and its political arm are totally separate, that NRA leaders Grover Norquist,
Tue Apr 21, 2015, 09:59 AM
Apr 2015

John Bolton, Ollie North, Teddy Nugent and a host of other right wingers have nothing to do with the political arm.

Truth, the NRA is promoting more than just gunz for crazies, yet we are supposed to accept it with a smile.

drm604

(16,230 posts)
5. It appears that the NRA evaded taxes.
Tue Apr 21, 2015, 10:41 AM
Apr 2015
lthough much of the corporation’s political spending is not subject to taxation, a subcategory that the IRS calls “exempt function expenditures” (an example would be NRA spending on ads that support a candidate) may be taxed. The size of the tax is based on a formula that compares total exempt function spending with the group’s investment income. Between 2007 and 2013 the NRA apparently failed to report any of its corporate political expenditures, which totaled more than $34 million, according to a review of FEC reports and audited financial statements prepared for the NRA board of directors, which were obtained by Yahoo News.

gejohnston

(17,502 posts)
6. the ILA is the political arm
Tue Apr 21, 2015, 10:52 AM
Apr 2015

and is legally separate. That is the organization that would report them. The article doesn't make it clear if the writer is referring to the ILA or the NRA per se.
Questions that came to my mind were:
How did he track where his donations went? He didn't say which branch he was donating to. He also doesn't point to a FEC regulation he said they were violating.

I'm not saying there isn't truth to it, just that when I think of competent, professional investigative journalism, Yahoo doesn't come to mind.

gejohnston

(17,502 posts)
12. I understand that
Tue Apr 21, 2015, 11:35 AM
Apr 2015

I have read his stuff before. He doesn't impress me as being much. Does he have a background in election law, or be paid enough by Yahoo to cover hiring one for help?

If Holder can put together a prosecutable case, then I'll be impressed.

 

DeSwiss

(27,137 posts)
15. ''If Holder can put together a prosecutable case, then I'll be impressed.''
Tue Apr 21, 2015, 11:50 AM
Apr 2015
- Hahahaha, wouldn't we all!?!?! Thanks for the laugh. Holder don't do prosecutions unless its a medical marijuana facility or some little old granny in her wheelchair holding a joint. He's more into federal acceptance of group fraud as a cultural shift and hedge against negative economic impacts -- but only when involving certain higher income groups.

I don't know this person as a writer, I just noticed when I wanted to see his credentials that he's done some NRA articles before. Usually when you suck you don't many submissions accepted. Of course when online publications need content they may not care about the substance so much, as long as they get the lines they need.


Omaha Steve

(99,632 posts)
7. It used to be there were workers that could go after this
Tue Apr 21, 2015, 11:05 AM
Apr 2015

But the tea-publicans want smaller government so this crap goes on without prosecution!

K&R!

OS

Fred Sanders

(23,946 posts)
10. But if the NRA gets prosecuted, as it should, the gun lovers could get even more outraged and mouth-foamy than presently.
Tue Apr 21, 2015, 11:17 AM
Apr 2015

Though how that is even possible is a question.

 

vkkv

(3,384 posts)
16. The NRA is a security threat. The CIA and FBI need to spend more resources watching them.
Tue Apr 21, 2015, 12:02 PM
Apr 2015

A lot of kooks in the NRA still think that President Obama is a Muslim terrorists and that the Apocalypse and Rapture will be arriving shortly.
These people are a danger to everyone who prefers a peaceful existence.

hack89

(39,171 posts)
18. So he knowingly donated to the NRA's separate political organization
Tue Apr 21, 2015, 12:30 PM
Apr 2015

specifically responsible for running the NRA's PACs and is shocked to discover his money ended up in a NRA PAC?

MisterP

(23,730 posts)
19. they can block laws that 90% of the country and 80% of their own membership want
Tue Apr 21, 2015, 02:44 PM
Apr 2015

they ain't goin' nowhere

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