Nader campaign run out of charity office: Violating election rules?

Maybe the republicans aren't just helping him financially, maybe they're also giving him tips on how to dodge the media:

Nader could not answer specific questions about the arrangement. He referred inquiries to Amato, the manager of both his 2000 and 2004 presidential bids. While Nader was available for at least a half-dozen interviews last week, repeated calls to Amato were not returned. Zeese said that she was too busy to talk to a reporter.

this story?? (I bet not!)

Just curious...

He throws a few bones to our side to pretend like he's impartial.

I'd laugh if he did. :kick:

I suspect it would be a fine at most. Maybe there's an FEC lawyer in DUdom who could answer that. The article focuses on the punishment to the charity - - that it could lose its not for profit status, which would mean paying back taxes and a fine. But Nader has so many charities that he will probably not be affected at all by one losing its tax exempt status.

I will be shocked if any investigation is completed before the election is over - - or if one is, it gives Nader a clean bill of health, regardless of whether the law was broken.

To me, the larger story is that the Smirk FEC and the Smirk IRS should have investigated this earlier, based on this (apparently) illegal activity in the 2000 campaign.

From page 2:

FEC reports show that Nader's 2000 campaign organization also used Citizen Works facilities, paying the charity about $69,000 in 2001, 2002 and 2003 . Also in December 2003, the campaign donated about $5,800 to Citizen Works.

Form page 4:
Citizen Works's annual report lists its activities as holding news conferences, helping grass-roots groups, producing a newsletter and developing an e-mail list. It raised $181,000 in 2001, but ran a $15,000 deficit. The next year that deficit was recouped when the charity received a $21,000 "subtenant" payment from the Nader 2000 presidential campaign and about $580,000 in contributions, according to the tax return.

Coveted Location

The connections between Nader's political activities and the charity go back to the creation of Citizen Works. As late as 2003, Nader's 2000 campaign organization rented space from Citizen Works as the campaign closed out its books. On March 1, 2002, Amato received $3,225 from the campaign for her services as a consultant, FEC reports state. On the same day, the campaign wrote a rent check to Citizen Works for $4,000. At the time, Amato was the campaign's treasurer and Citizen Works's executive director and president, records show.

Granted, I am assuming that the FEC and IRS have not investigated the 2000 issues only because the WashPost does not mention any earlier investigation of the relationship between Nader 2000 and Citizen Works.