Move America Forward may abuse nonprofit status

Iraq war backers proudly pugnacious
But critics say Move America Forward may abuse nonprofit status.
By Todd Milbourn - Bee Staff Writer
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/20555.html
Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, September 9, 2006
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A20


Robert Dixon, right, acting director of Move
American forward, strategizes with Andy Nevis,
left, and Donald La Combe. Despite a stated
aversion to partisan politics, several Move
America Forward leaders aspire to elective
office, including Dixon, who may run for
Sacramento City Council. Sacramento Bee/Kevin German


When Cindy Sheehan's anti-war protests last year
drew widespread news coverage, a Sacramento
nonprofit jumped to defend President Bush with a
series of "counterprotests" against the Berkeley mother.

When Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi called
Bush an "incompetent leader" in 2004, the group
responded with an "action alert" calling Pelosi a "domestic enemy."

And as a liberal U.S. senator pushed to censure
Bush earlier this year amid revelations that his
administration was secretly tapping domestic
phone calls, the organization countered with a
campaign to censure Jimmy Carter instead, calling
the former president an ally of terrorists and dictators.
Click here to sign up!

The efforts have given the group, Move America
Forward, a platform in the increasingly polarized debate over the war.

But the group's rise hasn't come without controversy.

On the eve of the 2006 elections, the Internal
Revenue Service is cracking down on nonprofit
organizations that stray into party politics.
Critics say Move America Forward is ripe for scrutiny.

"We don't pretend to be mild-mannered," said Sal
Russo, Move America Forward's chief strategist
and a longtime Republican political consultant.
"We believe you can't separate the troops from
the mission. And we believe that when somebody's
wrong, they need to be called out on it."

Russo founded Move America Forward in 2004, along
with former Republican Assemblyman Howard
Kooligian and conservative San Francisco radio
host Melanie Morgan -- all veterans of the 2003 recall of Gov. Gray Davis.

With war support dipping, Russo said Move America
Forward is out to support the troops and spread "good news" on Iraq.

The group has raised about $1.2 million, mostly
from small, undisclosed donors, Russo said. Most
of the money has been spent on television and
radio spots and rallies, tax records show. About
$113,000 funded programs directly benefiting
soldiers, such as mailing them cookies, coffee and beef jerky.

Russo said Move America Forward has no ties to
the White House or the Republican Party, and none
could be gleaned through a review of public
records, although the Department of Defense has
publicly praised the group's efforts.

Some liberal groups see Move America Forward as
an external public relations department for the administration.

"It's a shell organization," said Trevor
Fitzgibbon, spokesman for Moveon.org, a liberal
advocacy group and frequent target of Move America Forward.

Move America Forward is among the flood of new
advocacy groups on both sides of the political
divide. Congressional attempts to restrict
donations to political parties have effectively
channeled new money to such organizations, which
they often spend on political advertising.

Move America Forward is different from most of
these groups because it is registered as a public
charity -- like the United Way or the Red Cross
-- and accepts tax-deductible donations.

The IRS prohibits groups eligible for
tax-deductible donations from engaging in
partisan activity. While such groups can speak
out on policy matters and perform a small amount
of lobbying, they cannot urge support for a
particular candidate or party, said Bill Steiner,
a Sacramento-based IRS spokesman.

Donations to groups like Moveon.org or the
conservative Club for Growth aren't tax
deductible, so the IRS grants them more leeway.
Sheehan's Venice-based nonprofit, Gold Star
Families for Peace, is eligible for
tax-deductible donations, although the group
recommends impeaching Bush and promotes "pro-peace" candidates on its Web site.

After noting a rise in political activity among
nonprofits and churches during the 2004
elections, the IRS said it would pay closer attention to possible violations.

The IRS launched an investigation of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People
over a speech by Chairman Julian Bond on the eve of the 2004 election.

"The race is on! The gloves are off! We are in a
fight for our lives!" Bond said in the speech,
before blasting Bush's policies. The IRS sent a
letter to the NAACP warning the civil rights
group that its tax exemption could be in
jeopardy. The NAACP has since been cleared.

A nonprofit doesn't have to explicitly express
support for a particular candidate or party to be
in violation, Steiner said. For instance, the IRS
launched a probe of the liberal All Saints Church
in Pasadena after an anti-war homily delivered by
rector George Regas just before the 2004 election.

Regas didn't tell the congregation whom to vote
for but did skewer Bush over Iraq, saying the war had "led to disaster."

Kay Guinane, director of nonprofit speech rights
at OMB Watch and co-author of a report on the IRS
crackdown, said the tax agency appears to have
focused mainly on liberal groups. She said
pronouncements like those of Move America Forward
push the envelope and could warrant scrutiny.

"The bottom line is: The public should not
indirectly be subsidizing partisan activity,"
said Guinane, author of a recent study on the IRS
crackdown. "That doesn't mean (nonprofits) have
to be neutral about issues. But we want to
protect the integrity of the charitable sector."

Steiner, the IRS spokesman, said he couldn't
discuss a particular nonprofit. Russo said his
group's exempt status has never been in question.

Russo said Move America Forward isn't partisan.
He pointed out that the group has lauded
Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman and ripped Republican Sen. George Voinovich.

And Morgan, Move America Forward's chairwoman,
offered some criticism of the Bush
administration, saying it is running "one of the
most inept communications departments I've seen."

"That's one of the reasons we started Move
America Forward," Morgan said. "This
administration is unable to articulate clearly
why we went to Iraq, why we are there and why we're winning the war."

Move America Forward, with two full-time paid
employees, occupies a 14th-floor office on L
Street, overlooking the state Capitol. Ronald
Reagan portraits adorn the walls. Boxes of
"Support the Troops" T-shirts are scattered about.

Move America Forward shares the office with
Russo's PR firm, Russo, Marsh & Rogers.

One of Russo's private clients is the government
of Kurdistan, a semiautonomous region in northern
Iraq. His firm is running a campaign encouraging investment there.

The Center for Media and Democracy, a liberal
nonprofit monitoring the public relations
industry, has questioned whether the contract
poses a conflict for Russo, given Move America Forward's promotion of the war.

"There are all sorts of conspiracy theorists out
there," said Russo, who sees a political
motivation behind the accusations against Move
America Forward. "We are very careful, prudent and keep things separate."

Despite a stated aversion to partisan politics,
several Move America Forward leaders aspire to elective office.

The list includes Kaloogian, who left the
organization before his unsuccessful run this
summer to replace San Diego Congressman Randy
"Duke" Cunningham, a Republican convicted of
taking bribes from defense contractors. Kaloogian
got airtime in Move America Forward commercials
before officially launching his campaign.

Robert Dixon, Move America Forward's acting
director, said he plans to run for the Sacramento
City Council. John Ubaldi, an Iraq war veteran
who has served as the group's communications
director, said he is considering a run for national office.

Analysts said it's difficult to gauge the
influence of groups like Move America Forward.
Similar to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth
campaign of 2004, the groups often rely on the
Internet to attract wider attention.

Brooks Jackson, director of Political Fact Check,
a University of Pennsylvania-affiliated watchdog
that monitors advocacy groups, said ads like
those of Move America Forward tend to be
controversial because "somehow middle of the
road, rational conversation doesn't seem to
attract people to jump up and open their checkbooks."

Groups like this, liberal and conservative alike,
Jackson added, have "helped coarsen the political debate."

Russo said 30-second spots leave little time for nuance.

"We're not mealy-mouthed," said Russo, whose
group is planning a commemorative rally on the
state Capitol steps Monday to mark the Sept. 11
attacks. "We're not going to be."

MOVE AMERICA FORWARD

Founded in 2004, the Sacramento-based nonprofit
Move America Forward spreads its messages via
television and radio ads and public rallies. The
campaigns are often a response to criticism of
President Bush and the war in Iraq. Some examples:

• Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" hit theaters
before the 2004 presidential election.

Move America Forward showcased in Sacramento
"Celsius41.11," a film portraying Democratic
candidate John Kerry as the wrong man for the
job. The movie was produced by an affiliate of
the advocacy group Citizens United for the Bush Agenda.

• Democrats and some Republicans criticize John
Bolton, Bush's then-nominee for ambassador to the United Nations.

Move America Forward produced television ads
lauding Bolton's qualifications, dismissing
critics as the "blame America first crowd."

• Inspectors and the U.S. military fail to find
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq:

Move America Forward aired television ads saying
Iraq actually did have such weapons but the
information was being withheld by the news media
"to selfishly advance their shameless political ambitions."

FUNDING

Move America Forward has raised about $1.2
million in tax-deductible donations. A breakdown
of Move America Forward's largest expenditures:

• $693,456 on television and radio ads and movie screenings.

• $123,491 to send talk radio hosts to report
from Iraq and orchestrate counterprotests against
anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan in Crawford, Texas, and elsewhere.

• $113,434 to send coffee, cookies and beef jerky
to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• $20,744 for rallies commemorating 9/11,
supporting tighter border controls and other issues.

Source: Internal Revenue Service Form 990

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