An ethics watchdog group on Monday asked the federal government to investigate a super PAC, the Government Integrity Fund, claiming the group had violated its tax-exempt status as a “social welfare” group by taking “extraordinary steps” to disguise its work as a political group.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate claims that the Government Integrity Fund is a “dark money” group that spent millions to influence elections in Georgia, Arkansas and Rhode Island in 2014 but didn’t disclose its donors.
Such groups have proliferated following the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision,which allowed businesses, unions and nonprofit groups to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money in political races.
The watchdog group wants the IRS to revoke the Government Integrity Fund’s tax-exempt status and treat the organization as a taxable corporation or a political organization.
The watchdog claims that at least 55 percent of the Government Integrity Fund’s budget goes toward political contributions, along with more than $1 million for political TV ads. That’s up to 87 percent of its budget, the watchdog suggests, adding that politics is the group’s primary mission.
The ethics group claims that the Government Integrity Fund’s 2014 tax returns – which were filed late in July 2016 – didn’t disclose millions of dollars in political spending that would violate its tax-exempt status.
“We often see and file complaints against so-called social welfare groups that are acting as political committees,” the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Noah Bookbinder, said in a statement. “But it’s shocking how far the Government Integrity Fund went to hide what it was doing.”
The watchdog group claims the Government Integrity Fund spent money in 2014 to support the GOP Senate bid of then-Rep. Tom Cotton in Arkansas and Rep. Jack Kingston’s opponent in the Georgia GOP Senate primary and to oppose the election bid of Rhode Island Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo.
Representatives for the Government Integrity Fund could not be reached for comment.
Tony Pugh: 202-383-6013, @TonyPughDC
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