Charity Founded by U.S. Senate Candidate Roy Moore Violated Tax Law by Promoting Moore’s Candidacy
MONTGOMERY, AL – Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has requested an immediate investigation by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) into an organization run by the wife of Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, which appears to have repeatedly violated the law prohibiting charities from engaging in electoral politics. The group, Foundation for Moral Law (FML), used charitable funds to promote Moore’s Senate candidacy.
CLC’s complaint outlines a series of communications by FML over the past several months promoting Moore’s candidacy, such as FML’s Facebook page posting Moore’s official campaign advertisements and its email newsletter expressly calling for Moore’s election.
Organizations do not qualify for charitable status if they engage in the ‘publication or distribution of written or printed statements on behalf of or in opposition to a candidate.’
“The Foundation for Moral Law has demonstrated a pattern of using charitable resources to promote Roy Moore’s run for Senate,” said Adav Noti, senior director, trial litigation and strategy at Campaign Legal Center (CLC) "The law is clear that charities cannot promote or oppose candidates, and it is surprising that a self-described legal organization would disregard the well-established prohibition on charitable political activity.”
“Charitable organizations are subsidized by taxpayers for their charitable, religious and educational work, not for partisan political activity,” said Brendan Fischer, director, federal and FEC reform at CLC. “Charities play an important role in civil society and their individual members have complete freedom to engage in partisan politics. It is illegal for the organizations themselves to use tax-exempt charitable resources to intervene in political elections, and it is the job of the IRS to ensure it stays that way.”