527 group

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A 527 group is a type of American tax-exempt organization named after a section of the United States tax code, 26 U.S.C. § 527. A 527 group is created primarily to influence the nomination, election, appointment or defeat of candidates for public office. Although candidate committees and political action committees are also created under Section 527, the term is generally used to refer to political organizations that are not regulated by the Federal Election Commission or by a state elections commission, and are not subject to the same contribution limits as PACs.

Current legislation

Because 527 organizations do not make expenditures to directly advocate the election or defeat of any candidate for federal elective office, they avoid regulation by the Federal Election Commission. The line between issue advocacy and candidate advocacy is the source of heated debate and litigation.

Many 527s are run by interest groups and used to raise money to spend on issue advocacy and voter mobilization outside of the restrictions on PACs.

Examples of 527s include Americans for Dr. Rice, Americans for Honesty on Issues, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, Texans for Truth, The Media Fund, America Coming Together, the Progress for America Voter Fund, United American Technologies, American Right To Life Action and the November Fund. MoveOn.org was previously a 527, until they decided to shut down their 527 group as a result of "new politics offered by Barack Obama".^[1]

During April of 2004, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) held hearings to determine whether or not 527s should be regulated under campaign finance rules. The Commission ultimately decided that the law did not cover these independent 527 organizations unless they directly advocated the election or defeat of a candidate.

Federal Election Commission rulings after the 2004 election put advertisements which questioned a candidate’s character and fitness for office off limits to 527s specifically.^[2]

2004 election controversy

Under federal election law, coordination between an election campaign and a 527 group is not allowed. The heavy spending of key 527 groups to attack presidential candidates brought complaints to the Federal Elections Commission of illegal coordination between the groups and rival political campaigns. These formal complaints included:

• On May 5, 2004, the Republican National Committee accused MoveOn.org, The Media Fund, America Coming Together and America Votes of coordinating their efforts with the John Kerry campaign.

• On August 20, 2004, John Kerry's campaign accused Swift Boat Veterans for Truth of coordinating their efforts with the George W. Bush campaign.

Several people who are involved with both organizations have removed themselves to avoid the appearance of conflict. Attorney Benjamin Ginsberg pointed out that it was not uncommon or illegal for lawyers to represent campaigns or political parties while also representing 527 groups. For example, Washington attorney Joe Sandler simultaneously represents the Democratic National Committee and a 527 group airing anti-Bush ads, the MoveOn.org Voter Fund.

In 2006 and 2007 the FEC fined a number of organizations, including MoveOn and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, for violations arising from the 2004 campaign. The FEC's rationale was that these groups had specifically advocated the election or defeat of candidates, thus making them subject to federal regulation and its limits on contributions to the organizations.

Top Twenty Federally Focused and State-Focused 527 groups, 2004 election cycle

Some of these listings identify a parent organization that has created a 527 group but that also engages in many nonpolitical activities. Democratic/liberal leaning groups are highlighted in blue, Republican/conservative leaning groups are highlighted in pink.

A total of $439,709,105 was spent by these organizations alone, $307,324,096 of which was spent by Democratic/liberal groups and $132,385,009 of which was spent by Republican/conservative groups.^[3][4]

*Joint Victory Campaign 2004 is a joint fund-raising committee run by America Coming Together and the Media Fund. Money raised by JVC is divided between these two beneficiaries. Combining receipts for these three groups would result in double-counting.

Top Twenty Federally Focused and State-Focused 527 groups, 2006 election cycle

Some of these listings identify a parent organization that has created a 527 group but that also engages in many nonpolitical activities. Democratic/liberal leaning groups are highlighted in blue, Republican/conservative leaning groups are highlighted in pink.

A total of $171,045,165 was spent by these organizations alone, $121,665,587 of which was spent by Democrat/liberal groups and $49,379,578 of which was spent by Republican/conservative groups.^[5][6]

See also

• Political action committee
• Campaign finance in the United States
• campaign finance reform
• 501(c)(4)
• 501(c)(3)
• opposition research

References

External links

• 527s: Advocacy Group Spending in the 2008 Elections from OpenSecrets.org
• Silent Partners (527 Organizations) from Center for Public Integrity
• Tax Information for Political Organizations from the Internal Revenue Service
• "RNC opens assault on anti-Bush groups", CNN.com, May 6, 2004
• "Kerry files FEC complaint against swift boat group", CNN.com, August 21, 2004