To arrive at a total expenditure figure for 501c groups is impossible, given their nondisclosure requirements. But, based on interviews and an examination of available records, it seems likely their total spending will be from $70 million to $100 million this election cycle, with expenditures by pro-Republican and pro-Democratic groups roughly equal.
There are huge unknowns, however. For example, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform, a 501c (6) business organization, has an annual budget of more than $40 million. The National Rifle Association, a 501c (4), has a budget of more than $200 million, which the group's chief executive, Wayne LaPierre Jr., can tap to increase voter turnout among not only its 4 million members but also the 14 percent of the electorate that has a "very favorable" view of the NRA.
Equally difficult to track is the burst of money going to the network of hundreds of generally liberal and pro-Democratic turnout operations, including Project Vote, the NAACP Voter Education Fund and USAction, none of which discloses its contributors.
Some board members, consultants, lawyers and staff members of many of these nonpartisan 501c organizations are, in fact, active partisans, separately working for campaigns, political parties and groups.
Perhaps no one better illustrates the host of interlocking roles than Carl Pope, one of the most influential operatives on the Democratic side in the 2004 election. As executive director of the Sierra Club, a major 501c (4) environmental lobby, Pope also controls the Sierra Club Voter Education Fund, a 527. The Voter Education Fund 527 has raised $3.4 million this election cycle, with $2.4 million of that amount coming from the Sierra Club. A third group, the Sierra Club PAC, has since 1980 given $3.9 million to Democratic candidates and $173,602 to GOP candidates.
These activities just touch the surface of Pope's political involvement. In 2002-03, Pope helped found two major 527 groups: America Votes, which has raised $1.9 million to coordinate the election activities of 32 liberal groups, and America Coming Together (ACT), which has a goal of raising more than $100 million to mobilize voters to cast ballots against Bush. Finally, Pope is treasurer of a new 501c (3) foundation, America's Families United, which reportedly has $15 million to distribute to voter mobilization groups.
"I am in this as deeply as I am," Pope said, "because I think this country is in real peril."
Although the McCain-Feingold law was generally a boon for 501c groups, one provision has tightened restrictions on the way they spend their money. The law's ban on the use of corporate and union funds to finance issue ads in the final 60 days before the general election has prompted such conservative groups as Americans for Job Security and the 60 Plus Association to move away from radio and television advertising and toward voter mobilization and non-broadcast advocacy, primarily through direct mail, newspaper ads and the Internet.
Although corporate-backed tax-exempt groups are struggling to comply with McCain-Feingold, liberal, pro-Democratic charitable and tax-exempt organizations are concentrating much of their time, money and effort on voter registration and turnout. These activities do not fall under the 60-day broadcasting ban and can be structured as nonpartisan work eligible for tax-deductible support.
For many groups doing voter mobilization, it is crucial to have a 501c (3) group to tap into what has become a multimillion-dollar commitment by a host of liberal foundations and wealthy individuals to increase turnout among minorities and poor people.
Among the foundations investing substantially in voter registration and turnout programs likely to benefit Democrats are the Proteus Fund, which, in addition to direct grants, set up the Voter Engagement Donor Network in 2003 as an information service to 130 other foundations and individual donors"; the Pew Charitable Trusts; and America's Families United, which was created in 2003 to channel about $15 million to voter registration and turnout groups. Most of these foundations voluntarily identify the groups to which they make grants on their Web sites.
One of the best-funded organizations is Project Vote, a 501c (3) group that has an $18 million fundraising goal and had raised, as of early September, $13.2 million in tax-deductible contributions. Similar work in registering and turning out urban voters, especially minorities, is being conducted by USAction Education Fund, the 501c (3) arm of USAction. Board members for America's Families United include not only Pope, but also Dennis Rivera, president of New York Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union and a major figure in Democratic politics, and William Lynch Jr., who served as board secretary until he recently became deputy manager of the Kerry campaign.
The close connection between partisan activists and 501c groups is equally clear among conservative groups. Benjamin L. Ginsberg has been a lawyer for the Bush campaign, the Republican National Committee, Progress for America and the Swift Boat Veterans (both 527s) and Americans for Job Security, a 501c (4). Ginsberg was forced to resign as chief outside counsel to the Bush campaign during a controversy over his simultaneous involvement with the Swift Boat group. But he is one of the few activists whose involvement in multiple groups has come under scrutiny.
Researcher Alice R. Crites contributed to this report.
