IRS Complaint Against WEAC

Charlie Sykes will be discussing this complaint on his show later this morning.

Landmark Legal Foundation Files IRS Complaint Against Wisconsin NEA Affiliate Thursday
Foundation Calls for Investigation of Unreported WEAC Contributions to Democratic Party Campaign Committee

LEESBURG, Va. -- Landmark Legal Foundation today asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to investigate numerous activities by the National Education Association's Wisconsin affiliate, the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) that may have violated federal tax law.

The WEAC made a total of $430,000 in contributions to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) that weren't reported on WEAC's tax returns.

The DLCC is a political organization formed by the Democratic National Committee to provide funding and logistical assistance to state legislative campaigns around the country. The WEAC contributions, which were reported by the DLCC on its tax filings, were made in 2000 and 2002, and were apparently used by the DLCC to underwrite state legislative campaigns in California and elsewhere.

WEAC is a 501(c)(5) tax-exempt union under the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). As a 501(c)(5), WEAC is required to report and pay federal income tax on almost any general revenue funds used for political purposes, including contributions made by the union to political organizations like the DLCC (called 527s, for the section of the IRC under which they are formed.) WEAC's own 527, the Wisconsin Education Association Council -- Political Action Committee (WEAC-PAC), also did not report the DLCC contributions in question on their tax filings.

In addition to both the WEAC and DLCC tax filings, and the tax returns of WEAC-PAC, Landmark's complaint includes media reports and other information detailing the use of apparently tax-exempt revenues by the union to fund overtly political contributions.

"Wisconsin's teachers should be outraged that their union is apparently using their dues money to fund political contributions to California state legislative campaigns," explained Landmark President Mark R. Levin. "And they should be furious that their leaders appear to be thumbing their noses at legal reporting requirements to advance their own political agendas without their members' knowledge or consent."

Landmark's complaint today is the latest in the Foundation's NEA Accountability Project, a nine year initiative that has resulted in an ongoing full-field audit by the IRS of the NEA's political expenditures and activities. Landmark's 2002 complaint to the U.S. Department of Labor also resulted in an ongoing Labor Department investigation into possible violations of federal labor reporting laws by the NEA, and a top to bottom revision of the Department's reporting requirements for income and disbursements by large national unions.

Founded in 1976, Landmark Legal Foundation was the first public interest law firm to become involved in the school choice movement. The Foundation successfully represented low income families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in two Wisconsin Supreme Court cases on behalf of the Milwaukee parental choice program. Landmark has offices in Kansas City, Missouri and Leesburg, Virginia.