Legally, Media Matters is a 501(C)(3) organization. It has declared a war of sabotage and dumpster diving to destroy Fox News, which it characterizes as an adjunct of the GOP. Mark Tapscott:
Being a C3 puts MM in the non-profit, non-commercial sector, and it also bars the organzation from participating in partisan political activity. This new, more aggressive stance, however, appears to run directly counter to the government’s requirements for maintaining a C3 tax status.
Since Brock classifies Fox News as the “leader” of the Republican Party, by his own description he is involving his organization in a partisan battle. High-priced K Street lawyers can probably find a federal judge or a sympathetic IRS bureaucrat willing to either look the other way or accept some sort of MM rationale such as that it is merely providing educational information about a partisan group.
But in the IRS application for 501(C)(3) tax-exempt educational foundation status, Section VIII, Question I asks the applicant: “Do you support or oppose candidates in political campaigns in any way?” (Emphasis added).
MM obviously has a pair of aces in the hole to count on: The Obama administration and the Holder DoJ, who will have no interest in investigating an ideological ally.
(hat tip Jim Treacher)
Join the conversation as a VIP Member