Political donor law
for nonprofits, too
From thnt Online, on
the Web, December 2, 2007
There is confusion in Trenton whether
nonprofit groups ought to have to comply with a new law that requires officials
of companies doing business with the state to file forms that disclose their
political donations.
The Election Law Enforcement Commission, which believes the law does apply to
for-profit and nonprofits alike, has nevertheless granted two extensions to
nonprofit groups. The most recent, on Thursday, delayed the filing date
until Jan. 15.
ELEC has granted the extensions because Democrats have said they plan to amend
the law to pointedly exclude nonprofit organizations from the requirements.
They apparently fear the new rules will discourage would-be do-gooders from
serving on nonprofit boards.
There may be some merit to their concerns; nevertheless, those concerns ought to
be overridden by the purpose of the legislation, which is intended to curtail
the practice of pay to play by publicizing how much entities with state
contracts give to political candidates.
It is true that many nonprofits with state contracts are doing work no one else
wants to do; still, it ought not to be assumed that their nonprofit status makes
them impervious either to receiving or applying political pressure.
The imperfect attempts to clean up campaign donations at the federal level have
shown repeatedly that exceptions breed perversions to the law: consider
all the "nonprofits" that have simply become fronts for nasty political
advertising campaigns. The purpose of New Jersey's new law is clear and
admirable.
Right-thinking people who want to serve on boards can certainly understand both
the law's merit and its necessity, and they ought to be happy to comply with it.
No exceptions should be made.
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