Sooooooo, you might recall that back in January Sandra Rowcliffe, then-president of the Knox County Council PTA, sent an email to members, warning about the use of tax-exempt non-profit organizations for political purposes.
She noted:
“PTA is a non-commercial, non-sectarian and non-partisan organization. Because PTAs are 501(c)3 tax-exempt organizations, the IRS rules regulating some types of legislative activities of non-profit organizations must be followed.”
She also advised principals that “if your parent group is a PTO as opposed to a PTA that you inform them as well if they are, in fact, a 501(c)3.”
“Certain political activities are absolutely prohibited: supporting or opposing political parties or candidates for federal, state, or local public office…”Well, on Saturday an email started making the rounds, and it was forwarded to a number of reporters. It was initially sent Oct. 10 by West High School PTSO co-secretary Carolyn Rezler.
You can read it RIGHT SMACK HERE.
Anyhoo, as I noted, a number of us received this Saturday evening. Looks like Betty Bean over at the Knoxville Shopper beat everyone to the punch. Find her story RIGHT SMACK HERE.
Essentially, the email - written by a member of non-profit PTSO - is asking members to support a certain opponent in the 2nd District BOE race.
Um, folks, I'm not sure if you should be doing this. It appears to be a political email (soliciting political support) and these are the types of things that jeopardize non-profit status.
As Betty noted, the county law office is now looking into it.
By the way, here's another note that made the rounds. It's a document that talks about what PTAs (and by extension, PTSOs) may and may not do.
Find that one RIGHT SMACK HERE.
It may provide a glimpse into what the law department will say.
In the meantime, the three 2nd District candidates - Charlotte Dorsey, Jamie Rowe and Tracey Sanger - will participate in a forum beginning at 6 tonight at the Christenberry Community Center on Oglewood Avenue.
Go out, show your support, vote for whoever you want to. Try not to violate election laws.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteIt's only fair to Carolyn to point out that she didn't write the e-mail, David Schmid did. It was forwarded during a time when she was catching up on e-mail correspondence for the various volunteer work she does and , frankly, wasn't proofed before it was forwarded. She has owned up to the mistake. It is also only fair to point out that as of 5:30 pm on Oct. 13, 2014, no one from the press had personally contacted her for her side of the story. We all make mistakes and she owns this one. It is not a nefarious plot. It was simply a busy volunteer who made a careless error while trying to knock out a "to do " list on her lunch break.
We all make mistakes. Even I made one once. Also, I would point out that at quick glance, it would appear the e-mail is a follow-up to PTSO business from a previous meeting. This doesn't change the fact that a mistake was made, but it was just a mistake made in haste.
Sincerely,
Bob Fischer