LOS ANGELES—The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) has petitioned the Attorney General of the State of California to conduct an audit of the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) to determine if the organization’s non-profit status should be revoked.
FSC representatives charge that over the past four years, AHF appears to have willfully and repeatedly violated multiple laws and regulations related to political spending by a non-profit, as well as grossly underreported political expenditures to the IRS.
“Many people have wondered how a non-profit like AHF could spend so much money in politics, given the strict limitations placed on non-profit political activity by the IRS and the State of California,” FSC board chair Jeffrey Douglas said. “The answer appears to be: by underreporting campaign expenditures on tax forms, even while filing much higher numbers on state lobbying disclosure forms. A non-profit organization should not be able to abuse the status granted to it by the state of California. Actions like these not only distort the political process, they starve in-need communities of critical services so that checks can be written to lobbyists.”
Among the FSC's findings are that:
• In 2012, AHF reported to LA County $2.3 million in political contributions in support of Measure B. However, AHF’s tax filings report only $1.6 million in total campaign expenses. That same year AHF also paid $100,000 to a lobbyist in Sacramento, and $200,000 to a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. bringing their annual total to $2.6 million—$1 million more than they reported to the IRS and the California Attorney General.
• AHF’s total political and lobbying expenditures in the past four years is nearly $7 million—$1 million higher than the threshold for revocation of tax-exempt status.
In addition to the Attorney General, the FSC's letter and documents have been sent to the board members of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
Documents and statements can be downloaded at politicalnonprofit.com.
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