LTE: LEC Was Local Example of Skirting IRS Rules

Editor's Note: Sally Mann, who is mentioned in this opinion piece, told Patch that while she held a fundraiser for the Loudoun Environmental Council and appeared on its web site as vice president, that she is not affiliated with the group and declined the group's nomination.

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If Tea Party groups across the country are like Northern Virginia groups, the IRS is right to demand they demonstrate they promote social welfare.  While the IRS guidelines don’t prohibit the publication of known falsehoods, they do prohibit campaigning on behalf or in opposition of candidates.

In this regard, known falsehoods can be used to demonstrate coordination among campaigns. For example, in the spring of 2011, when the campaign to elect the current all-Republican Board of Supervisors, Sally Mann, then vice president of the fraudulent Loudoun Environmental Council (LEC) addressed the Tea Party affiliated Loudoun Taxpayers for Accountable Government (http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13554406) and stated that the Chesapeake Bay Protection Ordinance would prohibit the construction of swing sets and that “in a resource protection area you couldn’t even plant flowers.” These same falsehoods were repeated by Supervisor Delgaudio’s campaign and by the national group run by Delgaudio’s former aide, Western Traditions Partnership, which deluged citizens of the West with negative phone calls opposing candidates Jim Burton and Malcolm Baldwin.

LEC no longer exists, however the social welfare issue of clean drinking water and clean streams does. It only goes to prove that these “low taxes, small government” groups are political in nature and do not promote social welfare.

Jonathan Weintraub