|
|
May 7, 2004/Iyar 16 5764, Vol. 56, No. 33
Campaign rules concern Jewish groups
RON KAMPEAS
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
WASHINGTON - A U.S. government bid to make clearer who supports and who opposes a political candidate could complicate the work of Jewish advocacy groups.
A wide range of national Jewish organizations - led by the Reform movement and the National Council of Jewish Women - have joined hundreds of other groups in protesting rule changes to campaign finance law that could go in effect May 13.
That's the deadline for comment on the rule changes, introduced March 11 by the Federal Election Commission, that would expand the definition of a political committee. Any group affected by the change would have to subject its fund raising to severely restrictive tax laws.
Of central concern to Jewish groups is language that would redefine as a political com-mittee any organization that spends money on material that "promotes, supports, attacks or opposes any clearly defined candidate for federal office."
"How could a religious organization advocate, on either side, on an issue of profound moral significance without addressing the appropriate legislation's sponsors and opponents, who are so often candidates for federal office?" Rabbi David Saperstein, the director of the Reform movement's Religious Action Center, asked in testimony last month before the FEC.
Another concern is a change that would allow groups that encourage voter registration to maintain non-political status only if "information concerning likely party or candidate preference has not been used to determine which in-dividuals to encourage to register to vote."
Most synagogue congre-gations are known to favor one party or the other, Saperstein said.
"Fully aware of these 'likely' voting preferences, religious groups could be deterred from registering even their own congregations to vote," he testified.
|
|
