Foolproof Campaign Finance Violations, Part 2

I just spoke with Marilyn Raichle, Executive Director of Foolproof Performing Arts, which, as I reported yesterday, appears to be in violation of federal campaign finance and tax rules.

Raichle defended her Michael Moore "get out the vote" rally by saying that the voter registration component is non-partisan. But she also admitted that Michael Moore would probably encourage people to vote against the President. She declined to state what Moore's honorarium was, but claimed that his fee was not subsidized. She also claimed she was "talking with" Michael Medved and Ron Reagan about having them appear at Foolproof at some indefinite time in the future. "Talking with" Michael Medved is not the same as presenting a balanced program of events before the election. And Ron Reagan doesn't exactly provide balance to a Democratic line-up.

Here is what the Seattle Weakly had to say about Marilyn Raichle and Foolproof just last month:

This year, she is focusing on November’s election, using her series as a soapbox to get people involved in the political process. When people accuse her of preaching to the choir, she responds proudly, “C’mon, let’s get the choir cracking!”

The Stranger wrote:

"As the political climate became more harrowing, I was having more and more trouble finding things that made me want to laugh," says Marilyn Raichle. This is not merely an existential dilemma for Raichle; she's the executive director of Foolproof Performing Arts, an arts group that presents a wide range of comedy--from Sinbad to David Sedaris--on various Seattle stages. "So this last fall, I thought, 'I'm just going to present the people I want to hear'"--all of whom were politically left-of-center speakers, not comedians, from documentarian Michael Moore to satirist Al Franken.

Raichle is also mentioned on the weblog of "No Vote Left Behind", which describes itself as "a hard money PAC that reports to the Federal Election Commission ...our goal: removing George W. Bush from office". NVLB says:

We here at No Vote Left Behind have been very fortunate to enjoy a high level of support from our community at large and other activist groups in particular. One of those supporters, Marilyn Raichle of Foolproof, is organizing a symposium on Humor and Politics ...

It's looks pretty clear to me that Ms. Raichle is abusing Foolproof's non-profit status to engage in prohibited political campaign activity. Of course she is entitled to produce whatever political events she wants to. I just think that she and her patrons should comply with the same campaign finance and tax laws that the rest of us have to comply with.

I registered a complaint about Foolproof to the IRS Tax Fraud Hotline. I am preparing a letter of complaint to the FEC.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at September 27, 2004 11:26 AM