Loading ...
There are plenty of things that irk me about PennFuture’s shameless whining over having been called on the carpet by the Commonwealth Foundation concerning their questionable reporting of lobbying activities on their tax returns as a tax exempt organization. If you haven’t been following this there is plenty of information available on the Commonwealth Foundation’s Web site but there is also an article in the Patriot News that provides an overview of this “dispute” about lobbying versus education.
Anyone not familiar with these two organizations can easily see how the two of them might butt heads from time to time just by looking at the mission statements.
The Commonwealth Foundation is an independent, non-profit research and educational institute that develops and advances public policies based on the nation’s founding principles of limited government, economic freedom, and personal responsibility.
PennFuture works to create a just future where nature, communities and the economy thrive. We enforce environmental laws and advocate for the transformation of public policy, public opinion and the marketplace to restore and protect the environment and safeguard public health. PennFuture advances effective solutions for the problems of pollution, sprawl and global warming; mobilizes citizens; crafts compelling communications; and provides excellent legal services and policy analysis.
Pretty straight forward; Commonwealth Foundation is looking out for your constitutional rights to liberty, property rights, and choices made in free markets. PennFuture is working to see how much more of your rights can be handed over to the government until you have virtually nothing left to say about.
Note: In addition to being a rambling, cover the entire enviro-eco-progressive agenda waterfront type mission statement it is highly unlikely that PennFuture has any authority to enforce environmental laws. That is unless performing a citizen’s arrest in the name of the Nanny state and all that is clean and pure constitutes legal authority.
Back to the Patriot News article for a moment; it’s a pretty good article even though there are some quotes from some people that should have been left on the cutting floor. This one below falls into the “how stupid do they think we are?” category.
Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, is a fan of PennFuture’s work. Vitali, an attorney, points out that the Pennsylvania Bar Association has recognized the educational value of PennFuture’s work by awarding continuing legal education credits for attending PennFuture events.
“So you have an outside entity … certifying what they do is educational in nature,” he said.
Are we supposed to buy what this politician is selling because he is an attorney and mentions continuing legal education credits and the PA Bar Association in the same sentence with PennFuture? CLE credits are whatever the PA Bar Association says they are. The only thing they are certifying is that the content that is supposed to be presented at a particular “event” is acceptable in terms of CLE credit. That does not say anything about any other activities that the company or organization presenting the material may be engaged in. What in the name of little green jobs does the fact that the PA Bar Association allows continuing legal education credits for attending an event have to do with PennFuture’s sloppiness, negligence, and/or intent to mislead when reporting ‘lobbying” activities?
The Commonwealth Foundation does not appear to be questioning PennFuture’s claim that they provide information and conduct events that could be considered educational. What they are questioning is what PennFuture is reporting as lobbying activities and whether or not PennFuture is in compliance with tax exempt status criteria due to the amount and nature of those lobbying activities. Everything about what PennFuture did and did not report to the IRS, their ownership of 30% of a company that stands to benefit from their lobbying activities and their major sources of funding fails to pass the smell test.
It’s bad enough that PennFuture advocates for taxes and regulations to promote the use of “renewable” energy technologies that (1) in many cases have no hope of survival without government subsidies, (2) require far greater input of energy consuming materials to construct them than other “clean” energy technologies that can actually compete in a free market, (3) require unrealistically large “footprints” to produce the equivalent of what other proven clean energy technologies can produce, and (4) are a blight on the landscape that will create junk piles that someone (taxpayers) will have to pay to clean up in the future. There is more about this in the American Energy Renaissance post.
If PennFuture’s idea of subsidy sucking renewable energy science fair projects is the future, the only thing that will keep the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from sinking below 50th in the Rich States, Poor States (state economic competitiveness index) rankings is that there are only 50 states. Pennsylvania’s economic performance rank for 2010 is 46 out of 50 and the economic outlook rank for 2010 is 43 out of 50. PennFuture’s lobbying efforts to tax the Marcellus Shale golden goose and strangle it with unnecessary and costly regulations that would suit their agenda will go a long way towards securing the 50 out of 50 states economic competitiveness ranking that PennFuture must surely covet.
Print This Post
Email This Post
