Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2000 | 11:09 a.m.
The Internal Revenue Service is looking into an advertisement from the campaign of Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Ensign to determine whether it violates the federal tax-exempt status of a charitable breast cancer group.
Ensign helped create the Breast Cancer Coalition of Nevada Inc. in 1997 and has used the group to show that he is sympathetic toward women's issues.
Federally tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations are not permitted to endorse political candidates. But coalition president Gail Allen of Henderson said her appearance in the television ad represented her personal views and was not an endorsement from the organization.
"It is not the coalition that is endorsing John Ensign," Allen said. "I had gone to (former) Congressman Ensign when he was in Washington to lobby for breast cancer research. When the Ensign people called me and asked if I would do the ad, I said that if it's factual I would. What they came up with is that he did help us start the coalition."
Ensign campaign manager Mike Slanker also defended the ad.
"The 501(c)(3) laws don't prohibit citizens from exercising their First Amendment rights," Slanker said. "These commercials happen all the time.
"501(c)(3) groups shouldn't be endorsing politicians, but you can't tell their members what they can and cannot do."
For the past nine years Allen, a breast cancer survivor, has hosted a radio program on cancer called "Lifelines" on station KDWN-AM 720. One of her listeners in 1995 was Ellen Freas, who had formed the Breast Cancer Coalition of New Jersey. Ensign had asked Freas to help form a Nevada coalition. When Freas needed a president, she turned to Allen.
Since incorporating on Aug. 8, 1997, the group has publicized its meetings in the local press but maintained such a low profile there is no telephone listing under the coalition's name.
Allen said the coalition, which gained its federal tax-exempt status earlier this year, consists of 11 board members and has a newsletter committee that includes Ensign's wife, Darlene. In a companion 30-second TV spot that aired about the same time as the Allen ad, the Ensigns discussed their involvement in helping to create the Breast Cancer Coalition of Nevada.
After the coalition formed, Allen made lobbying trips to Washington, D.C., to meet not only with Ensign but with Democratic Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan of Nevada to push for breast cancer screening for uninsured women. Allen also advocated passage of a bill to allow women to keep their insurance if a blood test reveals they have cancer.
"I don't think this is a Democratic or Republican issue," Allen said.
The coalition's biggest fund-raising event so far occurred last year when it helped sponsor the Southwest Cancer Clinic Pink Ribbon Display at the Boulevard Mall. Donors were asked to purchase squares that were part of a 30-foot ribbon crafted on behalf of cancer survivors and victims.
Allen said, however, she did not know why the organization's state nonprofit corporation status was revoked last year. According to the Nevada Secretary of State's office, it was because the group failed to file an updated list of officers.
Her endorsement of Ensign surfaced after his pro-life stand on abortion was attacked by his Democratic pro-choice opponent, Ed Bernstein. The attacks helped narrow Ensign's lead in polls from more than 20 percent to about 10 percent over Bernstein.
Ensign, a former pro-choice advocate, switched to an anti-abortion position more than 10 years ago and has said he would support a pro-life constitutional amendment. He has been particularly outspoken in his opposition to both taxpayer-funded abortions and the controversial partial-birth abortion procedure, which he has termed "gruesome."
The former congressman last month countered Bernstein's attacks with two television ads professing his support of women's issues, particularly his sponsorship in Congress of a bill that provided yearly mammography screenings for female Medicare recipients 65 and over.
One 30-second ad featured Allen with Nevada First Lady Dema Guinn and the following dialog:
Guinn: "I support John Ensign because of his passion for making our schools better, health care more affordable and protecting Social Security."
Allen: "As a breast cancer survivor I know how hard John worked to help us create the Breast Cancer Coalition, get federal funds for our Mammovan, and write the law providing senior women with Medicare coverage for annual mammograms. Don't let Ed Bernstein mislead you."
Guinn: "We are pro-choice and John Ensign is the right choice for Nevada women."
Guinn's last remark drew criticism from the Bernstein camp because one who did not know Ensign might think he was pro-choice rather than pro-life.
But Las Vegas breast cancer survivor Sandy Hogan, a registered Democrat who plans to vote for Bernstein, said she was perturbed by the ad because of the mention of the coalition. Hogan, former legislative chairwoman of the Contra Costa Breast Cancer Partnership in northern California, said she interpreted the ad as an endorsement from the coalition and therefore a violation of the federal tax law.
"Ensign got the organization started so he could claim he cares about women," Hogan said.
In addition to the Allen ad, the Ensign campaign issued a Sept. 12 press release titled, "Nevada Women, With First Lady At Helm, Endorse Ensign." The release referred to Allen as "president of the Nevada Breast Cancer Coalition" and as someone who worked with Ensign in the fight against breast cancer.
"I know that women's issues are very important to John," Allen was quoted as saying. "We first came together because of a mutual friend we lost to breast cancer. Because of his awareness of the power of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, we formed our own coalition here in Nevada. I look forward to working with him in the future."
IRS spokesman Chris Conley in Laguna Niguel, Calif., said the question of whether an organization has violated its tax-exempt status is reviewed by the agency on a case by case basis.
"That's what we'll be doing on this," Conley said.
Penalties can range from a stern warning to loss of the group's tax-exempt status, he said.
"Each political cycle we usually send out notices through the media reminding these organization what they can and cannot do," Conley said.
Allen's organization is one of about 500 groups that are members of the National Breast Cancer Coalition. But national coalition president Fran Visco in Washington, D.C., said her nonprofit organization does not endorse candidates.
"I also would never appear in a campaign ad unless we made a decision to endorse a candidate," Visco said. "That is because there would be a perception that the organization is endorsing the candidate.
"As far as I know, none of our other member organizations endorse candidates so I know of no other case like this."
Slanker equated the Allen ad with Bernstein's televised endorsement in June from Sandy Heverly of Las Vegas, executive director of the federally tax-exempt Stop DUI. But that ad referred to Heverly only as an "anti-drunk driving activist" and did not mention Stop DUI or her affiliation with that group, Heverly said.
"I would absolutely not use the group's name because that would jeopardize its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status," Heverly said. "I've been asked for a number of endorsements, and the first thing I tell them to understand is that I cannot be affiliated with my organization. I had that discussion with Ed Bernstein."
Allen conceded she did not know much about the laws governing federal tax-exempt organizations.
"I don't know if what I did is a fine line," she said of the ad. "I'm not an attorney."
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