The Chronicle, 11/10/2004: 13 Nonprofit Groups Sue Government Over Federal Charity Drive

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From the issue dated November 10, 2004

13 Nonprofit Groups Sue Government Over Federal Charity Drive

By Brad Wolverton

Thirteen nonprofit organizations -- including the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, and the Natural Resources Defense Council -- sued the federal government today in an attempt to block a controversial new regulation governing solicitations of government workers.

The rule requires groups participating in the Combined Federal Campaign, the federal government's annual charity drive, to certify that they do not knowingly employ people or give money to groups whose names appear on several terrorist watch lists -- a requirement that has caused several organizations to withdraw from the charity drive in the past few months.

The lawsuit by the 13 groups, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, charges that the certification requirement is prohibited by federal statute and is unconstitutional. Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the civil-liberties union, said that the government rule threatens to impede the work of the more than 10,000 nonprofit organizations that participate in the federal drive, which last year raised about $250-million.

"We act today on behalf of nonprofit organizations across the country that refuse to be subjected to vague government requirements, especially misguided policies that ask us to become law-enforcement officers for the federal government," Mr. Romero said. "Forcing charities to check their employees' names against a watch list will not make Americans any safer. The CFC policy threatens to disrupt a crucial network of charities that are dedicated to promoting and protecting American lives and values."

The lawsuit, which comes as the government's fall charity drive is in full swing, is the latest action by the civil-liberties group to draw attention to the increasing requirements being asked of nonprofit groups to protect themselves from associating with terrorist groups. Last month, the organization turned down $1.15-million in grants from the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations rather than accept antiterrorism clauses in the institutions' grant agreements.

Making Changes

At issue is whether the government overstepped its authority by imposing new rules on nonprofit groups without first seeking public comments through the Federal Register -- and whether the government had the right to make any changes to its charity drive.

The civil-liberties union and other groups in the lawsuit argue that the government should be required to rescind the new rule because of a legislative change Congress approved in 1987 preventing the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the Combined Federal Campaign for 4 million federal workers, from changing the eligibility requirements of the campaign. Congress took action in 1987 to restrict changes in the Combined Federal Campaign after the Supreme Court upheld President Ronald Reagan's effort to exclude certain political, advocacy, and legal-defense groups from the charity drive.

The 13 nonprofit groups that sued the government also question whether the government has the authority to require charities to check the names of their employees and groups with whom they work against watch lists that they say are filled with potential errors and confusion. Nonprofit groups must check 14 lists that include more than 6,000 names of people with alleged connections to terror groups, Mr. Romero said. Many nonprofit officials object to the government's use of such lists because they say the lists include some people who have not been charged with a crime or given a chance to appeal the allegations.

Kathleen M. Guinane, general counsel at OMB Watch, a government watchdog group that is part of the lawsuit, said that the federal government, rather than charities, should investigate terrorist organizations and plots, and that the certification requirement sets a dangerous precedent.

"What's next?" Ms. Guinane said, "checking our membership lists, our client lists, our donors?"

The Office of Personnel Management, the government's human-resources agency, referred questions about the lawsuit to the Department of Justice. A representative there, Charles Miller, said the Justice Department needs to review the lawsuit before deciding how it will respond in court.

In August, the Office of Personnel Management told The Chronicle that organizations that falsely certify that they have complied with the rule could be removed from the campaign. It also said that it expects nonprofit organizations to completely and honestly fill out their campaign applications, but that it has no way to determine if groups do so.

Charities already have to meet numerous other requirements to participate in the campaign. For example, they must certify that they do not spend more than 25 percent of their income on administrative expenses and that they have received an annual independent audit by a certified public accountant within the past year.

The remaining groups that sued the Office of Personnel Management and Mara T. Patermaster, the director of the Combined Federal Campaign, include the Advocacy Institute, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, Electronic Frontier Foundation, NAACP Special Contribution Fund, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Our Bodies Ourselves, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.

To view a copy of the lawsuit, go to http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=16984&c=206.

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