UPDATED: FOTAZ President David Lind Reacts
FOTAZ Members: Was FOTAZ Mailing List Also Released for Political Purposes?
12:10PM: I just spoke with FOTAZ President David Lind concerning allegations that the FOTAZ mailing list was accessed for a campaign mail-out. Lind, a Roy supporter, states that FOTAZ determined several months ago to not get involved in the upcoming mayor’s race and that no one has ever approached him about using their list.
“If our mailing list was accessed and used, then I am very unhappy about it,” he said. “If it was used at all, it was used improperly.”
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Once again, according to my sources, the mailing list of a non-profit, city-wide organization may have been released for political purposes. Several members of FOTAZ (or Friends of the Alexandria Zoo) have reported that they recently received a mail-out from Delores Brewer’s mayoral campaign. The mail-out apparently addresses Brewer’s work with the Alexandria Zoo.
It is important to note that non-profit organizations are barred from engaging in political campaigning. Read about this on the Internal Revenue Service’s website.
One FOTAZ member put it this way, “I didn’t realize that when I or any of my family members signed up for any city activities or programs such as the soccer association or the zoo that we were giving permission for our names/addresses to be released to Brewer.”
FOTAZ describes itself:
Friends of the Alexandria Zoo is a non-profit organization dedicated to the continuing improvement of the Alexandria Zoological Park, humane, aesthetically tasteful and education exhibits; addition of new animals to encourage conservation of valuable wildlife; and promotion of cultural and educational services for the community and its schools and to encourage economic development.
CenLamar 
If members of FOTAZ received campaign letters from Brewer as a result of the mailing list being given to her, that would be problematic. Particularly if it’s a 501(C)3. The IRS could interpret that as an endorsement by the organization…plus, campaigning for a particular candidate is prohibited anyway. For example, it would be allowed to have both candidates come to a FOTAZ meeting, but not to do anything for one and not the other–including a letter. If I were the leadership, I’d hurry up and mail out a disclaimer.
Speaking of illegalities, did FOTAZ give you permission to use their logo on your obviously partisan political blog?
Wonder if that would also put their tax exempt status in jeopardy.
Isn’t this the logo for the Alexandria Zoo?
And isn’t the Alexandria Zoo owned by taxpayers?
Give me a break. You people amaze me. Brewer uses the mailing lists of non-profits, and your only response is to attack Lamar– and accuse him of being guilty of the very thing Brewer is.
Very lame.
Although it’s despicable for anyone to use the private information of a non-profit to aid any candidate, regardless of party affiliation, I think it’s dangerous for us to assume too much so soon after these allegations have come to light. There still may be a legitimate explanation for what seems to be the misuse of mailing lists.
I feel that if this is the work of a “well-intentioned” insider, and not the deliberate actions of the leaders of these groups, we may want to cut them a little slack. Crossroads has already clarified its policies to make certain this kind of thing can’t happen (again perhaps, and seems to be an admission of wrongdoing or negligence in the least). I do not know if the regulations of the IRS recognize a difference between condoned actions and backdoor leaks.
I believe that a statement should be sent to these organizations, but I do not feel we as a community should go so far as revoking them of their tax-exempt status. These groups operate on fairly tight budgets as it is, and they do provide tangible benefits to our community. I also don’t believe that this campaign strategy, or its blowback, will prove to be a deciding factor in either direction as to the result of next week’s election.
We should not cut off our nose to spite our face.
Wow sounds like a job for some invesigative reporters to dig into this. Quick, call a City that has some and ask if we could borrow one.
Hey Daniel,
Good to hear from you.
I think you’re absolutely right. We shouldn’t jump the gun on this one, and I seriously doubt that anyone is advocating revoking the non-profit status of these fine organizations. Furthermore, I also doubt that anyone in an official leadership role is behind the dissemination of this information.
Still, we should all be aware when this occurs. I don’t see this as a partisan issue– nor do I understand how anyone could interpret the reporting of this information as such.
I can understand an overzealous campaign volunteer providing a mailing list. I don’t like it, but it’s certainly understandable. What bothers me about the situation is that DB, the politician, should know the rules of the game. It’s her responsibility to know what’s being sent out/broadcast/distributed with her name on it, and what the implications are. This is just another example of bad bad judgement. Alexandria must capitalize on every opportunity it has in order to reach it’s potential. Can we really trust her to be a good steward of our city? Ask yourself if it’s worth having DB in office and sacrificing the future of Cenla in order to avoid voting for a Democrat? Do the right thing…
from Cenla Antics:
5 Star hoax said…
So, I guess the Bentley deal must be just about to close. Yep, they got all them little details like price and financing and ownership and incentives hammered out and they are just about to put the old pen to the paper. I am expecting a press conference from the sacred trinity, Myron, Martin & Harry, any minute. I hope there is not some sort of holdup? They say it is very difficult to combine hotel revival and misquito abatement. Let’s not forget their promise.
Thursday, November 02, 2006 3:12:14 PM
I would like to know what Les and Leanne Whitt have to say about this ordeal. Has anyone questioned them? I find it hard to believe that they wouldn’t know anything about this especially considering they aren’t very smart people…. What was up with the last minute changes to the Zoo day?? I thought owners and such of a zoo were supposed to actually care about animals and not change such an event for people to go “squirel hunting” or even support such a “sport”. Geez…… Oh wait this is Alexandria.
7:07 P.M. –
Your post is unfair to the Whitts. They don’t run FOTAZ and they don’t “own” the Zoo. They do, however, care deeply about their mission to provide excellent care for the animals and to educate the public about them and the conservation of their habitats. I don’t know about the scheduling change for Zoo Boo, but it could be they had a gap in volunteers available due to the hunting season. It takes a lot of volunteers to run the big public events, and I do know people who put a high priority on killing those cute little tree rats.