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Tag: violation
Detroit Violating Human Rights By Closing Water Taps: U.N.

Detroit Violating Human Rights By Closing Water Taps: U.N.

Geneva (AFP) – U.N. rights experts on Wednesday slammed struggling U.S. city Detroit for violating the basic human rights of its citizens by disconnecting thousands of people from water services over unpaid bills.

Cash-strapped Detroit, which last July became the largest U.S. city to ever file for bankruptcy protection, has recently begun disconnecting water services on a large scale, for all households that have not paid bills for two months, the three experts said in a statement.

The birthplace of the U.S. auto industry has accelerated the process since early June, with around 3,000 customers cut off each week, and some 30,000 households expected to be disconnected from water services over the next few months, they said.

“Disconnection of water services because of failure to pay due to lack of means constitutes a violation of the human right to water and other international human rights,” they insisted.

“The households which suffered unjustified disconnections must be immediately reconnected,” they said.

While disconnecting people who are able to pay but choose not to can be justified, the experts stressed that in a city like Detroit, with its sky-high poverty and unemployment rate, the relatively expensive cost of water is simply unaffordable for a significant portion of the population.

“When there is genuine inability to pay, human rights simply forbids disconnections,” said Catarina de Albuquerque, an expert on the right to water and sanitation.

She said she had previously called on the U.S. government to adopt federal minimum standards on the affordability for water and sanitation, and urged Washington to take action to help protect families living in poverty against disconnections.

Leilani Farha, the expert on the right to adequate housing, meanwhile cautioned that disconnections were having devastating consequences, with social services removing children from their homes after the water was cut off since their housing situation was no longer considered adequate.

And “if these water disconnections disproportionately affect African Americans they may be discriminatory, in violation of treaties the United States has ratified,” she warned.

©afp.com / Bill Pugliano

Dark-Money Political Groups Are Probably Violating Tax Laws

The world of dark-money politics may soon get a little brighter, if the IRS agrees to investigate a number of nonprofit political groups associated with political action committees and Super PACs.

The groups that are almost certainly violating tax law are nonprofits known as 501(c)(4) groups, after the section of the tax code that governs their behavior. They are very similar to 501(c)(3) groups, which are typical nonprofit charities, with one important difference: while 501(c)(3) groups are legally prohibited from interfering in politics, 501(c)(4) groups are allowed to make political contributions as long as it’s not their “principle purpose.”

501(c)(4) organizations are officially considered “social welfare organizations,” not political organizations, but that hasn’t stopped many 501(c)(4)s from engaging in politics. In fact, many 501(c)(4)s exist only to funnel money to Super PACs that run political advertisements supporting or opposing political candidates and policies. They’re like shell corporations, only they’re nonprofits that can accept tax-deductible donations. And unlike a Super PAC, which can accept unlimited corporate donations but must publicly disclose its donors to the Federal Elections Commission, a 501(c)(4) — since it’s not considered a primarily political organization — never has to register with the Federal Elections Commission or disclose the names of the individuals and corporations that fund it.

Unsurprisingly, many political operatives have seen the value in being able to accept unlimited corporate donations without telling the public, and many 501(c)(4)s have been set up to shield the identities of donors to Super PACs. For instance, Karl Rove’s Super PAC, American Crossroads, is associated with the 501(c)(4) group Crossroads GPS, and Priorities USA Action, a Super PAC focused on Barack Obama’s re-election, is associated with the 501(c)(4) group Priorities USA.

It seems these 501(c)(4) groups are breaking the law, since their primary purpose is to interfere in politics, and they could conceivably be prosecuted by the IRS. Last week, campaign finance watchdogs Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center sent a letter to the IRS urging them to investigate these 501(c)(4) groups and others like them. Last October, Sen. Dick Durbin sent a similar letter to the IRS, and in April, longtime campaign finance advocate and former Sen. Russ Feingold called the creation of Priorities Action USA akin to “playing with fire.”

Recently, satirist Stephen Colbert mocked the close ties between political groups like Super PACS and supposedly non-political 501(c)(4) organizations. In a segment on his show (which can be viewed below), Colbert sets up a 501(c)(4) named SHHH! to funnel money to his SuperPAC, Americans For A Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow. His lawyer, Trevor Potter, reminds him that, legally, his 501(c)(4) organization’s “principle purpose for spending its money” cannot be politics. “No, my principle purpose is an educational entity,” Colbert replies, “I want to educate the public that gay people cause earthquakes.”

He later seems shocked that what he has just done is legal. He asks, “I can take secret donations from my [501](c)(4) and give it to my supposedly transparent Super PAC…what is the difference between that and money laundering?” Potter can only reply that “it’s hard to say.” Unfortunately for many political 501(c)(4)s, the IRS may soon come to the same conclusion.