lurches
By SUSAN HOLDSCLAW
Staff Writer
Faced with "vague" IRS tax codes,
prominent church lawyers advise tax
exempt religious organizations to
follow strict guidelines when sur
rounded by the political hoopla of
this election year.
Oliver Thomas, general counsel for
the Baptist Joint Committee on
Public Affairs, said churches must
walk a fine line when it comes to
politics because they could lose their
tax-exempt status. "Churches should
feel free to address the issues and have
a responsibility ethically and reli
giously to do that," he said. "But they
should stay away from particular
candidates and parties."
Designed to prevent tax-exempt
funds from promoting political views,
section 501.C3 of the IRS tax code
prohibits churches and other religious
organizations from engaging in
Speaker addresses health care
difficulties in Central America
By LAURA DOVE
Staff Writer
Providing health care in El
Salvador is at best a risky business
and at worst a process hampered
at every turn by the Salvadoran
military, said Dr. Mauricio Pena
in a speech Wednesday.
Pena, who is on a lecture tour
sponsored by the International
Health Forum to educate citizens
of the United States to the realities
of El Salvador, spoke at the School
of Public Health to about 45
people.
Suzy Prenger, the director of the
Salvadoran Medical Relief Fund,
introduced Pena and translated his
speech, which was delivered in
Spanish.
"I am struck by the difficulty that
(Salvadoran) health professionals
have in providing the most basic
of care," Prenger said in her
introduction.
Health workers are often
assumed to be supporters of the
Salvadoran opposition and are
frequently questioned and searched
by the military, she said.
While health care in San Salva
dor, the nation's capital, is usually
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partisan political activity.
But Deirdre Halloran, a former
IRS attorney who now works for the
U,S. Catholic Conference, said the
code's vagueness "scares people off
and they don't want to do anything."
"IRS guidance in this area doesn't
go very far," she said.
Thomas and Halloran stressed the
church's role in voter education
telling members what the issues are
and how the candidates stand on
them. But the distribution of any
political information must be com
pletely unbiased, they said.
Their advice to avoid jeopardizing
the tax-exempt status of churches
includes:
B Don't endorse any political
candidate. Churches can sponsor
political debates on church property
as long as all the candidates for a
particular office are invited to
participate.
available, the situation in the rural
communities of El Salvador is dire,
said Pena.
Pena is a member of COPRO
SAL, the International Committee
of Salvadoran Health Profession
als, which tries to 'educate rural
citizens to provide the rudiments
of health care in their own
communities.
COPROSAL provides educa
tional resources on a variety of
levels, from a "health promoter,"
who is often illiterate but can
identify common illnesses and
knows basic first aid, to trained
nurses and surgical assistants, Pena
said.
COPROSAL also organizes
mobile medicine supply vehicles
and community clinics.
One of the group's main goals
is to secure "the open and free right
of a person to seek and receive
medical care," but that "this right
has not been respected" and is
usually actively sabotaged by the
government of El Salvador, he
said.
Medical clinics are frequently
designated as "military objectives,"
and the destruction of a hospital
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D Don't provide financial assist
ance to any candidate.
B Don't display or distribute par
tisan campaign literature. Churches
can publish information about can
didates, but the material must be
stated fairly and include a wide range
of issues. "You run into problems
with voting records if they are
narrowly targeted to specific issues,"
Thomas said. He said the best way
to publish information about candi
dates is through an unbiased
questionnaire.
B Don't publish partisan political
advertisements. If a church decides
to accept political advertisements for
its newsletter or newspaper, it must
accept them from all candidates.
B Don't establish or support a
political action committee.
B Don't provide mailing lists only
to certain candidates. If a church
gives its membership list to one
or medical facility is treated as a
victory by the government, he said.
Members of the audience had
also worked in El Salvador.
"Medical people are being
attacked by both sides," and not
merely by the government, said
Major Everett Langford, who
recently returned from El Salvador
where he saw an installation bear
ing the Red Cross symbol attacked
by guerrilla forces.
Langford also stressed the good
intentions of the U.S. military in
El Salvador, saying "We have one
purpose: to help the people. We
were told to be totally apolitical."
A Salvadoran citizen in the
audience said, "After three billion
dollars spent on bullets and bombs
and weapons, we still do not have
peace, and that is the issue."
Although he gave a-dong list of
health problems in El Salvador,
including malaria, intestinal para
sites, and extremely primitive
sanitation, Pena said there is hope,
because El Salvadorans are not as
passive about their health as they
once were and are trying to take
care of themselves.
data
systems
THE QUALITY GOES IN BEFORE THE NAME GOES ON'
a flat
candidate, it must give it to all
candidates for that office.
Despite these restrictions, Thomas
said the IRS was hesitant to prosecute
churches who violate them because
of the political fallout and the
constitutional questions raised by the
investigation.
Halloran added that because the
IRS did not monitor churches'
political activity, it could only find
out if a church was violating the code
through a complaint or a news story.
Sandra Harris, a public affairs
officer for the IRS in Greensboro,
said the IRS did not send "spies" to
churches to check their compliance
with the code, but relied on the public
to bring the matter to its attention.
"If we have something like that, we
do check it out."
Thomas said no church has ever
lost its tax-exempt status for speaking
out on candidates.
Campaign regulations restrict
visibility, judicial candidates say
By KARI BARLOW
Staff Writer
Although the N.C. Court of
Appeals candidates are gearing up for
the last month of their campaigns,
their efforts are unfamiliar to many
voters because of the strict campaign
ing restrictions the candidates must
follow.
The court, composed of 12 judges,
has two seats up for election that have
unexpired terms and will end in 1992.
The seats are up for election now
because the incumbents were
appointed by the governor.
Judge Robert Orr, the incumbent
Republican, is campaigning against
Democratic Judge John Friday, who
serves now as an emergency Superior
Court Judge.
Republican Judge Donald Smith
is running to retain his seat against
Democrat John Lewis Jr.
Judicial candidates are strictly
restricted by state campaign codes.
"There are no issues, because there
is a code of judicial conduct which
will not allow judges to debate or
discuss issues," said Hubert Whi
taker, Orr's campaign manager.
"They are judges and will have to
oversee issues that they might be
involved in during the campaign."
Media ads are allowed but are only
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However, Halloran noted that the
Supreme Court upheld a ruling in
1972 that one religious organization,
Christian Echoes National Ministry,
should have its tax-exempt status
revoked under the IRS code for
participating in a political campaign.
The Supreme Court has yet to rule
on similar cases specifically involving
churches.
Other than filing differences, the
IRS makes no distinction between
churches and religious organizations
when it comes to participation in
political campaigns. "Political activ
ity restrictions x apply across-the-board,"
Halloran said.
Until 1987, any church that vio
lated the restrictions could only lose
its tax-exempt status, she said. But
the Revenue Act of 1987 also places
a tax on the political expenditures,
the organization and the managing
officials.
used to state qualifications and
credibility, Whitaker said.
"I'm not saying this is the best way
to get judges or the only way," Friday
said. "It is the only way to elect judges
under our (state) constitution. It is
probably good for candidates to get
out and meet people."
But some of the candidates said the
guidelines are a hindrance to their
campaigns. , .
"It's very difficult because we can't
really have a platform," Smith said.
"I think the system ought to be
changed. Any judge cannot by the
very nature of his or her job let
politics enter into his job."
Smith said the political system of
judicial elections prevents many
attorneys from winning office since
they are Republicans and the major
ity of the state's voters are registered
Democrats. Smith was appointed to
the Court of Appeals by Gov. Jim
Martin in January.
The candidates all said they are
running campaigns at a personal level
with little advertising.
"It's a low-key, low-visibility
campaign. I'd say it was an uphill
battle," Whitaker said. "We started
campaigning in February. I think
Judge Orr has a strategy. He is going
day and night."
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Bill Hoyle, associate minister of
Binkley Memorial Baptist Church,
said the only way his church had been
involved in the recent political
campaigns was through an elective
Sunday School class "Christian
Citizenship in Politics." Hoyle said
the class studied Biblical themes, such
as peace and justice, in relation to
today's politics.
"We do not distribute any literature
endorsing any candidates," he said
"We try to speak out loudly and
strongly on issues we feel our faith
addresses directly, but- we won t
endorse or work for one candidate
because they agree with us."
Aside from the legal problems
churches can incur by partisan
political support, Thomas also ques
tioned the ethical considerations. "It's
very difficult and rare to be able to
identify one person as 'God's
candidate.' " ' .
Orr was also appointed to the;
Court of Appeals by Martin two
years ago. Whitaker said his cam
paign has included fund-raisers and:
visits to almost every county in North
Carolina. They may also run televi-i
sion and radio ads if the campaign:
has enough money, he said. .
"I think he has a very strong
bipartisan support throughout the:
state,T said Whitaker.
"IVe been going to state convent
tions, political fund-raisers, political,
meetings. I'm going to continue doing!
the same thing IVe been doing,"",
Smith said, adding that he cannot
afford television and radio advertis-l
ing at this point. ;
"I'm making a sincere effort to;
reach voters. We have to be very;
careful about raising money (accord-;
ing to the guidelines). I had only one;
fund-raiser during the primary,"
Friday said. ;
Lewis could not be reached for
comment.
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