Enterprise Freedom Action Committee
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This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation. |
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This article is part of the Center for Media & Democracy's spotlight on front groups and corporate spin. |
The Enterprise Freedom Action Committee (EFAC) is a right-wing organization that has opposed Democrats running for political office,[1] and which is a creation of one of Washington's acknowledged masters of AstroTurf and stealth tactics: lobbyist and front man Richard Berman.[2] Berman's company, Berman & Co., represents the restaurant, alcoholic beverage and tobacco industries. EFAC also operates under the name Committee to Rethink Reform.[3]
EFAC is one of five organizations run by Berman. These five organizations are subject of an IRS complaint that they have violated tax codes that prohibit executives from profiting off the non-profits they run. These five non-profit organizations have paid Berman & Co. $15 million between 2008 and 2010. [4].
Marcus Owens, a former director of the exempt organizations department at the IRS, said in an interview that Berman’s “web of organizations clearly, in my view, is operating for his private benefit and for the private benefit of his clients.” That’s “a clear violation of the requirements for tax-exempt status.” [5].
“This mess of Berman and his empire of non-profits has gone on for too long,” added Frances Hill, a professor of law at the University of Miami and author of “Taxation of Exempt Entities.” Hill told Bloomberg reporters Mark Drajem and Brian Wingfield it “seems like an appalling abuse of tax-exempt status.” [6]
Contents
Berman's Non-Profits
Berman, who reportedly embraces his nickname, Dr. Evil, has set up and maintained numerous astroturf non-profits. Groups that he runs include the Center for Consumer Freedom and the American Beverage Institute [7]. The Center for Consumer Freedom was established with an initial $600,000 from the tobacco company Phillip Morris and advocates on behalf of restaurant chains and food and beverage companies against nutritional critics and government regulations. The American Beverage Institute has fought against drunk-driving checkpoints. Berman's organization have also attacked the Humane Society
A November 1, 2012 article in Bloomberg shows CCF in the following chart of non-profits created by Berman & Co. at the center of an IRS complaint filed in 2012 (used with permission):
Funding, Finances, and Grants
Richard Berman is the President and Executive Director of EFAC, according to its tax filings, and also holds the books for the nonprofit. In 2013 EFAC also paid his PR firm, Berman & Co., $301,689 for management and other fees, while compensating Berman $9,375 for his executive role.
2014:[3]
- Total Revenue: $10,038
- Total Expenses: $152,754
- Net Assets: $148,304
2013:[8]
- Total Revenue: $1,192,527
- Total Expenses: $1,588,518
- Compensation to Richard Berman, President and Executive Director: $9,375
- Payments to Berman & Co. for management, advertising, research, and other fees: $301,689
- Net Assets: $291,020
Grants, 2013:[8]
- Coalition to Preserve Jobs and Our Constitution, Inc. (Trenton, New Jersey): $990,000 (to "support the campaign opposing the minimum wage ballot initiative/constitutional amendment")
Articles & Resources
PRW Articles
- Berman & Co.: "Nonprofit" Hustlers for the Food & Booze Biz
- Rick Berman's For-Profit Non-Profits Under the Microscope
Related SourceWatch Articles
Other Berman Front Groups
- ActivistCash.com
- AFT Facts
- American Beverage Institute
- AnimalScam.com
- Bad Idea California
- Big Green Radicals
- Center for Consumer Freedom
- Center for Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy
- Center for Organizational Research and Education
- Center for Union Facts
- CREW Exposed
- CSPI Scam
- Defeat the Debt
- EmployeeRightsAct.com
- Employment Policies Institute
- Enterprise Freedom Action Committee
- Environmental Policy Alliance
- EPA Facts
- Family Coalition
- First Jobs Institute
- Green Decoys
- Hands Off My Bacon
- Humane Society for Shelter Pets
- HumaneWatch.org
- Interlock Facts
- Interstate Policy Alliance
- LaborPains.org
- LEED Exposed
- Maternity Pens
- MinimumWage.com
- NegligentDriving.com
- No Drink Tax
- ObesityMyths.com
- PCRM Scam
- PETA Kills Animals
- Physician Scam
- Protecting Bad Teachers
- Responsible Limits
- Rethink Reform
- Rotten ACORN
- SEIU Exposed
- Step Up Wyoming
- Sweet Scam
- Teachers Union Exposed
- The New Prohibition
- Tipped Wage
- Unite Here Exposed
- Vote Our Future
- WorkerCenters
External Articles
- Joe Fassler, "Does the Food Lobby Really Care about Freedom of Choice? Fuhgeddaboutit!, OnEarth Blog, November 13, 2012.
- Wayne Pacelle, "The Confidence Man, Unmasked, and Asked to Answer to the IRS, A Human Nation HSUS blog, November 2, 2012.
- Mark Drajem & Brian Wingfield, Union Busting by Profiting From Non-Profit May Breach IRS, Bloomberg, November 1, 2012.
External Resources
- Humane Society of the United States, Richard Berman's Apparent Tax Scam, organizational IRS complaint website, launched November 2012.
- Berman Exposed: Richard Berman's Front Groups and Projects, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, accessed January 2010
Books
- Michele Simon Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back, Nation Books, October 2006, ISBN 1560259329, ISBN 978-1560259329
References
- ↑ Enterprise Freedom Action Committee General Information Accessed 11/29/2012
- ↑ Stealth PAC blog Astroturf Maven Berman Jumps Into the Electioneering Game Accessed 11/29/2012.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Enterprise Freedom Action Committee, "2014 IRS Form 990," November 11, 2015. Archived by ProPublica.
- ↑ Drajem Mark [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-02/union-busting-by-profiting-from-non-profit-may-breach-irs.html Union Busting by Profiting From Non-Profit May Breach IRS
- ↑ Drajem Mark [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-02/union-busting-by-profiting-from-non-profit-may-breach-irs.html Union Busting by Profiting From Non-Profit May Breach IRS
- ↑ Pacelle, Wayne The Confidence Man Unmasked Accessed 11/20/12
- ↑ Warner, Melanie. Striking Back at Food Police Accessed 11/29/2012
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Enterprise Freedom Action Committee, "[https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/260563406 2013 IRS Form 990," November 20, 2014.
