Nonprofits have become a new vehicle for corporations and lobbyists to influence politicians and for politicians to skirt transparency in the election system. Florida Governor Jeb Bush (R) is revving up his nonprofit to do both:(Read More…)

Gov. Jeb Bush has used his recently revived nonprofit foundation to pay a former campaign finance director and two former campaign aides.

Although Bush has said his Foundation for Florida’s Future is not a way of keeping his political machine intact after he leaves office early next year, recent disclosures on the foundation’s Web site show that it paid:

•Nearly $99,000 to Ann Herberger, Bush’s campaign finance director during two campaign and a longtime political fund-raiser for his family.

•Nearly $70,000 to Neil Newhouse of Washington-based GOP Public Opinion Strategies group for polling last October.

•$48,000 for “management services” to a lobbying and public-affairs firm whose staff includes Mandy Clark and Mandy Fletcher. Both worked on Bush’s reelection campaign and on his brother’s presidential reelection campaign.

•$23,500 for “legal services” from the Washington law and lobbying firm Patton Boggs.

•$20,000 in February to GOP political strategist Adam Goodman’s The Victory Group Inc.

The foundation has spent about $320,000 of the $1.9 million it has raised since Bush revived it in the fall, according to its Web site. Those contributions have come from friends, former colleagues and campaign contributors, and even the prime minister of Haiti.

Bush also has tapped three “Rangers” — fund-raisers who brought in at least $200,000 for President Bush’s 2004 campaign — to sit on the foundation’s board: Zach Zachariah, a Fort Lauderdale cardiologist; Tom Petway, a Jacksonville businessman; and Sergio Pino, a Miami developer.

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In an “ongoing” and “broad-scale look” the Senate Finance Committee is preparing to delve into a “probe of nonprofits and foundations seeking to determine whether tax-exempt entities have abused their privilege in pursuit of political goals, including an examination of Abramoff-linked charities.” According to Roll Call, Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said that “he was not yet certain that there would be any hearings on the overall investigation into nonprofit abuse … but said any report or hearings held by his panel would cover a wide range of nonprofit activities, and not just focus on those associated with Abramoff.” A hearing would likely focus attention on how Abramoff used client money funneled through a non-profit to pay for the infamous Scotland golfing trip that included Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), Religious Right activist Ralph Reed, and former procurement official David Safavian.

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The Senate Finance Committee received close to 100 pages of documents on the abuse of non-profits by Jack Abramoff from the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. According to Roll Call, “the Abramoff documents would be part of an ongoing probe into whether some nonprofits are violating laws by taking http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/cs/corruption
Today in Corruptionon roles beyond what their tax-exempt status allows.” The Finance probe could shine unwanted light on the activities of Abramoff allies Grover Norquist and his Americans for Tax Reform and the former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed. “Reed, a self-proclaimed opponent of gambling, sometimes received payments from Abramoff — money that originated from tribes who operated wealthy casinos — after it had first been routed through Norquist’s anti-tax group or other Abramoff-linked entities.”

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