As I understand it, 501(c)(3) corporations are not completely prohibited from lobbying. The proportion of their time or funds that can be used for lobbying activities is, however, strictly limited. The penalty for lobbying isn't severe -- just loss of tax-exempt status. Bill _____
Bill Potts W <http://wfpconsulting.com/> FP Consulting Roseville, CA <http://metric1.org/> http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Paul Trusten Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 07:58 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:44289] Re: Opposing FMI Victor, we don't need modest funding. We need extraordinary funding, like the funding illustrated by some of the recent Internet posts about how to dramatize the huge sums Congress is throwing around. Lobbyists pay many millions of dollars to affect legislation. A friend of mine sent me one of those money cartoons. It starts with a $100 bill and shows what one teradollar of $100 bill stacks would look like. It would take up hectares (Oh, no, guys, please don't spend 25 posts to figure that one out!). But, do you see me stopping? No way. I shall continue to use the bully footstool of USMA, and my own voice, to advance the goal of U.S. metrication. Just a reminder that USMA is a non-profit organization, and therefore cannot lobby like FMI does. Paul ----- Original Message ----- From: Victor <mailto:[email protected]> Jockin To: U.S. Metric Association <mailto:[email protected]> Sent: 02 April, 2009 18:04 Subject: [USMA:44283] Opposing FMI With some modest funding to hire the right talent, we could probably assemble an array of organizations and interest groups that could effectively pressure FMI to drop opposition to metric-only, or to counter their weight in congress (perhaps immigrant groups, food importers, educators, scientific and medical organizations, etc.). A bunch of the members of FMI are not even American companies, and wouldn't take much to sway, if they're even aware of FMI's stance on this issue today. And metric conversion is probably number 12,712 on FMI's list of legislative priorities. There really are no efforts to raise the funds we would need to have any hope of making an impact, right? Can anyone comment on why not? Since joining USMA about a year ago, this has surprised me more than anything else.
