<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Courtesy of today's (October 11, 2012) Moscow-Pullman Daily News</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">------------------------------------</div><div><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><h1 style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><font size="3"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Nonprofit Idaho reform backer shields donors</span></font></h1></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">BOISE - A promoter of Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna's education reforms isn't revealing the source of hundreds of thousands in campaign cash by giving it through a nonprofit group whose donors he says are exempt from disclosure.</span></p><p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Idaho Statesman reported Wednesday a pro-reform nonprofit, Education Voters of Idaho, created by Boise-based lobbyist John Foster, gave $200,350 to another group, Parents for Education Reform, for broadcast ads touting the reforms.</span></p><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Though Parents for Education Reform disclosed its contribution - its only one, according to the Idaho Secretary of State - Education Voters of Idaho won't file a similar sunshine report detailing its backers. That's because it's exempted from such requirements by federal tax laws governing nonprofit, 501(c)(4) "social welfare organizations," Foster said, adding there's precedent in Idaho for such donor protections.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I'm a big believer in the First Amendment, and the rights of people and corporations to engage in the political process as they see fit, without restrictions," he said.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The education reforms, passed by the 2011 Idaho Legislature to limit union bargaining power, promote teacher merit pay and require online classes, are subject of a Nov. 6 repeal effort being pushed by the Idaho Education Association teachers union.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Idaho Deputy Secretary of State Tim Hurst has contacted Foster about the contribution and is looking into how it aligns with Idaho campaign disclosure laws.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"It's under legal review," Hurst said Wednesday.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Meanwhile, Brian Cronin, a Democratic state representative from Boise and a strategist leading the campaign against Luna's reforms, contends voters who weigh in Nov. 6 won't know who gave more than $200,000 to tout the changes on TV, if Foster's donors remain unidentified.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Cronin said it provides potential cover for corporations that stand to benefit from the so-called "Students Come First" reforms - from computer makers to software providers - to give money without being held accountable.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"The existence of these entities raises the specter that corporations that have a direct and very lucrative financial interest in the outcome of this election have the ability to fund the advertising for this election anonymously," Cronin said. "That's what's most frightening."</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the past, Idaho political groups have employed nonprofit outfits to finance a campaign while keeping the original source of the money secret.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In 2006, for instance, in a heated battle over the state's eminent domain laws, a group calling itself "America at its Best" gave $575,000 to Idaho activist Laird Maxwell's unsuccessful effort to require governments to, among other things, pay private property owners when a regulatory action reduced their land's value.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As a nonprofit, America at its Best - like Foster's Parents for Education Reform - didn't disclose its sources, either.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There are some differences, however.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For one, America at its Best was incorporated in Montana, where Idaho campaign finance laws aren't enforced.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">By contrast, Foster's group was incorporated in Idaho on Aug. 16, with help from three founding board members: C.L. "Butch" Otter's campaign manager, Debbie Field; lobbyist Phil Reberger; and former lobbyist and College of Western Idaho trustee Mark Dunham.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Foster insists he enlisted the trio to help Education Voters of Idaho tackle broader education reforms, not just the ballot measures voters will consider in less than a month.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The group even has a potential legislative agenda for the 2013 session, said Foster, adding he's been mulling the organization for months.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; "><p style="text-align: -webkit-auto; outline: 0px; float: none !important; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"There is a desperate void in the political arena for a middle-road voice that doesn't represent teacher unions and doesn't represent politicians, but represents parents," he said. "It's an advocacy organization set up to support and promote education reform in Idaho; one of the ways we chose to have an impact on our mission was to publicize the need to support the reforms on the ballot."</span></p></div></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">------------------------------------<br><br><div>Seeya at the polls, Moscow, because . . .</div><div><br></div><div>"Moscow Cares"</div><div><a href="http://www.MoscowCares.com">http://www.MoscowCares.com</a></div><div> </div><div><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Moscow, Idaho</div><div><br></div><div>"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."</div><div><br></div><div>- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)</div><div> </div></div></div></div></body></html>