Politicizing Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s “Clean the Bay” Day
Jim Hoeft of the Republican blog Bearing Drift has decided to organize his supporters to join him in participating in the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s “Clean the Bay” Day on Saturday, June 5. This is terrific! The Bay needs all the help it can get.
It’s also very interesting how Jim had to amend the context of his invitation to Republicans to join this event. You see CBF is a 501(c)(3) and is strictly prohibited from engaging in political activities. They are hyper-sensitive to anything that smells like politics anywhere near them.
Last year I was helping Brian Moran in the Democratic primary. He wanted to participate in “Clean the Bay” Day and invite his supporters to join him. He asked me to work on setting it up. The attorney for CBF came down on that idea hard, doing everything he could to stop that from happening with all sorts of restrictions such as no photography, no campaign T-shirts, buttons, stickers, lit, no press release, no reporting, etc., etc. and personally policing our participation that day. We got the picture, respected their position and abandoned the idea.
Jim Hoeft in his blog post announcing Bearing Drift’s participation originally pointed out how June 5 was just a handful of days away from the GOP primary for the 2nd congressional district and how it would be great to see the GOP 2nd candidates join him. One candidate, Jessica Sandlin, responded with “Love it, Jim! I’m in and I’ll bring my kids”. Jim has since struck that language from the blog post. He’ll hopefully also remind the GOP candidates like Jessica of CBF’s restrictions.
I talked to VBDC Chair Susan Mariner about this and she thinks it would be a great activity for Virginia Beach Dems to be involved with too. Look for more details on that coming soon!
Save the Bay and Drill Baby Drill! Right, Jim?
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April 28th, 2010 at 5:40 am
It does seem rather restrctive, but I am sure that Jim can make it happen.
April 28th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Just a thought. I am no lawyer, just an ordinary citizen. But does this pass the common sense test? Would the CBF restrict access to any politician from any party who offered support towards them? Wouldn’t the news coverage of the political appearance in support help further the goals of the organization?
I guess that is why we pay lawyers to thread through the complex rules, regulations, restrictions, and laws that are almost endless and ever-changing. I guess it is just as difficult to be a non-profit organization as it is to be a truck driver.