A nonprofit group that exists to raise money in order to make contributions to a county political party committee in the form of rent below fair-market value is required to register as a political action committee under state law, the Arkansas Ethics Commission said Friday in an advisory opinion.
The nonprofit will then have to file reports with the secretary of state's office, the commission said.
But a nonprofit group wouldn't be required to register and file reports as a political action committee if it rented space at market rates to a county political action committee, the commission also said.
The advisory opinion was requested by retired attorney Robert Leslie of Conway. Leslie said he is the chairman of the finance committee for the Faulkner County Republican Committee.
If the nonprofit group exists for purposes other than receiving money in order to make contributions to a county political party committee, it wouldn't be required to register as a political action committee merely because it made an in-kind contribution, the commission said.
"In other words, if the nonprofit is not behaving as a PAC (i.e. not raising money in order to make contributions to a [county party committee]) then the commission concludes it could give the [county committee] a discount on rent, provided the cumulative total of discounts for the calendar year could not exceed $5,000," the commission said in its two-page opinion.
But if the nonprofit exists to take in money to contribute to a county political party committee, it would not be able to accept more than $5,000 per entity each year, the commission said.
If the nonprofit is not a political action committee, it wouldn't be under the commission's jurisdiction and could accept contributions of more than $5,000 from a single entity each year, the commission said.
Leslie said the recently formed nonprofit group is called Friends of Faulkner County Republican Party. Its purpose is to acquire a building to provide a meeting and work space to the Faulkner County Republican Party Committee and other groups that promote traditional family values, conservative principles and the "American way of life," Leslie said.
The nonprofit group has a fundraiser scheduled for next Thursday at Beaver Fork Lake, where Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson is scheduled to speak. The nonprofit group hasn't yet targeted a building to purchase; it depends on how much money is raised, he said.
Metro on 09/23/2017