The Honorable John McCain
Chairman, Senate Indian Affairs Committee
241 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0303
The Honorable Byron L. Dorgan
Vice-Chair, Senate Indian Affairs Committee
322 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-3405
Re: Subpoena of donor records of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR)
Dear Chairman McCain and Vice-Chairman Dorgan:
On behalf of the ACLU, a non-partisan organization with hundreds of thousands of activists and members and 53 affiliates nation-wide, we urge you to withdraw the subpoena issued to Americans for Tax Reform seeking “[a]ny and all tax returns and tax return information, including but not limited to all W-2s, form 1099s, schedules, draft returns, work papers, and backup documents filed, created or held by or on behalf of ATR for tax years 1998 to the present.” While ATR’s donor list is not explicitly demanded , it falls within the scope of the subpoena because the “schedules” attached to the IRS Form 990’s, which ATR must file annually with the IRS, would include a list of donors. To subpoena such information could chill current or prospective donors and supporters, and threaten First Amendment freedoms of speech and association.
We wrote to you about this matter on May 31, 2005. We subsequently received your letter of June 14, 2005 indicating that the Committee is not seeking a copy of the donor list of the Americans for Tax Reform. The letter also states that ATR has produced documents responsive to the Committee’s request for information, minus the donor list, and thus the Committee is satisfied. While we appreciate that the Committee has not actively sought copies of the donor list, the fact remains that the subpoena that was issued remains extant. We thereafter sent a letter to Mr. Bryan D. Parker on November 2, 2005, again requesting that the subpoena be withdrawn. To date, the subpoena is still outstanding.
In order to clarify the record and avoid the possibility of setting an unfortunate precedent, we respectfully request that the Committee withdraw the subpoena. If information other than the donor lists covered by the original subpoena is still sought, the Committee could issue a more limited subpoena.
Sincerely,
Caroline Fredrickson
Director
Marvin J. Johnson
Legislative Counsel
cc: Members of the Committee
Americans for Tax Reform