Wash. Times spurious claim: ACLU made campaign contributions to Democrats

The Washington Times falsely claimed that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) made nearly $60,000 in campaign contributions to Democratic candidates in 2004. In fact, federal election law prohibits the ACLU from contributing to political campaigns. The Times apparently tallied contributions made by employees of the ACLU, not the organization itself.

In an April 13 article by assistant national editor Julia Duin titled "Religion under a secular assault," the Times wrote:

With $48 million in annual revenue, the ACLU, now with 400,000 members in 50 state affiliates, counts $125 million in net assets. It gave $57,830 to Democratic candidates last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The largest contribution ($18,730) went to John Kerry. No ACLU money went to Republicans.

But the ACLU made no contributions to any political candidates in the 2004 election cycle, according to the website of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), which compiles disclosure data filed with the Federal Election Commission. Such contributions would violate federal law: The ACLU consists of two non-profit corporate entities, and according to federal election campaign law (2 U.S.C. Sec. 441b), it is "unlawful" for any corporation to contribute to political campaigns.

The numbers published by the Times, however, closely resemble the total contributions that ACLU employees made to Democrats, according to CRP. While the Times claimed that the ACLU contributed $57,830 to Democrats, including $18,730 to Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), CRP documents that ACLU employees contributed a total of $64,980 to Democrats (see here and here) in the 2004 election cycle, including $19,180 to Kerry (see here and here).

—A.S.