Financial Incest at Fidelis? (The Catholic Right, Thirtieth in a Series)
Frank Cocozzelli printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Sat May 26, 2007 at 02:40:05 PM EST
As we all know the craft of the magician is to use slight of hand, diversions and ruses of all kinds to perform feats of illusion that astound and entertain us. Good political scandals often arise by use of the same technique. Certain ethically challenged groups and individuals launder funds and bend or even break laws to accomplish their political purposes. We have seen this repeatedly as Religious Right groups and sometimes, individual churches, have flagrantly violated the privilege of federal tax exemption in the pursuit of political power.

But sometimes, these violations are not nearly interesting enough to be that "entertaining." Sometimes they are just mind-numbingly mundane. I am wondering whether that may be the case with Fidelis, whose web site blurs the identities and functions of what they call a "family" of organizations. As we shall see below, Fidelis has a unique web site which houses the family, but it is not at all clear whether there are separate pots of money for each member of the family, and clear segregation of funds as federal tax and election laws require.
Last week I inquired whether the Catholic League may have violated its 501(c)(3) status by engaging in tag-team attacks on Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani. This week we look at their partner, Fidelis.

As I previously discussed, Fidelis (a 501(c)(4) political advocacy group) has been tag-teaming with Bill Donohue's Catholic League to criticize Rudy Giuliani's position on abortion. But on May 23rd, Fidelis declared war.

The days prior to the declaration of war were filled with self-important bluster in the style of Bill Donohue. Fidelis honcho, Joseph Cella, expounded:  

"This is the third position Rudy Giuliani has had on abortion in two weeks, and his credibility with faithful Catholics and other pro-life voters is beginning to evaporate."

Cella closed his screed with this zinger, "Giuliani shares the exact same position on abortion as fellow Catholic John Kerry. As more people of faith who are pro-life begin to realize this, they will reject Giuliani's candidacy."

Two days later on May 16, 2007 Fidelis announced that it was organizing anti-Giuliani protests during the GOP Presidential Debates then being held in Columbia, South Carolina . Cella also announced:

'Fidelis America PAC, the political action arm of Fidelis, will distribute flyers and stickers prior to tonight's debate. The stickers read: "Protect the Pro-Life Platform. Defeat Rudy Giuliani."'

But a little scratching below the surface reveals that these seemingly coordinated attacks on Giuliani may be driven more by plain old politics rather than by ultra-orthodox Catholic outrage. As I previously noted:

It is worth noting that Fidelis's Burch and Cella both have very close ties to Pizza-man Tom Monaghan, who in turn, sits on Presidential candidate U.S. Senator Sam Brownback's (R-Ks.) Exploratory Committee. Monaghan also sits on the Catholic League's Board of Advisors.

But more importantly, all this brings us to a possible legal problem for the Fidelis family, as the activities of one family member may get another in trouble.  (Daddy Cella ought to know better.)   At the bottom of both of the Giuliani-targeted Fidelis press releases is a statement very much worth noting:

Paid for by Fidelis America PAC_P.O. Box 277 Chelsea, MI 48118_Joseph J. Cella, Treasurer_Not Authorized by Any Candidate or Committee

These releases-very clearly designed to influence the 2008 presidential election--are posted on what appears to be the joint web site for several related organizations,
Fidelis, Fidelis America, Fidelis Media Fund, and Fidelis Center for Law and Policy, respectively, a political lobby, a PAC, a 527 political committee. On donation page the organization describes itself as a 501 (c)(4) tax-exempt organization, but has no separate donation capability for its PAC.

Yet when the site visitor clicks on at Learn more about the distinction between these components of Fidelis we see that the Fidelis Center for Law and Policy is a 501(c)(3); Fidelis America is a hard money PAC while the Fidelis Media Fund is