in fact the irs regulatioregulatio ns state clearly that quote the promotion of social welfare does not include direct or indirect participation in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to it candidate for public office. so you have a situation where the plain meaning of the irs code, the statute as written by congress, never envisioned these 501(c)(4) organization spending a dime to help elect or defeat candidates for public office and yet they are now being used upon millions of dollars of undisclosed monies for that purpose. nobody really paid much attention to this discrepancy between the written law and the irs guidelines until after citizens united because until then even under the primary purpose past no corporation could spend money for the express purpose of electing or defeating candidates. citizens united change that and now as more and more 501(c)4's get into the business of spending secret money to elect or defeat candidates they discrepancy has become blaring. so blaring that in april of last year i sued the irs to enforce the plain meaning of the written statu