Ignoring IRS rules, a Carlsbad church gave $1,900 to school board candidates and encouraged parishioners to do so too – San Diego Union-Tribune

A Carlsbad church has demanded the return of two $950 donations it made several weeks ago to each of two school board candidates, despite federal rules that prohibit tax-exempt organizations such as churches from providing financial support or advocacy any candidates for public office.

Missionary Church Pastor David Menard also encouraged his congregation during a sermon last month to donate to two Carlsbad Unification candidates, Jen Belknap and Laura Siaosi.

When The San Diego Union-Tribune asked about the donations in light of Internal Revenue Service tax-exempt rules, Menard said in an email Thursday that they were made in error and that the church has asked for them to be returned.

“To support our community, we recently contributed to the campaigns of two Carlsbad school board candidates. By doing this, we realized that we had gone beyond the IRS guidelines for 501(c)(3),” he said.

In an email Friday, Belknap said she learned Thursday that the donation to the church was illegal and that its treasurer then returned it. Siaoshi said the donation to the church was a “nice gesture of support” but she too returned it once she learned it was wrong.

The missionary church, registered as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization called Ezra Ministries, gave $1,900 on Oct. 15, county campaign finance records show.

IRS rules state that tax-exempt organizations, including churches and religious nonprofits, are “absolutely prohibited” from donating to a political campaign or publicly expressing their support.

The IRS adds that any financial contributions or oral or written public statements about the position of any candidate for public office “clearly violate the prohibition on political campaign activity.”

When asked why the church donated to Belknap and Siaosi, Menard wrote, “Mission Church loves our city and our schools.”

Menard previously explained his support for Belknap and Siaosi in more detail.

In an Oct. 13 sermon, he laid out his church’s plan to win back a majority of the five-member school board from candidates backed by the teachers union. The new board will soon have to hire a new superintendent to succeed Benjamin Churchill, who is leaving for Poway Unified this December.

The church already has the support of one current board member, Gretchen Vurbeff, so adding two more would create a majority that supports the church, Menard said.

He called the LGBTQ community “the opposition” and suggested it was responsible for including the current union-backed majority on the board.

“The opposition, the LGBT community, realized long before us the importance of having the right people on the school board,” Menard said.

He told his congregation that it was important to bring “the right values” back to schools.

“We need to focus on truth, and we need to focus on getting our kids back into science, math and core subjects rather than bombarding them with ideologies that destroy lives,” Menard said.

Menard also encouraged his community to donate to Belknap and Siaosi’s campaigns and vote for them.

“I would like to ask you to support them both with your votes and financially,” he said. He added that the missionary church provides financial support “peripherally” to Belknap and Siaosi.

Belknap and Xiaosi also spoke during the sermon. Belknap, who is a Carlsbad High School parent, said she ran to stop the board from having four or five trustees endorsed by the teachers union.

“I am committed to ensuring diversity of viewpoints on this board,” she said. “I am also committed to ensuring that we honor and respect the sacred role of family and the family unit in our community.”

Siaosi, who is also a Carlsbad parent and whose husband is a volunteer coach, likened her race for school board to a battle of good and evil.

“I have never thought about my political activism, but we are approaching a time when all it takes for evil to prevail is for good men and women to stand by and do nothing, and I can’t do nothing.” “, she said.

The mission church, founded by Menard in 2011, made headlines last year when it mobilized opposition to the school district’s diversity, equity and inclusion plan, which was developed under Churchill’s leadership. The council eventually approved the plan.

Belknap and Siaosi’s opponents, Ejehan Turker and Alison Emery, said they were stunned when they learned the two had received donations from the church.

Turker, the parent running against Siaosi, said she believes the fact that Siaosi and Belknap decided to accept donations is unethical and indicative of how they would serve on the school board.

“How far will they push their line, if elected to office, to advance their own political agenda?” – said Turker.

Siaosi said her critics used the church donation “to continue their relentless attack on my character.”

“What really bothers me is that the very people who are supposedly fighting for diversity, equality and inclusion here in Carlsbad don’t see the hypocrisy in their attacks on people of faith,” she said.

Both Turker and Emery said that if elected, they intend to play a “stabilizing role” on the board to prevent groups from creating “chaos” at school board meetings to promote their own political “ideologies.”

They said they were concerned about the Missionary Church’s involvement in their opponents’ campaigns because they saw the church as trying to push a religious agenda in public schools and “sow division” in the district. They said schools need to make all students feel safe, supported and included, and believe the church’s goals conflict with this.

“I just want to calm the chaos, tone down the tone and the rhetoric, bring it back to that educational philosophy and best teaching practices,” said Emery, a Carlsbad parent and Solana Beach teacher who also belongs to the Solana Beach teachers union. negotiation team.

Both Turker and Emery are supported by the Carlsbad teachers union.

Originally published: November 2, 2024 5:00 am PT