Tag: Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise

When Is PETA Going to Sue the CDFE?

Okay, here’s something I genuinely don’t understand — why hasn’t People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sued Ron Arnold and the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise for libel yet? This is hard to understand for two reasons.

First, PETA is hardly afraid to file lawsuits. Just last February, for example, PETA said it would sue the state of New Jersey after PETA activists Dan Shannon and Jay Kelly hit a deer in that state while driving a PETA-owned vehicle. One news organization I wrote an op-ed about PETA for made me go over it with a fine-tooth comb because of PETA’s perceived litigiousness. This is not an organization known for holding their lawyers at bay.

Second, Ron Arnold has said a number of things which PETA and its attorneys say are patently untrue and would thereby be libelous. For example, here’s Arnold describing PETA in no uncertain terms for the New Jersey Herald earlier this month,

We believe the evidence shows that PETA’s leaders and personnel have been involved in criminal activities of such a magnitude for such a length of time that they have no legal right to a tax exemption.

Or how about its filing with the IRS last year where Arnold and CDFE asserted,

PETA openly and actively induces and encourages unlawful acts . . .

Maybe PETA agrees with Arnold that it actively encourages criminal acts. But no, PETA attorney Jeff Kerr tells the New Jersey Herald,

That is completely ludicrous and they’ve known about it for a long time. Everything it [PETA] does is directly related to trying to help end the suffering and exploitation of animals. Everything we do is consistent with the charitable mission of PETA.

Well, if Arnold’s assertions are really that ludicrous, it’s a bit odd that PETA doesn’t seek recourse in the courts through a libel action. Either they really know Arnold’s statement is, in fact, accurate, or they’re too busy suing states when their own activists hit deer to bother.

Source:

Animal rights group attacked; PETA integrity under question. Pat Mindos, New Jersey Herald, May 6, 2003.

Group Asks IRS to Investigate PETA's Tax Filings for 1997, 1998

In March the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service asking it to revoke the tax-exempt status of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. CDFE’s Ron Arnold argued in that complaint that, “PETA openly and actively induces and encourages unlawful acts by planning.” This month CDFE amended its complaint to ask the IRS to look into PETA’s 1997 and 1998 tax filings.

According to the amended complaint,

We have discovered irregularities in reporting grants and allocations by PETA that reinforce our request to revoke recognition of PETAÂ’s tax-exempt status under I.R.C. Section 501(c)(3):

  • PETA failed to provide a schedule of its grants and allocations to other organizations in addition to the totals in Part III of the Form 990, for the fiscal year ending July 31, 1998; and
  • PETA failed to provide a schedule of its grants and allocations to other organizations in addition to the totals in Part III of the Form 990, for the fiscal year ending July 31, 1997.

Based on examination of PETAÂ’s Form 990 annual reports for those two fiscal years, we find that the public inspection copy now on file with the IRS contains no detailed accounting for nearly one million dollars of PETA funds in grants and allocations to other groups. No schedule of grants and allocations was attached containing any list of any grant amount, any recipient, and any purpose. There is no evidence that such a schedule was ever filed with the IRS for either of the two fiscal years in question. PETA, however, did attach such a schedule to its Form 990 for the fiscal years before and after the two fiscal years in question. This irregularity in reporting prompted this complaint.

Rather than confirm or deny whether or not PETA had filed these forms, as required by federal law, Ingrid Newkirk simply attacked the complaint as irrelevant, telling CNSNews.Com that, “Nobody much cares about it, put it that way, except outlets that are perhaps sympathetic to this kind of thing.”

Source:

Group issues additional call for IRS investigation of PETA. Jason Pierce, CNSNews.Com, May 2,2002.

Re: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Inc.. Ron Arnold, Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, May 1, 2002.