Tax Free Speech
Pro-industry Frontiers of Freedom challenges Rainforest Action Network’s tax-exempt status
“Absolutely it has a chilling effect,” says Jim Wheaton, senior attorney with the First Amendment Project, a Bay Area nonprofit, public-interest law firm. “The allegation here is not that individuals go out and engage in civil disobedience. The challenge here, though, is that RAN supports that activity. Once you get into something as vague as ‘support,’ it gets dangerous. RAN itself has never trespassed, itself has never engaged in civil disobedience, but it’s supporting those who do. You have a fear, then, that this will spread not only to those who engage in civil disobedience, but those who support them, as well.”
Rainforest, for its part, is pushing straight ahead. A large group of demonstrators, including blues rocker Bonnie Raitt, former Doors drummer John Densmore, Julia Butterfly Hill, author Paul Hawken, a few ex–Congress members and a whole host of activist biggies plan to tax Boise Cascade’s patience even further this week when they protest at the company’s Chicago-area headquarters.
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