Armenian-American group accused of lobbying violations

The Miami Herald
February 19, 2009

By MICHAEL DOYLE
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — A high-profile ethics organization on Wednesday asked
federal agencies to investigate the Armenian National Committee of
America for alleged campaign-finance and lobbying violations.In a
seven-page complaint, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in
Washington asserts that the Armenian-American group failed to register
either as a domestic lobbying group or as a foreign agent despite its
political work and its close ties to an Armenian political party. The
Armenian National Committee of America is one of the country’s most
prominent ethnic organizations and has worked closely with members of
Congress on Armenian genocide commemorative resolutions. "We’re not
saying they should be out of business," said Melanie Sloan, a former
federal prosecutor who’s now the head of the private Citizens for
Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "We’re saying there are laws
and they should be following them." Sloan attached 161 pages worth of
exhibits in support of the allegations. Armenian National Committee of
America officials denounced the charges as unfounded. "We’ve taken a
preliminary look at (the) allegations, and they are without merit and
full of inaccuracies and misrepresentations," said Elizabeth
Chouldjian, the Armenian National Committee’s communications director.
Chouldjian declined to undertake a point-by-point rebuttal of the
complaint, but she said that "the real story is why this is being
brought up now." She noted that the complaint was filed about two
months before the annual Armenian genocide commemoration on April 24;
she didn’t elaborate on a potential motive for the complaint’s timing.
The Armenian National Committee of America describes itself on its Web
site as "the largest and most influential Armenian-American
grass-roots political organization." It’s active in regions with large
Armenian-American populations, including New Jersey, Florida and
California.

Its allies are rallying renewed support for an Armenian genocide
resolution that collapsed in the last Congress. Under presidents of
both political parties, the Pentagon and State Department have opposed
the resolution as an insult to Turkey, which denies that mass deaths
from 1915 to 1923 amounted to genocide.

The genocide commemoration will pose a dilemma for President Barack
Obama.

As a candidate, he voiced support for the resolution. As president, he
called Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Monday for what the White
House called a "warm and productive" chat. The genocide resolution is
also at the heart of the new complaint. "Circumstantial evidence
indicates that ANCA and its current or former executive directors
… have lobbied Congress and the executive branch heavily with regard
to perennial congressional Armenian genocide resolutions," the
complaint says. The complaint cites interviews and news releases in
which Armenian National Committee of America leaders tout their
efforts to sway Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., among others. The committee
hasn’t registered as a lobbyist with either the House of
Representatives or the Senate. Failure to register can be a felony
offense, though Sloan said potential problems often were resolved
simply by registering after the fact. The Armenian Assembly of
America, the nation’s other prominent Armenian-American organization,
is registered and reported spending $182,000 on lobbying last year.
"These are the rules, and everybody has to follow them," Sloan said.
The multi-pronged complaint asks the Internal Revenue Service to
review potential tax violations and asks the Justice Department to
open a criminal probe. It also asks the House and Senate to open
"companion inquiries" into the lobbying allegations. Citing news
accounts, a U.S. Embassy study and the research of Heather Gregg, an
assistant professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey,
Calif., the complaint contends that the Armenian National Committee of
America is "an arm" of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, a
political party that’s part of Armenia’s ruling coalition. Agents of
foreign political parties are required to register with the Justice
Department. The Armenian National Committee of America can endorse
political candidates, as a 501(c)(4) organization. The affiliated
Armenian National Committee of America Western Region, based in
Glendale, Calif., cannot because it’s a 501(c)(3) organization. The
complaint alleges that the Western office nonetheless participated in
the national organization’s candidate endorsements, in part by sharing
a Web site.

Sloan said the complaint arose from "a tip" received late last year.

Sloan’s nonprofit, six-year-old ethics group claims no partisan
affiliation, and it previously has filed ethics complaints about
lawmakers of both parties.

ON THE WEB
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington:

Arme nian National Committee of America:

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress