Enviro groups 'wolves in sheep's clothing'

...."We also find exhausting litigation, instigation of false claims, misleading science, and scare tactics to fool Americans into believing disastrous environmental scenarios that are untrue," Inhofe said. "Especially in this election year, the American voter should see these groups and their many affiliate organizations as they are: the newest insidious conspiracy of political action committees and perhaps the newest multi-million dollar manipulation of federal election laws."

The Wall Street Journal reported on the difficulty of tracking political activity of 501(c) organizations, stating the IRS does not require such organizations to list spending records or distributors. The newspaper conducted an investigation of 30 separate 501(c) organizations that donated funds to elections from 2000 to 2006.

"The data show that the 30 organizations spent at least $155 million on the 2006 elections, nearly twice what they spent in 2000," the Journal reported. ....