The League of Women Voters was once thought of as a group that promoted a thoughtful electorate and “good government,” but that doesn’t show up much any more. One of the League’s current projects is to support bad government – using the Internal Revenue Service for a mission for which it was not intended, the suppression of political speech. Even if one thinks that there ought to be more restrictions on political speech, using the IRS is no way to go about it. It is almost the definition of “bad government.” But like most liberal organizations, the League has apparently decided on an “any port in a storm” approach – Congress can’t pass the campaign restrictions it wants, and the bipartisan FEC won’t act on its own to do so, so they’ll try the IRS. Which is how we got the scandal of the IRS targeting conservative groups for delay and harassment last year.

Now the League is trying to drum up comments from the public to the IRS to urge it to put in place rules that would restrict the speech of non-profit advocacy groups. So it has set up a web page on which its members and visitors can send form comments to the IRS – not well-thought out comments, but a short form letter. In other words – don’t think; don’t write your own letter to the IRS after considering the issue – just take our word for it, cut and paste what we’ve written, and click “send.” Not the thoughtful voter the League once championed.

But best of all is the self-serving nature of the comments the League wants you to send. Check it out:

The IRS must stop the “dark money” polluting our elections. Don’t back off. We have seen too much abuse by fly-by-night 501(c)(4) organizations and it is harming our democracy. We need real transparency and tough rules to stop “candidate-related political activity” by these organizations.

At the same time, the current IRS proposal must be changed to make sure that truly nonpartisan voter service activities by the League of Women Voters can continue.

You know, the old “get those other guys who are sleazy “dark money” groups “polluting our elections.” But oh, by the way, leave us alone. Or as the League puts it:

Reforming IRS regulations is our single best opportunity to respond to Citizens United, which allowed political operatives like Karl Rove, on the right, and Bill Burton, on the left, to raise and spend unlimited amounts of secret money in candidate elections. By stopping 501(c)(4) organizations from spending on “candidate-related political activity,” the IRS can stop the abuse in its tracks.

For 94 years the League has played a unique role in our elections by providing truly nonpartisan voter services and information to voters across the country. Unfortunately, the IRS proposal as it stands would jeopardize our work because it does not provide any exception for truly nonpartisan voter service activities like those carried out by the League.

Right. Those other guys, their political activity is an “abuse.” Ours? It’s “truly nonpartisan,” and “unique,” and “information.” Yeah, that’s the ticket – “unique.”

Perhaps it should be the “League of Generally Unprincipled Women Voters.” Women should be upset – the League is giving women voters a bad name.