MACON, Ga. — After the Biden campaign held an event in Macon on Monday, people questioned if any laws were broken by the Tubman Museum, a nonprofit organization where it was held.
On Monday, Jill Biden hosted a rally in Macon at the Tubman Museum. Museum interim director Harold Young says the campaign used the outside of the building, which is free, and also rented a classroom in the museum.
"Saturday, Sunday and Monday, which is three days, rental, and they paid a fee of $1,500," he says. "And that's across the board, and it's on our rental agreement, $500 per day."
A post on Tuesday questioned whether or not it was legal for the museum to have a political event, so we asked since the Tubman Museum is a 501(c)(3), did they violate any federal laws by having the Biden event?
Young says, "We are not allowed to discriminate on any rental, on anybody who wants to rent the facility, number one, and the museum as a whole did not, does not, and will not endorse any client."
We also asked IRS tax officer John Forbes over the phone.
"If they paid the regular rate that anyone else would pay, I'm not sure that they would say that's any different than letting a magician in or having somebody that does bead work for a living," says Forbes.
Then, we checked the IRS website for non-profits, which states, "Organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office."
Since the Tubman Museum did not participate in the event itself nor announce an endorsement, we verified they did not break any federal laws.
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