FratPAC Lobbies for Fraternity and Sorority Tax Breaks and a Halt on Anti-Hazing Laws
ByFraternities and sororities' political arm lobbied Thursday in Washington D.C. for tax breaks and a halt on anti-hazing laws, Bloomberg reported.
At a dinner April 24 in a hotel ballroom, the Fraternity and Sorority Political Action Committee (FratPAC) revved their offense with a multi-million-dollar tax break that would allow fraternities to use charitable donations to build and renovate chapter houses.
About 40 percent of U.S. Senators and 25 percent of U.S. representatives are fraternity or sorority alums and more than a dozen were present for the dinner.
"This time, we think we can get it done," said Ohio Republican Steve Stivers, a Delta Upsilon alumnus, said. "We need more Greeks in Congress."
FratPAC has also successfully stalled Democratic U.S. Representative Frederica D. Wilson from filing federal legislation to crack down on hazing. Debbie Smith, mother of a hazing victim, was "dumbfounded" by the anti-hazing law getting hung up.
Matthew Carrington, Smith's son, was a 21-year-old California State University students pledging for the Chi Tau fraternity. He died after collapsing from doing pushups in raw sewage while fans covered him in cold air.
"Why do fraternities need government help?" Smith asked. "They want to build more houses for hazing? I don't think so. They need to learn safety first."
Members of the Theta Chi fraternity beat Harrison Kowiak, a Floridian Lenoir-Rhyne University student, to death in the name of hazing in 2008.
Wilson's legislation, announced alongside Lianne Kowiak, Harrison's mother, in a 2012 press conference, would take federal financial aid away from students convicted under state law or sanctioned by the school of a hazing crime.
OpenSecrets.org reported FratPAC spent $466,000 in the 2012 election cycle, an increase from the $404,000 they spent in 2010. Most of the donations went to Republican candidates for Congress.
The goal for this funding, Kevin O'Neill, executive director of FratPAC and a partner in the law and lobbying powerhouse Patton Boggs, told ABC News: "We thought it important that government have more Greeks."