Request By:
Mr. Vic Hellard, Jr.
Director
Legislative Research Commission
Capitol Building
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Asst. Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of April 4 in which you ask the following question:
"Would gifts to a private Kentucky college lose their tax-exempt status if one of its professors filed for election for public office?"
Becoming a candidate for public office is an exercise of an individual's right of free speech and association protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and may not be abridged without proof of a compelling state interest, Allen v. Board of Education of Jefferson Co., Ky. App., 584 S.W.2d 408 (1979). This case held, in effect, that an employee of the school district had the constitutional right to run for public office without interference on the part of the local board of education unless the board could show by virtue of such candidacy the employee's duties connected with the school would be adversely affected.
Therefore, since the college in question has no basic control over the right of one of its employees to become a candidate for public office, presumably on his own time that would not affect his employment or the college, the fact that such employee does become a candidate would, insofar as we can determine, have no legal significance in determining the taxexempt status of gifts presented to the college.