Left parties also received suspicious funding from foundations

Government comfortably survives second confidence vote

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At least four foundations with close ties to the political left have funded political action, although such activities are not defined in their by-laws as being part of their purposes.
      Jukka Mähönen, Professor of Civil Law at the University of Turku, feels that buying art or seminar tickets from political campaign organisations practically always constitutes giving economic support for political activities.
      “This view can nevertheless be turned around by claiming that the art has been bought purely on an artistic basis at the fair price, or that participating in seminars was based on the content of the seminar, without regard to the organisation arranging the seminar", said Mähönen.
     
The Tampere-based Hebe Foundation acknowledges that the foundation has supported the activities of the youth organisation of the Left Alliance - “to the tune of a few thousand euros” a year, says the foundation’s spokesman Heikki Niinimäki.
      Back in the early part of the decade, the foundation backed the Left’s youth organisation with contributions of hundreds of thousands of euros.
      According to the by-laws of the foundation, its purpose is to promote youth work and youth activities.
      “If the subsidies have gone into supporting campaigns, it has been in violation of the foundation’s rules”, Mähönen says.
     
Another foundation, Palkansaajasäätiö (“Wage-Earner Foundation”), paid EUR 5,000 for a work of art depicting President Tarja Halonen, which it bought from Halonen’s Presidential election campaign organisation.
      The foundation’s spokesman, Tuomas Harpf , denies that the foundation gives monetary support for political activities, or that it has ever contributed money to election campaigns.
      The declared purpose of Palkansaajasäätiö is to promote thrift, as well as to preserve the traditions of the defunct STS Bank.
      “It was an art acquisition”, Tuomas Harpf says.
     
Mähönen feels that the purchase was political support for the Halonen campaign, and as such, was in violation of the foundation’s own rules.
      “The acquisition could have been justified only if getting the work was so important that it would also have been bought from the support organisations of Matti Vanhanen or Sauli Niinistö, for instance. Explanations such as these are quite incredible”, Mähönen says.
     
According to the Swedish-language service of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) , the Urheiluopistosäätiö (“Sports Institute Foundation”) has helped Tarja Halonen’s Presidential campaign, and Jani Sievinen in his bid to win a seat in the European Parliament.
      The current chairman of the foundation’s delegate council is former Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen (SDP). Also serving on the foundation’s council is Social Democratic MP Eero Heinäluoma.
     
Spokesman Yrjö-Olavi Aav of the Urheiluopistosäätiö foundation told the Finnish News Agency STT on Thursday that the foundation has bought art from the SDP for EUR 10,000.
      The foundation also paid Sievinen’s campaign EUR 1,400 for admission to a seminar organised by the campaign.
      The rules of the foundation stipulate that its purpose is to support sport, physical exercise, and associated education policies in Finland.
     
Aav sees nothing strange in the activities of the foundation.
      Mähönen feels that the art purchases have constituted political support. “The beneficiary SDP has reported it as political support”, Mähönen says.
     
Mähönen also believes that the rules of the Oulu-based Riihi foundation cannot be stretched to include support for political activities. The foundation has supported several SDP candidates for years.
      The rules of the Riihi foundation state that its purpose is to preserve the folklore of the working class and others, promoting organic farming, supporting nature conservation, supporting vocational education, and promoting social housing projects.
      Mähönen feels that recipients of support should be cautious if they notice that they are getting backing from foundations whose rules do not allow the supporting of political activities.
      “The National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland can order a foundation to require a refund, which could lead to a court case", says Mähönen.
     
On Thursday the government comfortably survived an interpellation vote over the issue of campaign funding.
      The confidence motion ended in a sweeping victory by 117 votes to 27, with the opposition Social Democrats abruptly deciding to abstain, largely on the basis of the wording of the final motion put before the house.
      The Christian Democrats' motion had also called for a ban on funding for candidates emanating from the trade union movement, and the SDP members could not bring themselves to back this.
      The SDP's own motion had had no such clause, and had been directed at the Prime Minister rather than the government as a whole. However, in an earlier vote between the two to decide which motion would be put before the house, the government side won the day, and the final vote did not therefore take a barometer reading of Parliament's current confidence in Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen.
     
The Left Alliance did not show the same squeamishness as the SDP, but voted against the government, arguing that the wording of the final motion was mere semantics from the Christian Democrats and not worth bothering about.
      The confidence vote was the second the government has faced this week: on Wednesday Parliament backed the government on care for the elderly by a margin of 111-64.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Vanhanen sees no problem with foundations making campaign donations (22.9.2009)
  Vanhanen got campaign contributions for nonprofit housing foundation (21.9.2009)
  Vanhanen and Kaikkonen silent about alleged misdemeanours at Nuorisosäätiö (1.10.2009)
  YLE also highlights foundation abuses in the Social Democrat camp (1.10.2009)

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