Modesto church contributes to assistant pastor’s council campaign, violating IRS rules
A downtown Modesto church has donated $500 to the City Council campaign of Jeremiah Williams, who also is a longtime assistant pastor there.
The IRS has prohibited tax-exempt organizations — including churches — from supporting candidates for office since 1954.
In his latest campaign finance form filed with the Modesto City Clerk’s office last week, Williams reported receiving the donation Oct. 14 from the United Pentecostal Church of Modesto. It is known as Revival Center The Pentecostal Church.
Williams and his campaign treasurer, Cathy Gatewood, called it an oversight when contacted Monday by The Bee and said the $500 would be returned immediately.
Williams, 57, is running against Naramsen Goriel in the Nov. 8 election to replace Councilwoman Jenny Kenoyer in District 5, which encompasses north-central Modesto. Kenoyer cannot run for reelection after serving two consecutive terms.
Williams said he did not know churches could not support candidates. Williams said administrative pastor Jonathan Quinones dropped the check off at his business, Oak Crafts by Jeremiah, in the middle of the week. Williams said his business is across the street from the church.
Williams said he checked with Gatewood before accepting the check. She said she was distracted because she was out of state to be with a dying family member. She said she recalled that nonprofits can support ballot measures and mistakenly believed it was OK to accept the donation.
“It was an inadvertent oversight,” Gatewood said. “... Jeremiah had called with a question about a nonprofit contributing to a political campaign. ... I should have stopped and thought more.”
While the IRS prohibits churches and other nonprofit organizations from contributing to or supporting candidates, it does allows for what it calls “a limited amount of lobbying.” Such lobbying includes support or opposition to ballot measures.
Williams said as far as he knows, the church’s pastors have not campaigned for him at the church, and he said he has not campaigned at the church. He said he has been a Revival Center member since 1984 and an assistant pastor since the early 2000s. He said he cannot recall the church supporting political candidates.
Williams declined to say how many people attend the Revival Center, referring that question to church leaders. A woman who answered the phone at the church Tuesday said she would pass on The Bee’s request seeking comment about the donation.
Gatewood said she has served as the treasurer for local political campaigns for more than a decade and could not recall another campaign receiving a donation from a church.
Williams has reported raising more than $53,000 for his campaign since 2021. His contributors include land-use attorney George Petrulakis ($1,000), PMZ Real Estate CEO Mike Zagaris ($500), the California Association of Realtors ($2,750), Thomas Gallo of G3 Enterprises ($1,000), retired Police Chief Galen Carroll ($100) and retired teacher and affordable housing advocate Sharon Froba ($300).
Two other races on ballot
Goriel, 38, has reported raising more than $34,000, which includes $7,000 in loans from his family.
His contributors include $1,650 from Lindsey Bird’s 2020 Yosemite Community College District board of trustees campaign. She was the director of Davis High School’s now-defunct Language Institute, which served teens entering Modesto City Schools as new immigrants or refugees.
Other contributors include the California Association of Realtors ($1,000), Chad Condit’s 2022 campaign for state Assembly ($500), Modesto City Schools teacher Dave Menshew ($250) and the Law Office of Aaron Villalobos ($250). Goriel is an attorney in the office.
There are two other council races on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Nick Bavaro is the only candidate running to represent District 4. He seeks to replace Councilman Bill Zoslocki, who resigned in April before finishing his second term.
Eric Alvarez is the only candidate on the Nov. 8 ballot to represent Council District 2. But Sebastian Jones qualified to have his votes counted as a write-in candidate. District 2 Councilman Tony Madrigal cannot run for re-election after serving two consecutive terms.
This story was originally published November 1, 2022 at 11:44 AM with the headline "Modesto church contributes to assistant pastor’s council campaign, violating IRS rules."
