A fraternity at the University of Missouri has taken down a banner promoting the gubernatorial candidacy of one of its former members. A fraternity spokesman tells the Columbia Daily Tribune the banner for Republican candidate Dave Spence has been taken down after a threat from Governor Nixon’s communications director.
The fraternity spokesman says communications director Sam Murphey, who says he also is a Beta Theta Pi, suggested the fraternity’s tax-exempt status could be endangered by letting Spence hang his banner.
Organizations that are under some provisions of the Internal Revenue Service code are not allowed to take partisan political positions.