Rotary International on political candidates
What does Rotary International say about political candidates speaking at local Rotary clubs?
From the April 2016 issue of The Rotarian:
Rotary clubs are catnip to people running for public office: Rotarians are involved in their communities, civic-minded, and engaged in public improvement. Especially in an election year, clubs are likely to receive calls from candidates in search of a receptive audience.
How a club responds to these requests is completely up to the club itself. For many, it depends on experience with politicians and the preferences of the club officers. Rotary International requires only that clubs not endorse candidates or take sides on public issues.
But the role of politics in Rotary has been debated since the organizations's earliest years... Eventually, it was decided that clubs should educate their members on local political issues and that individual members should do with the information as they saw fit. One hundred years later, that continues to be Rotary's position on the place of politics in clubs.