Determining the line between a church legally advocating its position and illegally supporting a candidate is "a very, very tough issue," said Jerry Cohen, former chief counsel of the Internal Revenue Service.

"You can go from one extreme: In order to retain [tax] exemptions the church cannot be participating in the election. In the other extreme, [the church is] not inhibited in taking positions that are religious positions and moral positions. They can speak out on that. But between those two lines there is not a very good dividing line."

Cohen was responding to news reports that political advisers for Romney, a Mormon, consulted with LDS Church leaders to outline plans for creating a network of Mormon supporters for Romney's likely presidential campaign.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Romney's political action committee denied the governor is looking to the church for help. He says if the governor runs for the White House, Romney will seek donations and support from Mormons along with a broad spectrum of groups.

As first reported Thursday by The Boston Globe, a program known as Mutual Values and Priorities, or MVP, would use alumni chapters of the business school of LDS-owned Brigham Young University to build a grass-roots network to boost a Romney candidacy.

The paper cited interviews and documents it said indicated Jeffrey R. Holland, a member of the church's Quorum of the Twelve and a former BYU president, was involved in the initiative, including hosting a Sept. 19 meeting in church headquarters with Romney political advisers.

The church strongly denied coordination with Romney's team, with spokesman Michael Otterson offering an "emphatic no" to questions about Holland agreeing to help the potential campaign. He described the Sept. 19 meeting as a "casual visit with no declared agenda," adding that "Holland re-emphasized the church's political neutrality rules."

Otterson said Holland explained, "when the the topic of BYU came up, that they would have to check with BYU on how the rules applied to these other entities like the management school."

A pair of BYU professors may have broached tax law when they sent out an e-mail from their school accounts to members of the university's business school alumni association seeking volunteers and supporters for Romney.

BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins says once the school was made aware of the e-mail, professors Ned Hill and Steve Albrecht were asked to cease any further e-mails. The two were not officially reprimanded, she said.

Neither Hill nor Albrecht returned calls by The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday.

While the alumni association has about 5,500 members and 40 U.S. chapters, the e-mail by Hill and Albrecht was sent only to about 50 alumni members and 100 members of the school's National Advisory Committee, The Globe reported.

Several members of the BYU Management Society contacted by The Tribune on Friday were unaware of the e-mail.

David York, a partner of the law firm of Callister, Nebeker & McCullough in Salt Lake City and an expert in tax law, says IRS rules are clear that a church may back legislative issues but cannot support a political candidate. And that extends to Romney.

"They could support generally legislation that he supports, but as far as supporting him specifically for office, they can't do that," York says.

Jared Young, a spokesman for Romney's Commonwealth political action committee, insists Romney will not be looking for the church to support his potential campaign, but he will be tapping the LDS faithful for assistance if he does. Romney will cast a wide net for fundraising opportunities, Young said, as any political candidate would.

"Obviously, the governor has a lot of supporters in the Mormon community," Young says. "And if he were to become a candidate, he would expect to raise money from those folks, as he were to raise money from Harvard alumni, BYU alumni [and those he's worked with in the business community]. But he's not a candidate, and there is no campaign."

The LDS Church in the recent past has actively campaigned for political issues. It supported a ban on same-sex marriage at the state and federal levels, and it opposed a planned nuclear waste storage site in Utah, about 50 miles from its world headquarters.

But the church has long sought to point out it doesn't favor one party over another, let alone one candidate over another. Lay leaders read over the pulpit before Election Day a statement that it doesn't endorse any candidate or party.

Many politicians visiting Salt Lake City make courtesy calls to the LDS First Presidency. President Bush met with the church's top leaders when he visited the city in August.

"The church has a long history of political independence and political neutrality," says Kelly Patterson, director of the Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy.

"There may be the perception that curiosity and enthusiasm among members [toward Romney] results in some sort of institutional shift in that policy. That's erroneous and [the church has] reaffirmed that," Patterson added.

tburr@sltrib.com