May 18, 2013
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Not clean hands after all......
Let me start by saying that I firmly believe that the IRS's targeting of specific groups is wrong. Period. Doesn't matter whether it's a conservative, liberal, progressive, Tea Party, Islamic or other group, it's wrong.
I've been following the snafu with great interest. The IRS, when spoken aloud, invokes a response somewhat like saying Voldemort out loud. People shudder and look over their shoulder.
The IRS has an important job to do-trying to insure that proper tax money is collected and that job requires them to collect information about groups and individuals. Most of us do not like that concept, but it is necessary. It also gives bean counters a bad name and leaves a bad taste in most of our mouths.
Both sides are jumping in politically to cry foul. In a lot of instances, they have the right to do so. But...not everyone in the Tea Party has had clean hands in their dealings and set up of their organizations.
For some background: In the lingo of the tax codes, when a group sets up their tax exempt status, they must choose from a variety of identifiers. 501(c)(3) status refers to groups who are identifying themselves as a traditional charity. This designation bars all political activity. 501(3) (4) designates a political non-profit organization, implying that their funds are being used faithfully for political use and not to profit any one group or individual.
These designations are very important.
Tea Party groups tended to identify as 501(c)(4) groups and an impressive number of groups under that umbrella (over 3500) all applied for tax exempt status around the same time.
The Tea Party has cried foul that the IRS has asked for a list of their donors, implying that the IRS was collecting information about general everyday taxpayers. As a nation, we cringe at that and it makes us very uncomfortable.
But here's the rub.
Some individuals involved in various Tea Party groups may very well have been using the Tea Party to shield their shady fundraising activities and/or find ways to raise money to possibly pay off personal debts that the leaders owed to the IRS.
Where is the evidence of that, you say?
Political shennigans first.
Catherine Englebrecht, leader of the True the Vote/King Street Patriots, has been a screeching voice in the media condemning the IRS. But her group has had ethics violations charged against them and a Texas judge agreed, saying that although the group had a nonprofit designation, the group was, in fact, operating as a political action committee, illegally funneling money to the GOP and that the training they offered to "poll watchers" was an attempt to train individuals to engage in voter intimidation. (Refer to this article: http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/08/true_the_votes_large_and_growing_far-right_network.html and also here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/17/us/politics/groups-like-true-the-vote-are-looking-very-closely-for-voter-fraud.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 and if still not impressed, try here: http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/12819/new-proof-king-street-patriotstrue-the-vote-are-voter-suppression-groups
Possible improper fundraising.
Mark Meckler, of Herbalife fame, was an integral part of the Tea Party Patriot movement. Mr. Meckler's business activities had drawn the scrutiny of the government officials as being run as a possible ponzi type of business. There have been many, many accusations of this type of behavior. Mr. Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin (beginning leader and idea behind the Tea Party) collaborated on a book together which outlined how to take back America to it's prior glory. Their collaboration ended, however when Mr. Meckler went on record as stating that the Tea Party Patriots were not sharing his viewpoint. “I’m not a Republican, and large numbers in the movement, 40 percent in the Tea Party movement, aren’t Republicans. So when they sponsored the Southern Republican Leadership debate to the tune of $250,000, really it was just kind of the final blow for me.” and further in the article, he says, “From my perspective, the Tea Party Patriots have become this big top-down organization raising multi-millions of dollars,” he said. “None of that money was flowing through to local people, or very little of it, and that’s just not what I’m about.”
Mr. Meckler had an inkling, apparently, that the activities of the Tea Party might just be gathering the interest of the IRS.
Jenny Beth Martin has been seen on multiple media outlets, decrying the investigation of her organization as a likely witchhunt of conservatives. The IG has reported that their investigation of the IRS has shown that it was in the set up of the groups that drew the interest of the IRS.
Evil or clueless?
I'm going to give the Tea Party a pass (for the most part) on this one. Setting up these groups requires a working knowledge of how the organizations will fit or not fit in the established regulations. Most of the people involved in these groups are outside of Washington, aren't lawyers and do not understand the nuances of these designations. My thought is that most of them, in the rush to get their groups set up and working, failed to do (or did not know how to do) the basic work of establishing their groups properly.
Are these groups evil? No. Did they follow all the rules? No, but with a qualifier-I simply do not believe that they understood what they were getting into, possibly because of the nebulus nature of their groups-lacking, as it were, a clear idea of where they were going and what they wanted to do. Born of a desire to get government back under some control, they moved first, passionately, without understanding the baggage.
Haven't we all done that at one time or another?
But here's the rub....at some point, you need to back up and make sure you are functioning within the lines of the rules. The IRS has a job to make sure that the groups were and probably looked at the biggest group coming in a little more closely than other groups. Remember, when a herd is dependent on surviving, they move quickly and in large numbers. 3500 applications is a herd. I suspect that within some of the Tea Party groups there are those who saw an opportunity to finagle some funds for themselves. See here for some interesting allegations: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/05/irs-tea-party-tax-problems (Yes, I know that Mother Jones is an alternative press magazine. I also know that they do some darn fine reporting and I checked their sources out before using their article.)
Upshot of all this? The Tea Party does not have clean hands in this, mostly out of ignorance of the law. The IRS may have been just doing it's job but probably did not do it right.
Everyone needs to wash their hands, fess up, and clean this mess up. And maybe rename the IRS Voldemort.
Comments (3)
I'll go back on step further and lay this at the feet of the Supreme Court Justices who ruled in favor of Citizen's United. I believe they sold our electorate soul to the 1%, and this is just one of many results of it.
This reminds me of the women who was raped by the rapist blamed the women because of what she was wearing.
@TheTheologiansCafe - @BookMark61 - Good thoughts....thank you for replying....
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