Time: Thu Jul 03 06:50:07 1997
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Date: Thu, 03 Jul 1997 06:38:12 -0700
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: Political Use of the IRS (fwd)
<snip>
>
>Tuesday, June 24, 1997
>
>Just how political has IRS become?
>
>At least 20 groups
>critical of Clinton targeted
>
>
>BY JOSEPH FARAH AND SARAH FOSTER
>1997, Western Journalism Center
>
>SACRAMENTO, Calif.--At least 20 non-profit organizations
>"unfriendly" to the Clinton administration have
>faced Internal Revenue Service audits since 1993,
>a survey by the Western Journalism Center, one
>of the groups targeted, has found.
>
>Coincidence? Many conservative leaders and attorneys
>familiar with IRS practices laugh at that suggestion.
>Groups of all sizes and purpose are currently under
>audit, have gone through the process or are threatened
>with it--from large, well-known organizations
>such as the Heritage Foundation, Citizens Against
>Government Waste and the National Rifle Association
>to small, local pro-life and patriot groups. Even
>the two most popular conservative magazines--
>American Spectator and National Review--are feeling
>the inquisitorial wrath of the IRS.
>
>Though officially no one at National Review will
>even confirm the audit, sources close to the journal
>say the audit is the first in the magazine's history.
>
>"We're not talking about an attack on conservative
>philosophy, per se," says attorney William Wewer,
>a specialist in nonprofit law. "Clinton doesn't
>care about ideas. He cares about power and he's
>using the most feared enforcement tool in the government
>to attack people who are opposing him politically.
>He's using government to achieve personal political
>goals."
>
>The IRS denies any political motivations for its
>choices. Yet not a single prominent public policy
>organization friendly to the Clinton administration
>has apparently been targeted for audit in the same
>period, according to two random samples and research
>into the non-profit community. Many tax-exempt
>organizations are, however, loath to discuss such
>matters because of its potentially devastating
>impact on fund-raising efforts.
>
>According to Wewer, who represents about a thousand
>charities, the groups singled out include many
>which have challenged the Clinton administration
>in a "high-profile fashion."
>
>"Every one of our clients who is under audit has
>taken on the Clinton administration vigorously,
>usually through a direct mail campaign," he says.
>His observation applies to most of the groups so
>far identified.
>
>For example, there was the American Policy Center
>and its "Fire Jocelyn Elders" campaign in 1993.
>In addition to a request for contributions, would-
>be donors were asked to mail an enclosed card to
>President Clinton demanding prompt dismissal of
>the former surgeon general. About six months ago,
>the group was notified that it was being audited.
>
>"The idea that someone can write to them and say
>'I don't like their politics, so go investigate
>them' is outrageous," says APC President Tom DeWeese,
>
>The IRS claims it is increasingly dependent on
>these "citizen complaints" and maintains the ongoing
>investigation and audit of APC is simply normal
>routine checking. Wewer dismisses that idea as
>"bogus."
>
>"I know of many citizen complaints that never get
>acted on," he says. "I've filed several myself
>against organizations that were promoting terrorism
>-- some of the extreme green groups and animal
>rights groups. Nothing was done, not even when
>I laid out the entire case for them."
>
>Then there's the strange case of the newly formed
>Wisconsin non-profit Fortress America. Just last
>November the group received its 501(c)4 tax-exempt
>status--a classification that entitles the organization
>to engage in some lobbying and political activities.
>A month later Fortress America sent out a fund-
>raising letter that was critical of Hillary Clinton.
>In January, two IRS agents began investigating
>the group.
>
>Fortress America is so new it hadn't even filed
>its first tax return, hence, no actual audit was
>possible. Washington attorney Alan Dye, who represents
>the targeted group, says he can't recall being
>involved in a case where the IRS began investigating
>an organization before an audit was even begun.
>
>"The coincidence of this occurring within 30 days
>of a negative letter about Hillary Clinton is pretty
>striking," Dye observes. "If the IRS doesn't mean
>to be biased, they're doing everything they can
>to make it look like they are."
>
>Another IRS target was Amy Moritz Ridenour's National
>Center for Public Policy Research. The group played
>a prominent role in the political defeat of the
>Clinton health-care plan in 1993 and 1994, focusing
>public attention on Hillary Clinton's role withe
>the president's advisory task force and its secret
>meetings. In 1995, the group was audited. The group
>also challenged the first lady's access to classified
>information, secured without a security clearance.
>The group called for congressional hearings to
>determine guidelines about such unprecendented
>clearances.
>
>By IRS standards, the group's ordeal was brief
>-- about two weeks. At one point during the examination,
>Ridenour asked the IRS field agent why the group
>was targeted. The disturbing answer: "You probably
>made someone mad."
>
>"Now why would he say, 'probably'?" Ridenour wonders.
>"You'd figure he'd say oh, it's just a routine
>audit, even if that weren't true. To me it shows
>there's an assumption at the IRS that decisions
>[like who gets audited] are made for political
>reasons. It must be part of the environment."
>
>The Western Journalism Center shared a similar
>experience. When an IRS field agent began asking
>questions about the content of the group's work,
>the motivations for investigative reporting about
>White House scandals and suggesting that the center
>should be reclassified from an educational 501(c)3
>status to a 501(c)4, group's accountant protested.
>
>"Look," said Thomas Cederquist, the IRS auditor,
>"this is a political case and the decision is going
>to be made at the national level." Asked what he
>meant by that statement, Cederquist repeated it.
>Only recently, months after the center went public
>with accusations that the audit was politically
>inspired was Cederquist replaced as the lead investigator
>on the case.
>
>None of this is surprising to Wewer who has been
>involved in conservative political activism for
>33 years.
>
>"They're trying to destroy the very warp and woof
>of what makes us work as a country," he said. "The
>democratic system is a robust system, but it can
>be very fragile when it comes to this type of attack."
>
>In response to the Western Journalism Center's
>story of apparently politically motivated IRS audits
>broken last fall in the Wall Street Journal, Congress'
>Joint Committee on Taxation began an investigation.
>Hearings are set to begin some time next month
>and a final report will be issued in September.
>
>Last February, IRS Commissioner Margaret Milner
>Richardson, a long-time political ally and friend
>of the Clintons and a self-described "yellow-dog
>Democrat," announced she was stepping down from
>her post to pursue other interests. The New York
>Post, however, suggested in an editorial that the
>revelations of politically motivated audits may
>have been a central factor in her decision. No
>replacement for Richardson has yet been named.
>
>
>-> Send "subscribe snetnews " to majordomo@world.std.com
>-> Posted by: kalliste@aci.net (J. Orlin Grabbe)
>
>
>
========================================================================
Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness
B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine
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