The Carpetbagger Report
I'm glad the matter was resolved, but there are still lingering questions about whether the IRS investigation was driven by partisan motivations. It seems scary to think administration officials targeted All Saints because it's a progressive church, but there's reason to raise the question.
From the outset, the IRS seemed to deal with All Saints in an unusual way. For example, when a ministry is suspected of intervening in a political campaign, ordinarily the first step is a warning letter from the IRS. In this case, the agency skipped that step and went right to a threatening letter, stating that "a reasonable belief exists that you may not be tax-exempt as a church."Moreover, usually a house of worship is reminded of legal limits, the institution promises to play nice, and unless there's a pattern of repeated abuse, the matter is final. The IRS seems to have taken a far more aggressive position towards All Saints Episcopal. The church provided the IRS with a copy of all literature given out before the election; the IRS said it wasn't satisfied. The church said it never endorses candidates; the IRS told church officials to either admit wrongdoing or face more intense scrutiny.
Looks to be another shiny example of BushCo™ politicizing government, by taking a page out of Tricky Dick's play book.
Given the circumstances, it's not unreasonable to wonder if, perhaps, Bush-appointed staffers at the IRS targeted All Saints because they didn't like the sermon's criticism of their president. It would be an outrageous abuse of power for the IRS to go after a house of worship based on partisan political concerns, but given what we've seen of the Bush gang, it's hard to offer the administration much in the way of benefit of the doubt.
During Watergate, we learned that Nixon used the IRS to harass and intimidate political opponents. Let's hope this isn't a repeat of the same abuse.
Another story to send to Dan Froomkin.
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