Pastor Wiley Drake of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, CA has reportedly been cleared by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of allegations that he violated the ban on election intervention. Drake made it public that he was being investigated by the IRS in February for endorsing presidential candidate Mike Huckabee in a press release on his church's letterhead and on his radio program.

The IRS letter announcing that he is no longer under investigation, and did not violate the tax code, was provided to local media. The letter states; "the press release date August 11, 2007 was a personal endorsement by the church's pastor . . . sent from Rev. Drake's personal email account and sent to personal acquaintances and was not sent to any of the church's congregants. . . . Based on these facts, the IRS has concluded that Buena Park First Southern Baptist Church did not engage in prohibited political campaign intervention in violation of the requirements of IRC section 501(c)(3)."

Drake's counsel was from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and is part of ADF's "Pulpit Freedom Sunday".

The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), an Arizona nonprofit, has started an effort to encourage ministers to "use their pulpits to preach about election candidates this September." 501(c)(3) nonprofits, including churches, are prohibited from endorsing or publicly opposing political candidates or intervening in candidates' elections. The group would like if one sermon prompts an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigation that becomes a court battle, leading towards an outcome ruling the tax provision unconstitutional.

The ADF press release states; "The new initiative will equip, protect, and defend pastors who wish to exercise their First Amendment right to openly discuss the positions of political candidates and other moral and social issues from the pulpit. Participating pastors across the country will deliver a sermon along these lines in their own churches Sept. 28."

The Wall Street Journal reports; "Alliance fund staff hopes 40 or 50 houses of worship will take part in the action, including clerics from liberal-leaning congregations. About 80 ministers have expressed interest, including one Catholic priest, says Erik Stanley, the Alliance's senior legal counsel."

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) responded with a press release denouncing the initiative, saying the "Religious Right group's plan to ask churches to violate federal tax law on electioneering is deplorable."

A church in Tampa, Florida has been accused of making illegal campaign contributors to Florida Governor Charlie Crist. According to the St. Petersburg Times, NBC News obtained an email in which staff members of Without Walls International Church — the largest church in Tampa — were directed to write checks out to Crist for his 2006 campaign. Florida state election records include several $500 donations to Crist within a few days after the email was dated, from individuals affiliated with Without Walls.

According to the original NBC report from April 4th, Without Walls is one of several churches currently under investigation by the Senate Finance Committee on allegations that church leaders improperly profited from church funds.

Without Walls has declined to comment on all the allegations.

501(c)(3) organizations are prohibited from participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office. They cannot endorse any candidates, make donations to their campaigns, engage in fund raising, distribute statements, or become involved in any other activities that, directly or indirectly, may be beneficial or detrimental to any particular candidate.

For more information on the ban on political intervention by charities, see OMB Watch's Resource Center on the IRS Rules.

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) wrote to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requesting clarification of its standards for investigating candidates' and elected officials' appearances at churches. Lieberman questioned why the IRS chose to investigate the United Church of Christ for possibly violating the ban on partisan electioneering with a speech by Senator Barack Obama (D-IL).

The letter states; "I find the Service's inquiry especially troubling because of the Service's inadequate guidance in this area. Publication FS-2006-17, which the Service issued in February, 2006, and posts on its website, states that candidates may be invited to speak at churches in their individual capacity, and that depending on the circumstances, such invitations can be granted 'without jeopardizing its tax-exempt status.'"

"But I am concerned about the chilling effect on legitimate activity by religious organizations that results from initiating a church tax inquiry without first satisfying the reasonableness standard, and I am further concerned by the lack of clear guidance in this area."

Americans United for Separation of Church and State asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to investigate Grace Community Church, a Houston church whose pastor issued a letter of endorsement for U.S. House of Representatives candidate Shelley Sekula Gibbs. The pastor's endorsement letter identifies himself as senior pastor of Grace Community Church. "I have pastured in the 22nd District for 24 years. It is not often I endorse a candidate for office. I want to know if they represent my values. I have thoroughly discussed the issues of life, marriage and family with Shelley over the years."

In the letter to the IRS, AU Executive Director Barry W. Lynn wrote, "Nowhere in the letter does Riggle state that he is speaking as a private citizen. . . . No attempt is made to distance the church from this endorsement. Although the IRS permits pastors to endorse candidates as private citizens, it cautions that pastors must not do so in their official capacity as congregational leaders."

A front page article in the Wall Street Journal ($$) discusses that Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., the pastor of presidential candidate Barack Obama's church, has frequently supported Obama during services. "Mr. Wright's and his successor's repeated enthusiastic promotion of their famous parishioner may be running afoul of federal tax law, which says churches can endanger their tax-exempt status by endorsing or opposing candidates for public office.

Scholars and attorneys say that a growing number of congregations are delving into issue advocacy and partisan politics, a trend dating back to the 1980s, when the religious right enlisted churches to fight abortion. An increasing number of complaints to the IRS over church politicking have triggered agency probes into both liberal and conservative religious groups.

In some instances, the church's ministers alluded to Sen. Obama without naming him. During a Trinity sermon observed by a Journal reporter on March 2, the Rev. Otis Moss III, the pastor, preached, "There was a non-Babylonian, a young man who heard the word of God and said, 'I have the audacity to hope!' Now the whole nation says, 'Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can!'"

On Feb. 26 the United Church of Christ published a statement revealing that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sent them a letter announcing it has launched an investigation into their tax exempt status because it says there is "reasonable belief" that the church violated the ban on partisan electioneering. At issue is a June 23, 2007 speech by Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) at the church's 50th General Synod.

The IRS enforces the ban on partisan intervention in elections by 501(c)(3) organizations, which includes charities, religious and educational organizations, by applying a "facts and circumstances" test to each event. There are no set standards or clear definitions, so that groups that invite public officials to speak must make their best guess at the right way to go about it. OMB Watch has called on the IRS to develop clear standards so situations just like this can be avoided.

The following are among the "facts and circumstances" surrounding Obama's speech:

• Obama was invited to speak in his capacity as a church member and elected official, a year before he became a presidential candidate
• Before the speech church officials warned the crowd that the event was not about the campaign and no signs, buttons, leaflets or other campaign material would be allowed in the civic center where the event was held.
• Obama campaign volunteers were not allowed into the civic center, but set up outside, presumably in public space
• There were 60 speakers at the Synod, including Obama, who addressed the intersection of faith with their vocation .
• Obama has been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago for over 20 years.
• Church leaders got legal advice before the event.

The church's statement denied wrongdoing, instead calling the investigation "disturbing" and likely to have "a chilling effect on every religious community." They have set up a legal fund to help defray the costs of the investigation, so that "money given for mission will not be needed to pay legal bills, instead of ministry needs."

Last September the Street Prophets blog reported that redacted IRS documents on the UCC Truths website revealed that a complaint about the Obama speech was filed with the IRS on August 2, 2007. The name of the complainant is blacked out. Church-state watchdog Americans United for Separation of Church and State had a different view in their June 25 blog statement, saying they saw no evidence that a violation had occurred, going on to note that "What happened at the UCC gathering is a lot different than some of the cases AU has reported to the IRS in the past. In those instances, there was a clear intent to intervene in a partisan race."

The UCC website has a list of news stories about the issue. You can also play the video of Obama's speech. The speech is also summarized in a June 24, 2007 New York Times article.

For backgroundn on IRS enforcement see our Resource Center: IRS Rules on Election Activities of Charities.

Posted by Kay Guinane, 06:07:19 PM

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