WASHINGTON - March 22 - Earlier today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) alleging that a get-out-the-vote training session offered by the Pennsylvania Pastors Network (PPN) may have violated IRS rules governing charities.

The PPN is organized by four conservative organizations: Let Freedom Ring, the Pennsylvania Family Institute, the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, and the Urban Family Council. Let Freedom Ring is a §501(c)(4) organization and the Pro-Life Federation has §501(c)(4) and §501(c)(3) components, but the Pennsylvania Family Institute and the Urban Family Council are both §501(c)(3) organizations. IRS law explicitly prohibits §501(c)(3) organizations from engaging in political activities.

According to an article by David D. Kirkpatrick appearing in the March 21, 2006 edition of The New York Times, the first training get-out-the-vote session set up by the Pennsylvania Pastors Network took place on March 6, 2006 and included a videotaped message from Senator and candidate for the United States Senate, Rick Santorum (R-PA). According to the article, after the videotape of Sen. Santorum was played, copies of the Senator’s book, It Takes a Family, were handed out.

One of the speakers at the meeting, the Reverend Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, emphasized the importance of control of the Senate in the event of vacancies on the Supreme Court stating, “[t]his particular president needs the kind of support that he has today but might not necessarily have after 2006.”

As §501(c)(3) organizations, the Pennsylvania Family Institute and the Urban Family Council are barred from engaging in any activity that supports or opposes a candidate. This prohibition extends to implicit candidate endorsements and events designed to suggest a favored candidate. Sponsoring get-out-the-vote training in which Senator Santorum delivered a message, but the Senator’s opponent in a closely contested race, Bob Casey, was not invited to do so, likely constitutes impermissible political activity.

In a February 24, 2006 speech, IRS Commissioner Mark Everson stated that the IRS plans to step up enforcement actions against churches and charities that violate the prohibition against political intervention.

CREW’s executive director, Melanie Sloan said “it appears that rather than engaging in legal, non-partisan get-out-the-vote efforts, the real mission of the Pennsylvania Pastors Network is to assist Senator Santorum in his re-election campaign. This is exactly the sort of political activity prohibited by IRS law.” Sloan continued, “the IRS has already taken action against a liberal church in Pasadena, California for much less egregious activities. If the IRS is serious about enforcing the law equally, it will take action against those involved in creating the Pennsylvania Pastors Network as well.”

A copy of CREW’s complaint is available on its website, www.citizensforethics.org.

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