Columbus clergy complaint about pastors alleges forbidden political activity, IRS partiality

Important to encourage Christians, Rabbi tells JewsOnFirst

by JewsOnFirst.org, April 27, 2006

A group of Columbus, Ohio clergy has filed a second complaint with the Internal Revenue Service over partisan political activities of Columbus area pastors Rod Parsley and Russell Johnson. The two pastors are prominent leaders of the religious right, Parsley on the national stage. They have been widely credited with turning out the vote to help President George Bush eke out a narrow victory in Ohio in 2004.

The former director of the IRS division overseeing tax-exempt organizations, Marcus Owens, is now the attorney in the case. He told the Washington Post that he suspects favoritism by the agency. "You have flagrant intervention continuing and no indication of IRS activity."

(JewsOnFirst has obtained both complaints and other documents filed in the case; you will find links to them and relevant news articles at the end of this report.)

The clergy group is alleging that the two Christocrat pastors have improperly used their tax exempt organizations to support Republican candidates for office. Central to the complaint is Johnson's and Parsley's support of Republican gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell, currently secretary of state.

In news interviews some of them have stated that the IRS has not acted on the group's first complaint, filed in January, while it has gone after liberal organizations.

Rabbi Harold Berman of Congregation Tifereth Israel, one of several rabbis who signed the complaint, told JewsOnFirst that last fall, before the complaint was drafted, his son had attended a rally organized by right-wing religious groups at which" thousands of people were told "This is Ken Blackwell. He's your candidate."

Berman expressed concern that such events could lead to the official establishment of one particular religion -- exactly what the drafters of the Bill of Rights sought to avoid. "My issue is the First Amendment," he said. "When the founding fathers talked about the establishment clause they meant that there should not be one religious group" favored by the government.

In addition to his First Amendment concerns, Berman told JewsOnFirst, he thought it was important to encourage the Christian clergy who are taking a stand. "I think they're fighting a fight in their community that concerns all of us," he said.

The Jewish community's reaction to his support of the complaint has been "overwhelmingly positive," Berman said. The exception has been a few who objected because "these people are close friends of Israel." Berman said his response was that it was proper to criticize the religious right pastors for their domestic political activities.

Thirty-one members of the clergy signed the January complaint; 56 have signed on to the second complaint.

The two most egregious instances of the favoritism cited by Owens are the agency's moves to revoke the tax-exempt status of the NAACP and its long-running investigation of All Saints Church in Pasadena, California, each because of one speech critical of the policies of President George W. Bush. The allegations of the Columbus clergy concern use of tax-exempt resources to support a Republican candidate.

According to the second complaint, dated April 6th, both Blackwell and Johnson have admitted that Blackwell was the only gubernatorial candidate invited to events because of his endorsement of an anti-gay marriage amendment on the 2005 ballot. Other Republican candidates and potential candidates were at one event, but no Democrats.

Also according to the complaint, Blackwell was the sole candidate to address several hundred conservative religious leaders assembled under the auspices of the Ohio Restoration Project, a tax-exempt entity run by Pastor Johnson. During his remarks, Blackwell mocked the first complaint filed by the clergy group of 31, saying "You tell those 31 bullies that you aren't about to be whupped," and adding that "political and social and cultural forces are trying to run God out of the public square."

The complaint notes that, while Pastor Parsley insists that other candidates were invited to the events mentioned, Democratic candidates have said they were not invited.

After the second complaint was filed, Pastor Johnson sent an email around with a video of Blackwell at the behest of the Blackwell campaign. It was not long until the clergy group that filed the complaint got a copy of the email, and attorney Owens forwarded it to the IRS as additional evidence. With the May primary election looming, Owens requested the agency take urgent action.

The copy of Johnson's email that Owens submitted to the IRS shows a Blackwell staffer instructing Johnson how to keep the email "legal." But Johnson nevertheless sends it to church staff. In the email he expresses some theocratic views, but he's careful to include Democrats along with Republicans.

Complaints about pastors Parsley and Johnson submitted by Columbus, Ohio clergy to the IRS and related documents

Please be aware that these are all PDF documents.

The first complaint, dated January 15, 2006. Go
The April 6, 2006 second complaint. Go
Marcus Owens' April 26 letter informing the IRS about Johnson's April 16th email for Blackwell's campaign. Go
Johnson's April 16th email with a link to a Kenneth Backwell video. Go
A Columbus Dispatch report on Johnson's April 16th email. Go

Ohio Churches' Political Activities Challenged

Clergy Members Are Pressing the IRS to Investigate Whether Partisan Support Violated Tax-Exempt Status

By Peter Slevin, The Washington Post, April 25, 2006

In a challenge to the ethics of conservative Ohio religious leaders and the fairness of the Internal Revenue Service, a group of 56 clergy members contends that two churches have gone too far in supporting a Republican candidate for governor. Continue

Church criticizes IRS complaint as harassment

By Andrew Welsh-Huggins, The Beacon-Journal (Akron, Ohio), April 7, 2006

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A complaint alleging improper political activity by conservative churches on behalf of Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell is "a campaign of harassment" and full of errors, one of the churches said.Continue

For earlier news reports about the clergy group's complaints, please click here.