Politico: Franklin Graham complains of IRS intimidation

Jason Sandford May 15, 2013

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

Politico reports on the growing IRS scandal:

The IRS came after Billy Graham, too, his son charged Tuesday in a letter to President Barack Obama.

Franklin Graham, the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the family’s international humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse, said that the IRS notified the organizations in September that it was conducting a “review” of their activities for tax year 2010.

With the IRS admitting it gave extra scrutiny to conservative political organizations, Graham says he now believes that the review was part of an Obama administration effort of “targeting and attempting to intimidate us.”

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association urging of voters to back “candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel” during last year’s presidential race was the reason why IRS agents visited the North Carolina offices of both Graham groups, the letter accuses.

“While these audits not only wasted taxpayer money, they wasted money contributed by donors for ministry purposes as we had to spend precious resources servicing the IRS agents in our offices,” Graham wrote in the letter, which was shared with POLITICO. “I believe that someone in the administration was targeting and attempting to intimidate us. This is morally wrong and unethical – indeed some would call it ‘un-American.”

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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6 Comments

Big Al May 19, 2013

Obama has expressed OUTRAGE that the IRS would do this to his enemies.

You win, universe, you win.

Reply
Dave May 17, 2013

Maybe I’m way off base here, but … if I was employed by the IRS (and charged with identifying potential tax fraud) it would make perfect sense to scrutinize groups that had openly expressed an utter disdain for our tax system??? Wouldn’t they be obvious culprits???

Reply
Murphy May 16, 2013

Luther … you notice that Billy is never video’ed with sound … not when Obama visited, not when George Shea passed a few weeks back …

Reply
luther blissett May 15, 2013

It’s almost as if all those statements being issued under Billy’s name are actually written by Franklin and pushed out by him for political purposes.

Reply
Chuck May 15, 2013

The IRS goes after anyone they want, not limited to conservatives, Republicans or whiny bitches. Are we done crying now?

Reply
1. Murphy May 15, 2013
  
  The noe-cons (foil hats firmly in place) didn’t seem to mind when the IRS during the BUSH regime did the exact same thing …
  
  http://www.salon.com/2013/05/14/when_the_irs_targeted_liberals/
  
  Reply