Falwell’s Tax-Exempt Status Challenged

Jerry Falwell has apparently endorsed George W. Bush for president and, as a consequence, Americans United for Separation of Church and State has filed a complaint with the IRS asking them to take a look at his tax-exempt status. He may lose it - again.

The New York Times reports:

"For conservative people of faith, voting for principle this year means voting for the re-election of George W. Bush," Mr. Falwell wrote in the July 1 issue of his e-mail newsletter "Falwell Confidential'' and on his Web site, falwell.com. "The alternative, in my mind, is simply unthinkable. To the pro-life, pro-family, pro-traditional marriage, pro-America voters in this nation, we must determine that President Bush is the man with our interests at heart. It is that simple." He added: "I believe it is the responsibility of every political conservative, every evangelical Christian, every pro-life Catholic, every traditional Jew, every Reagan Democrat, and everyone in between to get serious about re-electing President Bush."

Mr. Falwell defended the right of a pastor to endorse political candidates in his personal capacity, even from the pulpit. Mr. Falwell said he often did this at his church, the Thomas Road Baptist Church. "I support President Bush,'' he said. "I support him on Sunday mornings from the pulpit where it doesn't cost the church or anybody anything. I make it very clear, just like at most African-American churches and many liberal churches, that as a tax-paying citizen I vote. And I tell people who I vote for."

Milton Cerny, a Washington lawyer and the former chief of the I.R.S.'s tax-exempt rulings operations, said that Mr. Falwell appeared to be at least testing the boundaries of permitted political activity. "Even if he claims he is speaking on his own behalf,'' Mr. Cerny said, "he is using that pulpit and he is using that church. So he is speaking as the church.'' As for the Web site, Mr. Cerny said that tax laws blocked even tax-exempt lobbying organizations from explicitly endorsing specific candidates, as Mr. Falwell did. "If they let him post it, it is still their activity," he said.

This isn’t the first time that Falwell has run afoul of IRS rules. In 1993 the IRS revoked his Old Time Gospel Hour's tax-free status retroactively for two years because it diverted funds to a political action committee. Then, Falwell had the gall to lie about that CNBC. Can Jerry Falwell be trusted? No — I wouldn’t trust him any further than I could throw him.

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