OCWF Wins Historic IRS Settlement
Petunia and OCWF researcher Barbara Guardino at the 2013 Oregon State Fair
SALEM-Oregon Capitol Watch Foundation’s Executive Director and former State Representative Jeff Kropf announces the IRS’s historic settlement of an unconstitutional political targeting lawsuit brought by OCWF and 40 other conservative tax exempt applicants through the American Center for Law and Justice.
“After five and a half years in Federal court we finally have some measure of justice against the illegal and unconstitutional politically motivated acts of the Obama administration” said Kropf. “This consent order prohibits the IRS from ever engaging in this type of overt political targeting and sends a strong message to other Federal government agencies that such illegal actions will be punished”
OCWF joined 40 other plaintiffs in 22 states represented by The American Center for Law and Justice in their amended filing in federal court in Washington D.C. alleging the constitutional rights of these groups were violated by secretly targeting these organizations because of their political beliefs.
The consent order was announced yesterday by the ACLJ and US Attorney General Jeff Sessions who apologized for the IRS’s conduct.
“While it was our desire to see the perpetrators of this unconstitutional government action be held accountable and be punished under the law, this is the best outcome we could obtain” said Kropf. “Frankly, it ought to serve as a severe warning to other Federal agencies that are in the news daily regarding other apparent illegal and unconstitutional actions against President Trump, members of Congress and ordinary conservative citizens”
Kropf noted that OCWF first applied for tax exempt status in May 2011 and only after joining the lawsuit was their application approved, some 27 months later.
“We also want to thank Congressman Greg Walden for looking into this situation on our behalf during this time period” said Kropf. “His staff did an excellent job keeping us informed of their conversations with the IRS about the delays in approving our application”.
The lawsuit alleges the defendants violated the First and Fifth Amendments to the US Constitution and several violations for of the Administrative Procedures Act. The Plaintiffs sought judgment by jury trial, compensatory and punitive damages, plus attorney fees. The ACLJ press release, original lawsuit and amended filing can be found at: http://aclj.org/free-speech-2/jay-sekulow-aclj-now-represents-41-conservative-groups-in-federal-lawsuit-against-irs
Oregon Capitol Watch Foundation is a non profit, tax deductible educational foundation dedicated to educating citizens about how government spends their tax dollars and offering common sense ideas for improved government efficiency. www.ocwf.org
