By Frank J. Murray
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A church stripped of its tax exemption for declaring in 1992 a vote for Bill Clinton equal to "sin" has won a key round in its counter-attack against the Internal Revenue Service.
U. S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman found that the Church at Pierce Creek in Vestal, N.Y., had furnished evidence it has a genuine claim the IRS intentionally discriminated in lifting its tax exemption.
The judge, a Clinton appointee to the U.S. District Court in Washington, said the record suggests the IRS treated this anti-Clinton church group "in a significantly different fashion from the way it has treated other churches and/or religious organizations that have engaged in overt political campaign activity."
He said evidence of discrimination is not strong yet but opened the door to internal IRS documents, witness statements or "other direct evidence of discriminatory intent."
The lawsuit brought by the American Center for Law and Justice said only one other church ever lost tax protection.
ACLJ lawyer Mark N. Troobnick called the order requiring the IRS to turn over documents and data virtually unprecedented.
"It is a landmark because I have never seen an order like that in any IRS case before. The question is why is the IRS doing it to this church?" Mr. Troobnick said.
Four days before the 1992 election, the Church at Pierce Creek, its pastor, the Rev. Dan Little, and Branch Ministries, Inc., ran full-page ads headlined "Christian Beware" in The Washington Times and USA Today.
The ads said that while governor of Arkansas, Mr. Clinton supported homosexuality, abortion on demand, and distribution of condoms to teenagers in public schools.
"How then can we vote for Bill Clinton?" the ad said, quoting from Scripture to support its position.
In his order, filed Thursday, Judge Friedman told the IRS to furnish information bearing on investigation or punishment of other religious groups for political activity and said the agency must identify the political party each church favored.
The church, a conservative Bible congregation associated with the pro-life activist Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, contends it was targeted for selective prosecution while politically active churches with different political leanings suffered no reprisals.
The judge noted that during the 1988 campaign the "Reverend Jesse L. Jackson took up collections at churches around the country" and in 1980, Boston's Roman Catholic archbishop issued a letter read from pulpits urging a vote against two Democratic pro-choice candidates.
The IRS had sought dismissal of the case, saying the church presented no evidence beyond a statistical inference that discrimination occurred. Judge Friedman ruled the IRS must produce much of the records and data it sought to help prove that charge, and gave both sides three months to amend their filings with new information.
The fact that the IRS "chose the draconian measure"—bypassing warning, suspension, or fine—supports the church claim it is a target of selective prosecution, Judge Friedman said.
On Jan. 19, 1995, the IRS revoked the tax exemption retroactive to Jan. 1, 1992, since Section 501(c)3 of the tax code forbids partisan political activity.
As a result, the church must file corporate tax returns and church members may not deduct their tithing as charitable contributions.
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