The Bishop And Obama: Robinson’s Personal Endorsement Doesn’t Violate IRS Rules
Most candidate Web sites contain personal endorsements by religious leaders.
Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson endorsed U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president yesterday. So the New Hampshire bishop has violated the Internal Revenue Service’s rules on partisan political intervention, and his diocese must lose its tax-exempt status, right?
Wrong. As reported in the Chicago Sun-Times, Robinson took pains to point out that he was issuing the endorsement as an individual, which he may legally do. The newspaper reported, “He [Robinson] stressed that his endorsement was as an individual, not as bishop.”
Robinson went on to say, “I will not be speaking about the campaign from the pulpit or at any church function. That is completely inappropriate. But as a private citizen, I will be at campaign events and help in any way that I can.”
Some opponents of Americans United for Separation of Church and State have nothing better to do with their time than bait our organization. Whenever something like this happens, they scream that we are being inconsistent and charge that we only report conservative churches to the IRS.
It’s nonsense. Over the years, AU has reported plenty of churches to the IRS for endorsing Democrats. I’m sure we’ll do it again during this election season.
But Bishop Robinson’s personal endorsement will not be among our reports. The IRS plainly states that personal clergy endorsements are permitted.
Most candidate Web sites contain personal endorsements by religious leaders. U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback’s site, for example, lists an endorsement from the Rev. Frank Pavone, head of a 501(c)(3) group called Priests for Life. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s “Faith & Values Steering Committee” includes several ministers.
A document on the IRS Web site, “Election Year Activities and the Prohibition on Political Campaign Intervention for Section 501(c)(3) Organizations,” says the following: “To avoid potential attribution of their comments outside of organization functions and publications, organization leaders who speak or write in their individual capacity are encouraged to clearly indicate that their comments are personal and not intended to represent the views of the organization.”
The document also provides the following example: “Minister C is the minister of Church L, a section 501(c)(3) organization and Minister C is well known in the community. Three weeks before the election, he attends a press conference at Candidate V’s campaign headquarters and states that Candidate V should be reelected. Minister C does not say he is speaking on behalf of Church L. His endorsement is reported on the front page of the local newspaper and he is identified in the article as the minister of Church L. Because Minister C did not make the endorsement at an official church function, in an official church publication or otherwise use the church’s assets, and did not state that he was speaking as a representative of Church L, his actions do not constitute campaign intervention by Church L.”
Bishop Robinson and “Minister C” have done the same thing – offered a personal endorsement. Neither has violated the law.
For more information about this issue, visit AU’s “Project Fair Play” Web site.