Huckabee, Wiley Drake, and the Internal Revenue Service

[Famspear]

News item:

Pastor: IRS probes Huckabee endorsement

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer

[February 13, 2008]

Southern Baptist pastor Wiley Drake said Wednesday that he is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service for his endorsement of GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee in a press release written on church stationery.

Under federal tax law, church officials may legally discuss politics, but they cannot endorse candidates or parties without putting their tax-exempt status at risk. Most who do so receive only a warning.

Drake, a prominent pastor in the Southern Baptist Convention, said he received a 14-page letter from the IRS on Feb. 7.

IRS spokesman Rafael Tulino said Wednesday that he could not comment.

On Aug. 11, Drake wrote a press release on letterhead from the First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park that announced his personal endorsement of Huckabee, who also is an ordained Baptist minister.

"After very serious prayer and consideration, I announce today that I am going to personally endorse Mike Huckabee," the release said. "I ask all of my Southern Baptist brothers and sister to consider getting behind Mike and helping him all you can."

He added: "I believe God has chosen Mike for such an hour, and I believe of all those running Mike Huckabee will listen to God."

Two days later, Wiley repeated his endorsement on his church-based Internet show, "The Wiley Drake Show."

A complaint was filed with the IRS by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.

"I commend the IRS for investigating Pastor Drake's flagrant abuse of church resources," Barry Lynn, executive director for Americans United, said in a statement.

Drake defended his news release and comments on the talk show, saying that he was only offering his personal endorsement of Huckabee — not the church's.

"I think I'm perfectly within my rights and I am upset," he said in an interview.

His attorney, Eric Stanley, said Drake and other pastors have a right to free speech, even in politics.

"They can feel free to personally endorse candidates. It was not a church endorsement and he made that very clear," said Stanley, who is representing Drake on behalf of the Alliance Defense Fund.

from

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080213/ap_ ... 6Bu5BI2ocA

[Cpt Banjo]

"They can feel free to personally endorse candidates. It was not a church endorsement and he made that very clear," said Stanley, who is representing Drake on behalf of the Alliance Defense Fund.

Riiiiight....and that's why he used the church's letterhead?

[wserra]

It's not the first time.

"Looking back, I shouldn't have done it," Drake told Associated Baptist Press Oct. 26. "But no one told me what I should or shouldn't do."

Guess this guy needs to be told more than once.

Oh, yeah, he likes murderers too, so long as they murder abortion doctors.

[Famspear]

From the Los Angeles Times on 16 February 2008:

Pastor again asks prayers for demise of group's leaders

Buena Park minister issues the call after finding that the IRS is investigating, at the organization's behest, his endorsement of candidate Mike Huckabee.

by David McKibben, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 16, 2008

For the second time in six months, Buena Park pastor Wiley S. Drake has called on his followers to pray for the demise of leaders of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Last week, Drake learned that the IRS had launched an investigation into his endorsement of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's presidential bid, an inquiry that Americans United had urged.

The endorsement was written on church letterhead and announced during a church- affiliated Internet radio show. As tax-exempt organizations, churches are barred from campaigning for candidates. IRS officials declined to comment on the matter, citing privacy regulations.

In an e-mail Thursday, Drake urged action against Americans United and the American Civil Liberties Union.

As he had in August, Drake quoted Psalm 109, which speaks of wicked and deceitful people and asks God to let such a person's days be few and let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.

"In light of the recent attack from the enemies of God, I ask the children of God to go into action with imprecatory prayer," he wrote.

Imprecatory prayers have been defined as praying for someone's misfortune or as appeals to God for justice.

The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, called Drake's appeal to his supporters "reckless and repugnant."

"Introducing this kind of religious extremism into American life is reprehensible," he said.

If I may be so bold as to venture an opinion (hopefully, without inducing Wiley Drake to call down the wrath of God upon me for my impertinence), I think that Pastor Drake is a slow learner.

[Famspear]

Sung to the tune of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town":

Oh, you better be good.
You better not cry.
You better not pout --
I'm telling you why:
Wiley Drake is coming to town!

He's making a list --
He's checking it twice.
Investigate him? - You're rolling the dice!
Wiley-will-get-back-at-you-some-how!

For if you call the tax man,
Drake prays to his own god!
Yes, Wiley's curse will bring you down --
You'll die beneath his rod!

Oh, you better be good!
You better behave!
You make him pay tax --
You'll be in your grave!
Wiley Drake is coming to town.

He likes his pol-i-tick-in'!
He'll vote for Huck-a-bee!
And if you bring up "income tax",
You WILL be his-to-ry!

Oh, he preaches in church --
You must understand!
He says that his flock
Should vote for his man!
Wiley Drake sup-ports Mike Huck-a-bee!

[Famspear]

Well, I guess I'm in big, big trouble now.

[webhick]

Well, I guess I'm in big, big trouble now.

Is providing a good laugh worth the smiting?

[Famspear]

webhick wrote:

Is providing a good laugh worth the smiting [ . . . ]

Yep.

And anyway, I can't help myself.

[grammarian44]

He added: "I believe God has chosen Mike for such an hour, and I believe of all those running Mike Huckabee will listen to God."

He didn't endorse Huckabee. God did. He's merely reporting facts about God. Because God is not a U.S. citizen or resident, the IRS has no jurisdiction.