Va. Group Loses Charity Status Over Political Statements

The Internal Revenue Service has pulled a conservative-aligned nonprofit’s tax exemption for engaging in what the agency called “a pattern of deliberate and consistent intervention in political campaigns,” USA Today writes.

The Manassas, Va.-based Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty was founded in 1996 by Gary Aldrich, a former FBI agent and a fierce critic of Bill and Hillary Clinton. The center’s website featured a 2004 article Mr. Aldrich wrote as part of the “Swift Boat” campaign against presidential candidate John Kerry and a 2005 piece in which he called on “Clinton haters” to tell voters about Hillary Clinton’s “atrocious conduct.”

The center was a registered 501(c)(3) charity, a designation that carries a ban on explicit engagement in electoral politics. The IRS move means donations to the group, which reported revenue of $343,503 on its most recent tax return in 2012, are no longer tax-deductible. Mr. Aldrich did not return phone calls or emails seeking comment.