The “conservative elites” (yes, I know that’s an oxymoron) claim there’s a “liberal media conspiracy” against them. If that’s indeed the case, why has the mainstream (sorry Guv’ner Palin – “lamestream”) media ignored the clear and damning evidence that the secret right-wing Hollywood organization “Friends of Abe” (founded and run by the likes of Gary Sinise, Clint Eastwood, Kelsey Grammer, and Jerry Bruckheimer) cheated the IRS?
As the new GOP-led senate continues to pummel the IRS and its chief over charges that it “targeted” conservatives, the evidence in fact shows quite the opposite. “Friends of Abe” (FOA) was allowed to get away with enriching itself by falsely claiming 501(c)(3) status for years, while – at the same time – whining to Fox News about how the dirty nasty IRS was depriving it of said status.
This is not a new story. It was exposed in March of last year by AlterNet, Raw Story, Crooks & Liars, and In These Times. And the reaction from the supposedly liberal media? Crickets.
Starting in 2011, FOA founder Gary Sinise announced to the group in a private email that the organization had been granted full 501(c)(3) status:
Friends of Abe, Inc. is now a 501(c)(3) and all contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. You can make your check payable to Friends of Abe, Inc., and send to the attn.: of GS Foundation, 12001 Ventura Place, Suite 201, Studio City, CA 91604. (Remember, any donation from $4,999.00 or under, is not required to be listed on the IRS 990 Tax Return so these donations are private information).
December 19, 2011
But it was not true. It was a blatant lie. In 2014 (three years after the Sinise email), Fox News went on a crusade to finally win FOA that long-coveted status. From
Raw Story:
On Megyn Kelly’s The Kelly File, reporter Trace Gallagher proclaimed, “The group is called ‘Friends of Abe’ named after Abraham Lincoln, and it’s made up of 1,500 conservative members of the entertainment industry. They gather for things like meals, drinks, and to learn about the political process. It is now seeking 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, so that donations could be tax deductible just like some progressive groups. Getting the exemption would prohibit the group from partisan activity. Now ‘Friends of Abe’ acknowledges having speakers like Karl Rove and Herman Cain, but they deny having a political agenda. ‘Friends of Abe’ says it doesn’t just suspect they were being targeted by the IRS, they say they were told they’re being targeted by the IRS.”
Here is a list of the “non partisan” guests FOA has hosted:
Ann Coulter, Scott Walker, Rush Limbaugh, Ari Fleischer, Jim DeMint, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Condoleezza Rice, Antonin Scalia, Dennis Prager, Paul Ryan, Rick Santorum, Charles Krauthammer, Darrell Issa, Herman Cain, Allen West, Dick Cheney, Marco Rubio, Tim Pawlenty, Michele Bachmann, Karl Rove, David Horowitz, John Boehner, Newt Gingrich, Eric Cantor, Rick Perry, Mark Kirk, and RNC Chairman Michael Steele.
Catch any Democrats in that list? Neither did I.
If you or I ever raised money by falsely claiming to be a nonprofit charity, we’d be behind bars. But not the Eastwood/Sinise/Bruckheimer crowd. And now that the GOP is in control of both houses, all the more reason to bring up what Raw Story and AlterNet revealed last year.
More from the extremely detailed Raw Story piece:
Before Republican Senator Ted Cruz flew to Los Angeles to speak to Hollywood’s secretive right-wing organization, Friends of Abe (FOA), Cruz suggested to the Hollywood Reporter that IRS’s reluctance to immediately ordain FOA as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit tax-free charity was a left-wing government conspiracy.
Apparently FOA’s media blitz worked. According to the March 16, 2014, online New York Times, the IRS caved in and gave the group full 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. It turns out the IRS was played. FOA had been gaming the system all along.
It gets worse....
There is also evidence that Sinise was funneling FOA money through his supposed “veterans” charity. According to the site CitizenAudit.org, in 2010, when Sinise got approval for his own nonprofit, the Gary Sinise Foundation, he listed “Abe’s Pal” as a secondary DBA. “Abe’s Pal” was the name through which FOA solicited money.
In the Sinise Foundation’s filings with the IRS, it lists its very specific goals: “To serve the nation by honoring our defenders, veterans, first responders, their families, and those in need,” adding that the nonprofit will provide “relief for wounded warriors, entertainment for service members and their families, school supplies for children where U.S. troops are deployed, and scholarships for veterans.”
If Sinise was indeed funneling money from a partisan GOP organization through his foundation, that may very well be another instance of criminal activity, along with the fraudulent claim that FOA had 501(c)(3) status from 2011 onward.
Read the
entire piece. It’s worth a few minutes of your time.
And then ask yourself why the IRS isn’t fighting back against GOP claims that it “harasses” poor innocent right-wingers. And why isn’t the supposedly “liberal” media reporting on how Friends of Abe gamed the system?
Mon Feb 16, 2015 at 3:42 PM PT: Apparently, some commenters are upset that I didn't just copy-and-paste the entire Raw Story and AlterNet pieces. What the hell is wrong with folks these days? I'm not going to plagiarize another site. Raw Story and AlterNet did the work. Please make a tiny motion with your index finger and click on the multiple links I provided, and read the full story on the sites that first exposed this issue.