NAACP Under Attack after Bush Administration Criticism

In a letter dated Oct. 8, the IRS said it had "received information" that NAACP Chairman Julian Bond "condemned the administration policies of George W. Bush on education, the economy and the war in Iraq" in a July 11 speech.   Apparently the letter claimed the NAACP  may have violated terms of its tax-exempt status, which restricts political activity, because it "distributed statements in opposition of George W. Bush for the presidency" during its convention in July, 

"Specifically in a speech made by Chairman Julian Bond, Mr. Bond condemned the administration policies of George W. Bush on education, the economy and the war in Iraq," the newspaper quoted an IRS document as saying.

		NAACP Chairman Julian Bond says "I am shocked at this effort to silence our group before the election."." "I criticized the president..."
		Photo By Henry Koshollek

The IRS asked the NAACP for the cost of the Philadelphia convention and "the names and addresses of each board member and indicate how each voted."  Really?  How they voted? 

Mr. Bond said he felt the probe was politically motivated and meant to have a chilling effect on the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in particular its efforts to register black voters, who support U.S. Sen. John Kerry overwhelmingly.   Bond said that the association had a chilly relationship with Mr. Bush, who declined to speak at its last four annual conventions, and that black voters were worried that the problems that kept thousands of them from voting in 2000 could recur this year in Florida and elsewhere.  Bush said he rejected the NAACP's invitation to address it because the group's members have persistently criticized administration tax and social policies that they say have hurt black Americans.  Bush told Knight-Ridder as the convention began that he "would describe my relationship with the current leadership as basically nonexistent.   You've heard the rhetoric and the names they've called me," he said.

Mr. Bond's speech on July 11 included a section that sharply criticized the Republican Party, Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for their positions on an array of issues important to black Americans. Bond told the civil rights group's annual convention in Philadelphia in July that the election "is a contest between two widely disparate views of who we are and what we believe.  "One view wants to march us backward through history -- surrendering control of government to special interests, weakening democracy, giving religion veto power over science, curtailing civil liberties, despoiling the environment. 

"The other view promises expanded democracy and giving the people, not plutocrats, control over their government."

In an interview Thursday, Mr. Bond defended his remarks, saying they focused on policy, not politics.  The NAACP believes the timing of the IRS audit is aimed at slowing down the expected large turnout of African American and Latino voters.  He added, "It's Orwellian to believe that criticism of the president is not allowed or that the president is somehow immune from criticism."  "They don't say I crossed any partisan lines -- they just said I criticized the president," Bond said. "I am shocked at this effort to silence our group before the election."

An IRS statement said "law enforcement decisions at the IRS are made without regard to political consideration." It also said the agency was following strict procedures in the selection of tax-exempt organizations for audit, the newspaper said.

Frances Hill, a University of Miami law professor and an expert on the political rights of tax-exempt organizations, read Bond's speech and said it was indeed critical of President George W. Bush. But she added that Bond was probably on safe legal ground because his speech was broadly conceived, didn't focus solely on Bush and touched on a range of issues that have long been trademarks of the NAACP, such as equality and justice.

"You can be passionate and still have a tax-exempt status," Hill said. "If the IRS thinks that this speech is sufficient to trigger an audit, then I think we have quite a new standard and they must be planning to audit hundreds of other groups."

The IRS spent a decade investigating the Christian Coalition, founded by the religious broadcaster Pat Robertson. The group later prevailed over the IRS in a lawsuit. Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network paid an IRS fine for its involvement in his 1988 presidential campaign.

Bond, a former Georgia state senator, was a founder of the Atlanta student sit-in and anti-segregation organization in 1960. His convention speech mentioned Bush 13 times.

"The NAACP has always been nonpartisan, but that doesn't mean we're noncritical," he said. "As long as we've existed, whether Democrats or Republicans have occupied the White House, we've spoken truth to power." He said Republicans "practice racial division" but also criticized Democrats, saying that "when one party is shameless, the other party cannot afford to be spineless."

Several online articles contributed to this report

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