IRS Bails out Rev Wright

[Richard Milhous Obama]

Chief IRS Counsel Got Jeremiah Wright's Church out of IRS Probe Before
Joining Agency



News reports from the time indicate the now-chief counsel of the IRS,
William Wilkins, helped a church connected to President Barack Obama’s
friend Rev. Jeremiah Wright get out of an IRS probe in 2008 while
working as a private attorney.

“Lawyers from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have won the
dismissal of an IRS case against United Church of Christ, Sen. Barack
Obama's denomination,” The American Lawyer’s Zach Lowe wrote on May
22, 2008.

The IRS initiated an investigation early this year after a speech by
Obama at a 50th anniversary celebration of the church last June. It
was a reference by Obama to his presidential candidacy in a talk
otherwise focused on faith that caught the agency's attention. Tax
laws prohibit non-profits--including churches--from engaging in
political speech or promoting candidates. The IRS can withdraw an
organization's tax-free status if the organization is found to violate
the rule.

Lowe noted that Obama had been a “member of Trinity United Church of
Christ in Chicago--a UCC congregation--for more than 20 years. The
church has been in the headlines for several months now as the
congregation lead by the controversial Reverend Jeremiah Wright.”

William Wilkins, then a WilmerHale law firm partner, said, “We were so
interested in the case we offered to do it pro bono."

Lowe wrote that Wilkins and other firm lawyers worked with the
church’s national counsel, Donald Clark, and proved they had invited
Obama to the event before he announced his candidacy for president.
“Evidence presented in a letter sent to the IRS in late March pointed
to ground rules the organization had established for Obama's visit;
the church even cautioned churchgoers against engaging in any
political activity,” Lowe wrote. “Had the IRS pursued the matter, it
would have raised serious questions about the First Amendment's
application to church activities, Wilkins says.”

When President Obama nominated Wilkins to be the IRS’s chief counsel
on April 17, 2009, his White House cited Wilkins’ experience as an
attorney on issues relating to tax-exempt status organization. “He has
a broad tax practice that includes counseling nonprofit organizations,
business entities, and investment funds on tax compliance, business
transactions, and government investigations,” according to the White
House release announcing Wilkins' nomination.

Prior to joining WilmerHale, Wilkins was Staff Director and Chief
Counsel of the United States Senate Committee on Finance. Wilkins
joined the Democratic staff of the Committee in 1981 and served as tax
counsel before becoming Staff Director and Chief Counsel in 1987.

In the release, which included the announcement of a second Treasury
Department nominee, President Obama himself said he was "confident in
the abilities of these two fine public servants as we work to turn our
economy around and give American families the relief they need during
these difficult times. Under the leadership of Secretary Geithner,
they will work to serve the American people and bring their unique
areas of expertise to the job as we work to put America on the path to
prosperity."

Upon the resignation of Steven Miller, several news outlets have
pointed out that Wilkins will likely become a public target of
congressional investigators digging into the scandal surrounding the
IRS’s targeting of conservative and Tea Party organizations.

Reuters wrote that GOP lawmakers’ aides said their bosses will soon
“focus” on Wilkins as they “seek to determine whether the White House
acted improperly.”

“Wilkins' office was made aware of the targeting of conservative
groups as early as August 2011, according to the inspector general
report,” Reuters wrote. “The report does not make clear whether
Wilkins - who reports to the Treasury Department's general counsel -
himself knew of the targeting in 2011, or when he first learned of
it.”

“Another question is whether Wilkins, whose office employs about 1,600
lawyers, might have taken the matter elsewhere within the Obama
administration,” Reuters added. “The IRS issued a statement saying
Wilkins did not participate in the August 2011 meeting, which the
agency said involved ‘staff attorneys several layers below Wilkins.’”

As Town Hall magazine highlighted recently, White House spokesman Jay
Carney has already been pressured by reporters on Wilkins' role in
this scandal.