PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Thursday, February 16, 2012
Contact: Tom Zawistowski
MEDIA NOTE: PDF’s of Original Documents Attached to this Release
Columbus, Ohio – The Ohio Liberty Coalition today announced that it would refuse to comply with an IRS request for information concerning the organization’s application for non-profit status which has been delayed for the past 18 months. The IRS was informed in a letter today from Ohio Liberty Coalition President, Tom Zawistowski, that said “We find that your requests are unreasonable, overly burdensome, intrusive and possibly politically motivated and that they have little to do with determining our organization’s qualifications for non-profit status. Instead we believe that your requests force our organization to either forfeit our First Amendment Rights to Free Political Speech and Freedom of Assembly or deny us the non-profit status we are entitled to under IRS regulations. Neither of which is acceptable.”
The letter went on to say “Therefore, we hereby refuse to comply with your request. We have asked our Congressional Representatives to investigate your actions and intentions and we are exploring every legal means available to defend our rights. We answered all pertinent questions about our organization in our detailed original 1024 application in June of 2010 and see no reason why non-profit status should not be granted. We hereby request that our organization be granted non-profit status on the basis of that application without further delay.”
Zawistowski closed by saying “I defy any American to read this list of demands by the IRS and not be outraged. This is the kind of personal information that this government is going to be demanding from your church, your doctor, your hospital, your business and your favorite charity going forward. This isn’t speculation, these documents prove it is actually happening and will continue – particularly under Obamacare. Like the Catholic Church, we will not comply, we will resist with all our might, and defend the Constitution.”
The Ohio Liberty Coalition is a council of leaders whose purpose is to unite conservative grassroots organizations for greater effectiveness in the state and nation, and to provide resources for member organizations to strengthen their groups. The OLC currently has over 75 liberty-minded groups across Ohio who are members of its coalition.
Attachment 1: IRS Cover Letter Sent to OLC
Attachment 2: IRS Questions to OLC
This really is outrageous! It smacks of the IRS making efforts to track and keep tabs on members of your organization, for possible retaliation against them for evoking their 1st Amendment Rights!
How can it not be politically motivated to delay your non-profit status after having complied with all the legal hoops they made you jump through?
The OLC should start an “End the IRS” campaign. Ending the IRS would be a huge huge huge economics stimulus program. The IRS is used as a tool to silence conservative organizations and churches. Ending the IRS is an astronomically better movement than Ending the Fed which would do nothing but cause financial chaos.
gutsy, gutsy, gutsy……………
Here is a video of how we would End the IRS and replace it with a “Constitutional Tax.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZcNve4QPOo
This video was filmed BEFORE the IRS came after the OLC. IMHO, the Liberty Groups should focus more on Ending the IRS than Ending the Fed. BTW, I give this townhall event and if you have a group that would like to host it, just send me an e-mail, or request that it is given at the We the People Convention. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzHII-aEmzo
Hear! Hear!
This is the kind of political courage needed to make changes that the TEA Party demands. You were left no choice but to take this position. The IRS’s “requests” were completely impossible and even immoral for you to even try to comply.
May your response to the IRS be recognized as a sequel of the Virginia Resolves. The IRS should have learned from the response of the original Tea party patriots of 1773 to the equally heinous Stamp Act. Maybe they didn’t know we were serious about the historical example of taxation without representation or its acronym, ‘Taxed Enough Already’. A line in the sand had to be drawn at this latest injury to our liberty.
The IRS should understand that this has been ‘brewing’ a very long time. How long has it been since “our” federal government acted upon the will of the people? How long have we handed over a fourth or even half of our hard earned money to the IRS? And what do we get for that? A Department of Education who teaches our children to walk in straight lines and where Bibles are forbidden, global Warming is real, our math scores are 47th in the world and educationally, we’re behind Lithuania! Since 1979 and the founding of the Department of Education and more recently since “No Child Left Behind”, our children have all been left behind!
We fight wars for oil yet many of our cars have LOWER gas mileage than the Model A’s of the early 1900′s! Why is this? Why have alternative fuel engines been essentially forbidden in the US? Why would the US bailout industries who are refusing to utilize better technologies that have long been available?
We spend TRILLIONS on defense, hand our 4th amendment over every time we board an airplane, but the FAA and Air Force took over 2 hours to defend WASHINGTON DC on 9/11! There were security measures in place before 9/11, but those were not followed! Our own Pentagon was attacked? What happened to the anti-aircraft missiles on the roof of that building? How were airplanes even allowed to fly in the no-fly zone of the Nation’s capital? Especially when we knew we were under attack for two hours before the Pentagon strike? There are ten pizza shops I could call with only a $15 reward to bring me a pizza in less than an hour! Just think if I raised that to $100 how fast they could get here! Should we give pizza guys a contract to defend the Pentagon, because in light of our nation’s response to 9/11, I think they might have done a better job! I for one do not feel threatened by terrorism as much as I feel threatened by the “security” measures of our own government’s response to it! As Donald Rumsfeld says in this video, the war on waste should have been fought before the War on Terrorism ever began.
How strange that the Secretary of Defense would rat out his own Pentagon budget. This may be the first time I’ve ever seen a Department Head point out waste in his own department. Gee, what a co-incidence that less than 14 hours later there was a surprise attack which would MULTIPLY the Pentagon budget–and the war on waste that Donald Rumsfeld wanted so much, was never launched.
Then again, if Tom Zawistowski and other TEA party leaders are so clueless as to endorse RICK SANTORUM, they might as well hand over their money to the IRS.
“Restore Our Future” ad transcript:
“How did Rick Santorum actually vote? Santorum voted to raise the debt limit five times and for billions in wasteful projects, including the ‘Bridge to Nowhere.’ In a single session, Santorum co-sponsored 51 bills to increase spending and zero to cut spending. Santorum even voted to raise his own pay and joined Hillary Clinton to let convicted felons vote. Rick Santorum: Big spender, Washington insider.”
Too bad Restore our Future’s accusations are correct.
The signers below are in their individual capacities, personally endorse Rick Santorum for President.
Tom Zawistowski, Founder of Portage County Tea Party
Mark Lucas, Leader of Hilliard-Galloway Tea Party & 912
Glenn Newman, Founder of Marietta 912
Burr Robinson, Chairman of Cincinnati East Tea Party
Andy Douglas, Director of Christians for Constitutional Awareness
Larry Heller, Leader of Miami Township Tea Party
Sue Hardenbergh, Co-Leader of Anderson Tea Party
Scott Nichols, Co-Founder of Clermont County Tea Party
Calvin Pauley, Miami Township Tea Party Screening Committee
Kelly Kohls, Chairman of Warren County Tea Party
Marcie Garrison Longenecker, Executive Committee of Liberty Alliance Cincinnati
What a farce to be a TEA party “conservative” if they would endorse such a big spender as Rick Santorum. Whatever happened to “Taxed Enough Already”?
Well stated sherry!
If you think this is outrageous, you should check out the questionnaire sent to the Richmond Tea Party.
Their list is far longer and in it the IRS demands the names and “political affiliations” of all those whom the chapter does business with.
See:
http://files.meetup.com/1395986/IRS%20request%20for%20information%20-%20Feb%2014.pdf
http://www.afj.org/assets/resources/nap/election-year-activities-fo…
according to the above link the IRS is asking for information that is not needed
Hi Priscilla, you link didn’t come through completely.
The info in the link that malfunctioned is from http://www.afj.org/about-afj/
if link doers not work do a search for AFJAC
Alliance for Justice Action Campaign (AFJAC) is a resource and advocate for the 501(c)(4) community. We monitor proposals by Congress, the Administration, the Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service. If nonprofits’ rights as advocates are threatened, we will respond. If regulators try to burden 501(c)(4)s with regulations that will negatively impact their work, we will help develop alternative proposals and advocate for reasonable solutions.