politico who remembered the story and connected it. quote, we have received information that during your 04 convention in philadelphia, your organization distributed statements in opposition of george w. bush for the office of presidency. whether or not that irs letter was properly sent to the naacp, the impression that the irs would in an election year go after the president s critics, that is a powerful impression. that same year, the irs wrote to a liberal church in southern california whose pastor invited a guest to give an anti-war sermon, an anti-iraq war sermon. the irs heard about that and responded by threatening to take away the church s tax exempt status on the basis of the content of the sermon. the church s local congressman, democrat adam schiff ended up meeting with the commissioner of the irs to express his concerns about that when that happened back after the 04 election. so the inspector general s report on what s going on with the irs and whether or not they
quote, we have received information that during your 04 convention in philadelphia, your organization distributed statements in opposition of george w. bush for the office of presidency. whether or not that irs letter was properly sent to the naacp, the impression that the irs would in an election year go after the president s critics, that is a powerful impression. that same year, the irs wrote to a liberal church in southern california whose pastor invited a guest to give an anti-war sermon, an anti-iraq war sermon. the irs heard about that and responded by threatening to take away the church s tax exempt status on the basis of the content of the sermon. the church s local congressman, democrat adam schiff ended up meeting with the commissioner of the irs to express his concerns about that when that happened back after the 04 election. so the inspector general s
politico who remembered the story and connected it. quote, we have received information that during your 04 convention in philadelphia, your organization distributed statements in opposition of george w. bush for the office of presidency. whether or not that irs letter was properly sent to the naacp, the impression that the irs would in an election year go after the president s critics, that is a powerful impression. that same year, the irs wrote to a liberal church in southern california whose pastor invited a guest to give an anti-war sermon, an anti-iraq war sermon. the irs heard about that and responded by threatening to take away the church s tax exempt status on the basis of the content of the sermon. the church s local congressman, democrat adam schiff ended up meeting with the commissioner of the irs to express his concerns about that when that happened back after the 04 election.
congressman schiff, thank you very much for being with us tonight. good to be with you, rachel. one of the reasons i wanted to talk to you tonight was not just because what you re calling for in response to this current scandal, but also the way you ve responded when a liberal church in your district where an antiwar sermon had been given around the time of the 04 election, they got what they perceived to be a harassing letter from the irs. how did you view that at the time? and what happened when you contacted the irs on their behalf? well, the concern i had at the time was here was a progressive church that invited a former pastor to give a sermon on war issues and got more than a letter from the irs, go the a full audit, very expensive lengthy audit by the irs. and this was at the same time, rachel, when other prominent churches were denying communion to the democratic candidates close to the election in a way to me telegraphed more who they thought ought to be the winners of
one of the reasons i wanted to talk to you tonight was not just because what you re calling for in response to this current scandal, but also the way you ve responded when a liberal church in your district where an antiwar sermon had been given around the time of the 04 election, they got what they perceived to be a harassing letter from the irs. how did you view that at the time? and what happened when you contacted the irs on their behalf? well, the concern i had at the time was here was a progressive church that invited a former pastor to give a sermon on war issues and got more than a letter from the irs, go the a full audit, very expensive lengthy audit by the irs. and this was at the same time, rachel, when other prominent churches were denying communion to the democratic candidates close to the election in a way to me telegraphed more who they thought ought to be the winners of the vote of their congregation much more than anything was said in this progressive pasadena