Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

IRS looks at NAALCP's tax exemption

NY Times:

The Internal Revenue Service has begun reviewing the tax-exempt status of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, citing concerns over a speech given by its chairman, Julian Bond, at its annual convention last July in Philadelphia.

In a letter dated Oct. 8 and released Thursday, the I.R.S. told the association it had received information that Mr. Bond conveyed "statements in opposition of George W. Bush for the office of presidency" and specifically that he had "condemned the administration policies of George W. Bush in education, the economy and the war in Iraq."

The letter reminded the association that tax-exempt organizations are legally barred from supporting or opposing any candidate for elective office.

Mr. Bond's speech on July 11 included a long 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.

...

Mr. 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.

Bonds repeats the false assertion that blacks were kept from voting in Florida in 2000. In fact, blacks voted in record numbers in Florida in 2000 and there is no credible evidence that any were kept from voting. This made up victimization has been used as a racebaiting effort to get the same record number to vote again. Bonds has made it clear who he wants them to vote for and against.