Almost three-fourths of Americans think it was “inappropriate” for the Internal Revenue Service to target Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll out today. A majority of respondents said the government was harassing those organizations. The survey of 1,001...
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Photograph by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
IRS protesters on May 21, 2013 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Tea Party activists organized the protest against the Internal Revenue Service saying they improperly targeted conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.
IRS Was Wrong to Target Tea Party Groups, ABC-Post Poll Shows
Photograph by Greg Johnston
Cayman Islands
Nonprofits: Cayman Islands of Political Money
Social welfare nonprofits, which can keep their donors secret, are a lot like Russian nesting dolls: Open one, and you’ll find a smaller version inside. That’s what courts in California discovered last year when they tried to figure out who...
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Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building in Washington, D.C.
Holder: Justice Investigating IRS
Written with Richard Rubin and Phil Mattingly Attorney General Eric Holder said today that the Justice Department has opened an investigation of the IRS’s examination of conservative political organizations to see if any crimes were committed. Yet he said he...
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Photograph by Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo
A Tea Party Express rally prior to the arrival of former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in Phoenix.
IRS to Tea Party Groups: Tell Us Everything
The Internal Revenue Service had questions. Lots of questions. The U.S. tax agency has acknowledged targeting anti-tax groups with “Tea Party” or “patriot” in their names for extra scrutiny — an admission that has Congress asking questions of its own....
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Photograph by J. Countess/Getty Images
New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, shown here speaking prior to a panel on Gun Violence on April 3, 2013 in New York.
New York Takes Steps Toward Disclosure of Nonprofit Donors
Nonprofits that spend millions on political campaigns are attracting increased scrutiny from the federal government, and lawmakers of both parties are looking at legislation to require disclosure. New York state officials on their own are moving toward requring such groups to...
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Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
SEC: More than 500,000 Calls for Corporate Spending Disclosure
The Securities and Exchange Commission has received more than 500,000 comments urging the agency to require publicly traded companies to disclose their donations to trade associations and other nonprofits, which currently do not have to identify who’s giving them the...
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Photograph by Win McNamee/Getty Images
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus at the National Press Club on March 18, 2013 in Washington.
RNC Suffers Super-PAC Envy
The Republican National Committee is jealous of super-political action committees. That bit of envy is tucked away on page 64 of the RNC’s 97-page “autopsy” of how to right itself after failing to win the White House and a Senate...
Read more »Obama’s Nonprofit Draws More Fire from Campaign Finance Advocates
Common Cause President Bob Edgar, a former Democratic U.S. representative from Pennsylvania, today became the latest advocate of stronger campaign finance laws to come out against President Barack Obama’s new nonprofit organization, Organizing for Action. Obama’s allies formed OFA from the president’s...
Read more »Qualcomm, Settling Lawsuit, Discloses More Than $3 Million in Political Spending
Qualcomm Inc. today disclosed donations to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other tax-exempt groups that, together with contributions to political entities, totaled almost $3.2 million in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. The San Diego-based maker of communications microchips...
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Photograph by Carlos T. Miranda/The Pantagraph/AP Photo
David Gill answers a questions during a debate with Rodney Davis for the 13th Congressional District in Normal, Ill.
Unsuccessful Democratic Candidate Sues IRS Over Regulating Non-Profits
An unsuccessful Democratic congressional candidate and a watchdog group have sued the Internal Revenue Service for failing to regulate nonprofit groups that spend millions on campaign ads without disclosing their donors. The lawsuit was filed today in U.S. District Court by...
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Contributors
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Al Hunt
is a columnist for Bloomberg View and host of the weekly show "Political Capital with Al Hunt" on Bloomberg TV. -
Mark Silva
is deputy managing editor for government news in Washington and editor of Political Capital. He has covered the White House and national politics. -
Emma Fidel
is political editor for Bloomberg.com in Washington. She previously covered financial regulation as a Bloomberg intern. -
Don Frederick
edits political and government coverage for Bloomberg News. He previously worked for more than a decade at the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau. -
Gregory Giroux
analyzes elections, financing of congressional and presidential elections, political advertising and demographics in Bloomberg's Washington Bureau. -
Julie Bykowicz
covers the influence of money and lobbying in Washington, and covered the state legislature and city crime for the Baltimore Sun for 10 years. -
Jonathan Salant
covers campaign finance and lobbying in Washington. He was president of the National Press Club and started in Washington in 1987. -
Richard Rubin
covers federal tax policy. He worked at Congressional Quarterly and The Charlotte Observer before joining Bloomberg News in 2010. -
Julie Hirschfeld Davis
is a senior political reporter for the Washington Bureau. She covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News and previously covered the White House for the Baltimore Sun. -
Lisa Lerer
covers the White House and covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News. She covered Congress, lobbying and the 2008 campaign for Politico. -
John McCormick
is a national political reporter looking forward to the 2016 presidential campaign, which will be the fifth he's covered. He's also reported for The Des Moines Register and Chicago Tribune. -
Julianna Goldman
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Hans Nichols
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Margaret Talev
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and covered the White House for McClatchy Newspapers. She has covered California and Florida politics. -
Cary O'Reilly
is Editor at Large at Bloomberg First Word and is Washington Daybook columnist for Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg News.
