Endorsement prompts IRS to investigate California pastor

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Posted: 2/22/08

Endorsement prompts IRS
to investigate California pastor

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—Outspoken California pastor and former Southern Baptist Convention officer Wiley Drake is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service.

The candidate for the SBC presidency this year is under scrutiny for using his church letterhead and church-sponsored radio show last year to endorse Mike Huckabee.

Wiley Drake

Drake confirmed he recently received an IRS letter noting he was under investigation for using church resources to endorse Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, Southern Baptist minister and Republican presidential candidate. Federal tax law prevents churches and similarly organized non-profit groups from endorsing candidates or political parties.

Drake, pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park, Calif., made the endorsement last August. Americans United for Separation of Church & State filed a complaint with the IRS.

Drake referred reporters’ questions regarding the investigation to his attorney. Attorney Erik Stanley did not return a phone call for this story, but he told the Associated Press Drake did not violate federal tax law by endorsing Huckabee because it was a personal endorsement, not done on behalf of the church.

“Our position on this is that … churches and pastors have First Amendment rights just like anybody else, and that includes the right to speak out,” he said. “They can feel free to personally endorse candidates. It was not a church endorsement, and he made that very clear.”

Stanley is representing Drake on behalf of the Alliance Defense Fund. The group is a national network of attorneys who often offer legal defense of individuals and causes supported by the Religious Right.

In August, after Americans United announced their complaint, Drake told the Los Angeles Times that he wasn’t worried about federal tax regulators.

“They don't scare me,” he said. “I don't give a rip about the IRS. I don't believe in the separation of church and state, and I believe the IRS should stay out of church business.”






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