Topic category:  Corruption in Government

True the Vote is a nonpartisan, voters’ rights and election integrity organization focused on preserving election integrity and is operated by citizens for citizens, to inspire and equip volunteers for involvement at every stage of our electoral process. It empowers organizations and individuals across the nation to actively protect the rights of legitimate voters, regardless of their political party affiliation.

Catherine Engelbrecht, True the Vote founder and president, filed for tax exempt status for True the Vote in 2010.

Unsurprisingly, the Obama Internal Revenue Service did not approve the application before the 2012 elections, even though True the Vote's application should have been approved in regular course long before.

So this year, tired of waiting and jumping through a series of hoops specially devised for it, True the Vote sued the Internal Revenue Service.

True the Vote was bold and resolute, as fellow Americans needed it to be, and received a positive response from them.

True the Vote posted this simple message of its website (www.truethevote.com): "...thank you for standing with us. Know we will stand with and for you - and we will not bow."

Since True the Vote would not bow (and the Obama IRS wants discovery about as much as the Obama State Department wants the whole truth about the attack of its facility in Benghaza to become public), the IRS bowed!

Take note, Rinos and timid Republicans.

Herewith True the Vote's press release announcing its lawsuit:

TRUE THE VOTE FILES SUIT AGAINST THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE

HOUSTON, TX. May 21, 2013 - True the Vote (TTV), the nation's leading voters’ rights organization, filed suit in federal court in Washington today against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), asking the Court to grant its long-awaited tax exempt status and seeking damages for the unlawful actions by the IRS in the processing of its application for exempt status. ActRight Legal Foundation, a 501(c)3 fundamental right.

“We’ve been waiting for three years to receive a decision from the IRS about our tax exempt status,” True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht said. “After answering hundreds of questions and producing thousands of documents, we’re done waiting. The IRS does not have the power to pocket veto our application. Federal law empowers groups like True the Vote to force a decision in court – which is precisely what we aim to do.”

“True the Vote is dedicated solely to promoting election integrity in our Republic,” Engelbrecht said. “Our mission is to educate Americans on all of the rights they enjoy as voters. We do not pick winners and losers, but instead fortify the voting process so that it is fair and free. If this goal is deserving of such scrutiny, then we have serious questions that we, as a nation, must face,” she added.

Cleta Mitchell, counsel to True the Vote and of counsel to ActRight Legal Foundation, stated, “We are not going to allow the IRS to claim, as it has been doing in the past week, that the targeting of conservative groups is over and ‘everything has been fixed.’ It is not yet fixed and this litigation is a vital step both to resolve True the Vote’s status and to learn exactly what happened inside the IRS.”

True the Vote’s lawsuit consists of three counts:

Count One: Seeks recognition of True the Vote as a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization pursuant to 26 USC § 7428.

Count Two: Seeks damages and injunctive relief from the IRS and IRS employees and agents, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), for violation of True the Vote's constitutional rights by virtue of the actions of the government in unlawfully targeting and delaying recognition of True the Vote's exempt status.

Count Three: Seeks damages and injunctive relief against the IRS and IRS employees, pursuant to 26 USC § 7431, for their unlawful intrusions into True the Vote’s activities by requiring the filing of voluminous materials with the IRS, then unlawfully inspecting and potentially disseminating the information.

“This is just the first of several cases ActRight Legal Foundation plans to file against the IRS and those within the agency who have violated the constitutional rights of these citizens’ organizations,” said Dr. John Eastman, Chairman of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence and of Counsel to ActRight Legal Foundation.

True the Vote posted this illuminating update:

Keeping you updated on True the Vote v. IRS

True the Vote continues to be amazed by the outpouring of support for our lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. Although you may not have heard much in the news about the scandal recently, the lawsuit is going full-steam ahead.

We are still in the phase of litigation where preliminary filings are the bulk of the action. We do have, however, a few matters that we believe you would find interesting.

In late July TTV added IRS Chief Counsel William Wilkins - one of only two presidential appointees in the entire Service. Our legal team felt that naming Mr. Wilkins as a defendant would help aid our effort to dig even deeper into the real facts of this scandal. Further, we added a charge that stated IRS employees violated the Administrative Procedures Act.

The federal judge assigned to our case is the Honorable Reggie B. Walton, a President George W. Bush appointee.

You can find his official website here. Judge Walton recently ordered more time be allowed to federal defendants in order to respond to our Complaint. True the Vote expects to start seeing answers this week.

True the Vote wants to keep you in the loop of all critical files in this lawsuit. Below are some links to give you the full picture of our case as it stands now. Thank you for your support!

Amended Complaint

Exhibit A: Timeline of Events

Exhibit B: Form 1023

Exhibit C: IRS Request for Information #1

Exhibit D: IRS Request for Information #2

Exhibit E: IRS Request for Information #3

Exhibit F: Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Report

Exhibit G: Letter from Office of the Taxpayer Advocate to Sen. Cornyn

Exhibit H: Letters from Members of Congress to Commissioner Werfel

Defendants Lois Lerner and Holly Paz made news earlier this week when Breitbart News reported that they had asked high-powered DC lawyers to represent them at approximately $1,000 per hour. It is still not clear how underpaid, over-worked civil servants such as these can afford such top-flight attorneys on a government salary.

As if you didn't need more proof of IRS targeting, USA Today published the actual target list of organizations seeking nonprofit status this week. Yes, True the Vote is listed with agency commentary as well.

Then the IRS bowed.

HERE'S THE TRUE THE VOTE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE GREAT NEWS (http://www.truethevote.org/news/department-of-justice-and-irs-agree-to-grant-true-the-vote-s-tax-exempt-status-in-irs-lawsuit):

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND IRS AGREE TO GRANT TRUE THE VOTE’S TAX EXEMPT STATUS IN IRS LAWSUIT

WASHINGTON, D.C. - September 23, 2013 - Attorneys from the Department of Justice (DOJ) advised the federal court in Washington, DC late Friday that the IRS has determined to “grant True the Vote (TTV)’s tax exempt status” with the concurrence of the DOJ.

“We are pleased and relieved that the IRS and the DOJ are finally doing what should have been done three years ago, which is to recognize TTV as a charitable and educational organization, which we have always been and will continue to be,” said True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht.

TTV, the nation's leading voters’ rights organization, filed with the IRS for 501(c)(3) tax exempt status in July 2010 and has been awaiting a decision on its application for more than three years. After discovering in May, 2013, that its application was part of a much larger scheme targeting perceived ‘tea party’ organizations for heightened scrutiny and years of delay in processing their applications, TTV filed suit in federal district court in Washington, D.C. requesting that the Court order that its tax-exempt status be granted. ActRight Legal Foundation, a 501(c)(3) a fundamental rights public interest law firm, represents True the Vote in the lawsuit (True the Vote v. United States of America (Civil Action No. 1:13-cv-00734-RBW)).

In addition, DOJ is arguing to the Court that since the IRS is now willing to grant TTV’s tax exempt status, the lawsuit should be dismissed as ‘moot’.

Cleta Mitchell, lead counsel in the litigation, and a partner at Foley & Lardner, LLP in Washington, DC, responded to the DOJ filings by noting, “While we are glad the IRS has realized TTV’s tax exempt status should be granted and is now moving to rectify its failure to do sooner, this case is far from moot. There are still many questions to be answered, such as:

When is the IRS going to actually issue its letter granting tax exempt status to True the Vote?

What about the costs and damages incurred by True the Vote for the past three years while the IRS unlawfully delayed issuing the letter of recognition?

What about all of the confidential and proprietary information sought and demanded from True the Vote that the Treasury Inspector General has stated was not necessary for determining True the Vote’s eligibility for exempt status, and which is now apparently going to be made public?

What about the violation of True the Vote’s constitutional rights by the IRS and its agents and employees during the course of these last 3 years?

“This lawsuit is about getting to the truth and we are not going to stop until we find out the answers to these and many other questions,” added Ms. Mitchell.

“If the IRS is right in its arguments that the IRS can violate the citizens’ constitutional rights and there is no ‘check’ on its power to do so, then the American people need to know that. I cannot believe, as an American citizen, that the IRS is above the law and I refuse to accept that a citizen has no remedy against the IRS for the kinds of things it has done to our group these past three years. This case is just getting started,” concluded Ms. Engelbrecht.

KEEP IT UP, TRUE THE VOTE! AMERICAN NEEDS THE TRUTH AND TRUE VOTING!

And Michelle Malkin was ever so right about the Obama Administration's "Culture of Corruption."

Michael J. Gaynor

Biography - Michael J. Gaynor

Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.

Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.

The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.

Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.

Gaynor's email address is gaynormike@aol.com.