<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML xmlns:v = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml"><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=us-ascii" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19412">
<STYLE>@font-face {
font-family: Helvetica;
}
@font-face {
font-family: Cambria Math;
}
@font-face {
font-family: Calibri;
}
@font-face {
font-family: Arial Narrow;
}
@page WordSection1 {size: 8.5in 11.0in; margin: 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; }
P.MsoNormal {
MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; FONT-SIZE: 11pt
}
LI.MsoNormal {
MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; FONT-SIZE: 11pt
}
DIV.MsoNormal {
MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; FONT-SIZE: 11pt
}
H1 {
FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman","serif"; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 24pt; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-style-priority: 9; mso-style-link: "Heading 1 Char"; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto
}
A:link {
COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline; mso-style-priority: 99
}
SPAN.MsoHyperlink {
COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline; mso-style-priority: 99
}
A:visited {
COLOR: purple; TEXT-DECORATION: underline; mso-style-priority: 99
}
SPAN.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {
COLOR: purple; TEXT-DECORATION: underline; mso-style-priority: 99
}
P {
FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman","serif"; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-style-priority: 99; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto
}
SPAN.EmailStyle17 {
FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; COLOR: windowtext; mso-style-type: personal-compose
}
SPAN.Heading1Char {
FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman","serif"; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; mso-style-priority: 9; mso-style-link: "Heading 1"; mso-style-name: "Heading 1 Char"
}
SPAN.apple-converted-space {
mso-style-name: apple-converted-space
}
.MsoChpDefault {
mso-style-type: export-only
}
DIV.WordSection1 {
page: WordSection1
}
</STYLE>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></HEAD>
<BODY lang=EN-US link=blue vLink=purple>
<DIV class=WordSection1>
<P style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Franklin
Graham: IRS targeted us, too<BR></SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Politico<BR>Reid
J. Epstein<BR>May 14, 2013<BR><A
href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/franklin-graham-irs-targeting-91362.html">http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/franklin-graham-irs-targeting-91362.html</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">The IRS came
after Billy Graham, too, his son charged Tuesday in a letter to President Barack
Obama.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="OUTLINE-STYLE: none; OUTLINE-COLOR: invert; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">Franklin Graham,
the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the family’s
international humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse, said that the IRS
notified the organizations in September that it was conducting a “review” of
their activities for tax year 2010.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">With the IRS
admitting it gave extra scrutiny to conservative political organizations, Graham
says he now believes that the review was part of an Obama administration effort
of “targeting and attempting to intimidate us.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="OUTLINE-STYLE: none; OUTLINE-COLOR: invert; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">The Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association urging of voters to back “candidates who base their
decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel” during last
year’s presidential race was the reason why IRS agents visited the North
Carolina offices of both Graham groups, the letter
accuses.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="OUTLINE-STYLE: none; OUTLINE-COLOR: invert; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">“While these
audits not only wasted taxpayer money, they wasted money contributed by donors
for ministry purposes as we had to spend precious resources servicing the IRS
agents in our offices,” Graham wrote in<SPAN
class=apple-converted-space> </SPAN><A
href="http://images.politico.com/global/2013/05/14/130514_graham.html"
target=_blank><B><SPAN
style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; COLOR: #004276; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; TEXT-DECORATION: none; PADDING-TOP: 0in">the
letter, which was shared with<SPAN
class=apple-converted-space> </SPAN></SPAN></B></A><A
href="http://images.politico.com/global/2013/05/14/130514_graham.html"
target=_blank><B><SPAN
style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; COLOR: #004276; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; TEXT-DECORATION: none; PADDING-TOP: 0in">POLITICO</SPAN></B></A>.
“I believe that someone in the administration was targeting and attempting to
intimidate us. This is morally wrong and unethical – indeed some would call it
‘un-American.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="OUTLINE-STYLE: none; OUTLINE-COLOR: invert; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">Graham said that
“in light” of the IRS admission that it targeted tea party groups for added
scrutiny, “I do not believe that the IRS audit of our two organizations last
year is a coincidence – or justifiable.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="OUTLINE-STYLE: none; OUTLINE-COLOR: invert; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">Graham was not
available to comment Tuesday because he was traveling, a spokesman said. The
White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An IRS
spokesman said that he had not seen the letter and could not
comment.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="OUTLINE-STYLE: none; OUTLINE-COLOR: invert; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">The Graham
organizations kept their federal income tax exemptions after the audit — but
were not told they’d be able to until after the November election, he
wrote.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="OUTLINE-STYLE: none; OUTLINE-COLOR: invert; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">Graham, who last
week attended a White House meeting for religious leaders to discuss gun
control, said the IRS story threatens to engulf all manner of non-profit
organizations.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="OUTLINE-STYLE: none; OUTLINE-COLOR: invert; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">“Mr. President,
the IRS has already publicly acknowledged it operated in a less than neutral and
non-partisan way,” Graham wrote. “We also now know that the target of their
improper actions was much wider than political or Tea Party organizations. Will
you take some immediate action to reassure Americans we are not in a new chapter
of American history – repressive government rule?”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="OUTLINE-STYLE: none; OUTLINE-COLOR: invert; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">The IRS review,
which Graham wrote involved an IRS agent visiting the two agencies last October,
followed the Billy Graham ministry publishing newspaper ads in North Carolina
backing a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The
amendment passed in May.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in"><BR></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><BR>Disclaimer:
The Republican National Committee provided the above article as a service to its
employees and other selected individuals. Any opinions expressed therein
are those of the article’s author and do not necessarily reflect the views and
opinions of the RNC.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>