For a year the Internal Revenue Service has been under fire for harassing tea party groups. Now it seems the much-maligned bureaucracy is leaking sensitive documents in what looks like an effort to intimidate conservatives.
Forrest Wilder, writing for the liberal news magazine Texas Observer, reported this afternoon that a confidential list of donors to the Texas Public Policy Foundation was released to the public.
The information was originally published by GuideStar, a nonprofit organization that collects and distributes information about other nonprofits. According to the group’s website, their data comes directly from the IRS. By law non-profits are allowed to shield donors from public view. GuideStar has since retracted the mistakenly released list of donors.
This leak is the latest in a slew of strikes against the IRS under the Obama Administration.
Recently the agency was told by GOP lawmakers to stop attempting to revoke tax exempt status to tea party groups. In addition to tampering with preexisting status the IRS has been unduly probing tea party groups in Texas applying for tax exempt status.
TPPF is a major conservative think tank. The group has close ties to Governor Rick Perry, who donated the proceeds from his latest book Fed Up to the non-profit. Perry has been one of President Obama’s boldest and most outspoken critics.
Texas is on the administration’s map, and by the looks of this leak, so is the influential Texas think tank.
TPPF has been an integral part of the conservative shift in Texas politics and many sound economic policies advanced by the group have set Texas apart from the rest of the country.
This attack on a key conservative movement thinktank provides Texas conservatives with more motivation for November.
TPPF does not accept government funds or contributions.
–Guidestar FAQ
-Texas Observer story