Conservative Group Says IRS Approved Nonprofit Status After Applying With ‘Liberal-Sounding Name’

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In May 2011, Drew Ryun, a conservative activist and former Republican National Committee staffer, began filling out the Internal Revenue Service application to achieve nonprofit status for a new conservative watchdog group.

He submitted the paperwork to the IRS in July 2011 for a research site called Media Trackers, which calls itself a “non-partisan investigative watchdog dedicated to promoting accountability in the media and government.” Although the site has investigated Republicans like Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Gov. Rick Scott, the site’s organizers are unapologetically conservative.

“One thing we don’t hide is: ‘Yeah, we’re conservative—free-market, free-enterprise, full-spectrum conservative,’” Ryun told Mother Jones magazine last year.

Eight months passed without word from the agency about the group’s application, Ryun said. In February 2012, Ryun’s attorney contacted the IRS to ask if it needed more information to secure its nonprofit status as a 501(c)3 organization. According to Ryun, the IRS told him that the application was being processed by the agency’s office in Cincinnati, Ohio—the same one currently facing scrutiny for targeting conservative groups—and to check back in two months.

As directed, Ryun followed up with the IRS in April 2012, and was told that Media Trackers’ application was still under review.

When September 2012 arrived with still no word from the IRS, Ryun determined that Media Trackers would likely never obtain standalone nonprofit status, and he tried a new approach: He applied for permanent nonprofit status for a separate group called Greenhouse Solutions, a pre-existing organization that was reaching the end of its determination period.

The IRS approved Greenhouse Solutions’ request for permanent nonprofit status in three weeks.

In December 2012, Ryun simply made Media Trackers a project of Greenhouse Solutions and withdrew the Media Trackers application.

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Conservative Leaders Urge Reversing RNC Rules Power Grab

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Mike Flynn/Breitbart.com lede: Monday morning, more than 60 leaders of conservative and grass roots organizations sent a letter to RNC Chair Reince Priebus, urging him to consider Rules changes that would reverse a power-grab by the national party at the convention in Tampa. In August, the RNC adopted a number of rules changes that stripped state parties of their control of convention delegate, among other changes. The rules changes further centralized control over the nominating process for the Presidency. They would give DC greater control over picking the GOP nominee.

Many of the changes to the RNC rules adopted in Tampa may seem innocuous, but their effect would shorten the presidential primary and strengthen the position of any front-runner at the beginning of the contest. They would eliminate the proportional allocation of delegates in early primaries and limit the candidates whose names could be offered at the convention for the nomination. It would also allow stripping state-elected convention delegates of their voting rights.

The letter reads in part:

Conservatism and the Reagan coalition that created the modern Republican Party represents the fusion of economic conservatives, social conservatives, and national security conservatives. Rather than allowing political consultants and other elite minorities to shed our principles in the name of political expediency, we must reaffirm our commitment to these timeless American principles and the work that it will take to again make them relevant to a majority of our citizens.

The signers of the letter cover the breadth of the conservative and grass roots base of the party. They seek to reverse the recently adopted rules at the upcoming Spring meeting of the RNC, to ensure that all voices in the party have a role in selecting its Presidential candidate.

Read the Rest…

 

Engagement

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This is an excellent transcript of what Conservatives and the GOP need to do to win over minorities.  We all talk about how we need to reach out to minorities on the Conservative side, but never really talked about how to do it.  As LilMissHoosier says, we may not win over anyone, or at least at first, but we need to engage the minorities on what they are thinking and what they want.

 

 

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Trivial Forensics: Romney-Like FAIL in Store for RNC

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I hate to play gotcha.  But it’s been a very bad week for the GOP online – as bad as last week was good when the NRCC sponsored the Blogger Bash at CPAC (Kudos, NRCC!).

Today’s Grim Observations
The RNC is still rude and insincere with its mass email (no replies allowed)…

The RNC is still using Targeted Victory for its mass email…
(read: old, busted, crony consultants who ‘helped’ Romney for $17 million)

Thanks to Targeted Victory sloppiness (or boldness) the RNC still has Romney ‘legacy code’ in its mass emails…

The RNCC clicks you thru to hacker warnings…

 

Read the rest here

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GOP Tech Week: Crux of the Autopsy

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The one thing that is emerging most clearly for me in the digital post-mortem of the election (both sides) is this:

The Dems never had nor articulated the perfect assurances that we hear from the GOP that they had their digital/data situation wired, locked in, assured for victory.   Dems freely admit in many recent reports that party/campaign managers could never really have a fully productive, reassuring ‘conversation’ with the dweebs.   Casting my memory back over the last 12 years as the Dems built their formidable digital machine, I don’t recall many instances in which Dem leaders emerged from meetings with the tech folk and announced in advance the perfect tool for victory.

 

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RNC’s Growth and Opportunity Project Wants Your Input For Developing an Action Plan

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Candice Lanier – Last month, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman, Reince Priebus, launched an initiative focused on enlarging the Republican Party and improving future GOP campaigns.

Known as the Growth and Opportunity Project, it is chaired by five Republican leaders who will be charged with reviewing past practices and making recommendations.  The recommendations will involve the following key areas:

1) Campaign mechanics and ground game
2) Messaging
3) Fundraising
4) Demographic partners and allies
5) Third party groups
6) Campaign finance issues
7) Presidential primaries
8) Lessons learned from Democratic campaign tactics

The Project is chaired by five Republican leaders: Henry Barbour, Sally Bradshaw, Ari Fleischer, Zori Fonalledas and Glenn McCall. Input and insight will be sought from Republicans across the country. The Growth & Opportunity Project is currently reaching out to RNC members, grassroots activists, donors, elected officials, community leaders and others in order to develop a solid plan for the future.

The project is interested in hearing your ideas.  You can let your voice be heard by completing the following survey.

Watch the Growth & Opportunity Project Video

 

Mitt Romney Ties Obama to Pelosi in New Ad

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President Obama and the liberals have already raised taxes on the middle class. Mitt Romney and common-sense conservatives will cut will cut taxes for the middle class and close loopholes for millionaires. We can’t afford another four years like the last.

From CNN:

Mitt Romney’s campaign and the Republican National Committee aligned President Barack Obama with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi in a new television adTuesday, one day before the year’s first presidential debate.

“Who will raise taxes on the middle class? Barack Obama and the liberals already have,” the ad’s narrator says, as the video pauses on a photo of Obama and Pelosi smiling for a camera.

It’s the second time in two weeks the Romney campaign has made an ad targeting Obama’s connection to the House minority leader, who remains a frequent target for Republicans.

The 30-second spot, “Already Has,” also attacks the duo on the health care reform bill that passed in 2010 while Pelosi served as House speaker. She lost that position later in the year when Republicans retook the House majority.