What Happens in Vegas
Mixing politics and the pulpit can be messy business.
Americans United for Separation of Church of State, a Washington group that thinks the line between the two should stay bright, has already sent a couple of letters asking the IRS to investigate the support Mike Huckabee has received from some leaders of the religious right, for possible violations of federal tax law that prohibits nonprofit groups from electioneering.
Today the group showed that it is an equal opportunity watchdog. In a letter to the IRS, Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United, asked the agency to investigate a Las Vegas church whose pastor supports Barack Obama.
Obama was at the Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Christ on Sunday, trying to drum up support before this Saturday’s caucus. Lynn says Pastor Leon Smith’s kind words for the candidate clearly crossed the tax man’s line. I’ve left a message at the church to get their side of the story, but it’s still early in Vegas.
