WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service has informed the NAACP that it is investigating whether the civil rights organization improperly "intervened in a political campaign" when it posted on its website a speech by Chairman Julian Bond that condemned the Bush administration's policies.
The IRS sent a letter Oct. 8, less than a month before Tuesday's election, to the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People informing it of the investigation. The group has until Nov. 5 to respond.
"I think what's at issue is our right to criticize the president of the United States," Bond said Thursday. "The IRS is saying that because I criticized the president's education policies, his economic policies and his war policies that somehow I placed the tax exemption for the NAACP at risk."
Bond, 64, a college professor at the University of Virginia and American University, said the timing of the inquiry raised questions about the administration's motives.
President Bush's relationship with the NAACP, the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization, has been contentious. He appeared before the group as a candidate for president in 2000, but has rejected all invitations since.
Asked about the IRS investigation, the Bush campaign referred all questions to the agency, which issued a statement from IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. Without mentioning the NAACP investigation by name, Everson denied that the agency was politically motivated.
"Law enforcement decisions at the IRS are made without regard to political considerations," Everson said.
At issue is a speech Bond delivered July 11 at the NAACP's 95th annual convention in Philadelphia.
The speech touched on Bond's personal history, the history of racial discrimination in America and the Bush administration.
"The NAACP has always been nonpartisan, but that doesn't mean we're noncritical. For as long as we've existed, whether Democrats or Republicans have occupied the White House, we've spoken truth to power," Bond said in the keynote address.
He then went on criticize the administration's positions on affirmative action, the war in Iraq, civil rights and the economy. "They write a new constitution for Iraq and ignore the Constitution here at home," he said.
"If a president lies about having an affair, they say, 'Impeach him!' If a president lies about going to war, they say, 'Reelect him!' " Bond continued.
