Free Republic

Obama-appointed IRS Chief Counsel is sued. IRS targeted Christine O’Donnell. So. Buckle in. True the Vote, the Tea Party-style group targeted by Internal Revenue Service officials who are now at the very heart of the IRS scandal, is suing William Wilkins. That would be the William Wilkins who is the IRS Chief Counsel. True the Vote, “the nation’s leading voters’ rights and election integrity organization,” is announcing today that it is adding Wilkins — one of only two Obama political appointees to the IRS — to its federal lawsuit against the IRS. The group is also adding five other ranking...

The key question that needs to be answered now is...WHY WAS CATHERINE TARGETED PERSONALLY? Bell asked: "Was there anything in particular that you think may have triggered that special attention?" Catherine answered: "We believe that much of it had ultimately had to do with True the Vote activities involving our 'Verify the Recall' project to ensure that petition-gathering connected with actions in Wisconsin to remove Governor Scott Walker were following the rules. This was obviously seen as a threat by liberal organizations and unions bent upon recalling him. "It's important to understand that our purpose and actions in this project...

Scandal: The attorney for Tea Party groups has intimidating letters from IRS offices around the country, not just Cincinnati, including one signed by the Tax Exempt Organizations director. This is no rogue operation. If the IRS vendetta against Tea Party and conservative political and religious groups were the act of rogue agents in a single office — a discredited alibi some administration defenders cling to — perhaps they can explain what happened to Catherine Engelbrecht. Shortly after Engelbrecht founded True the Vote, which trains election volunteers to help root out voter fraud, and King Street Patriots, a group with ideals...

Scandal: The rest of us must answer IRS questions under threat of perjury, but the agency's execs can take the Fifth. A Tea Party targeted by the IRS — and the FBI and OSHA and the ATF — thinks that's unfair. We do too. Lois Lerner, chief of the IRS' exempt organizations division when the Tea Party and other conservative groups were targeted for their opposition to President Obama, has invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to be questioned on her earlier testimony, her opening statement or any knowledge she may have of who ordered the targeting, who created the...

Though the White House has insisted the IRS stopped formally targeting Tea Party and conservative organizations in May of 2012, two attorneys representing conservative organizations have claimed the IRS's targeting may still be ongoing. Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) and Cleta Mitchell, the attorney representing True the Vote, have evidence their clients are still being targeted. According to National Review, Sekulow "plans to file suit in federal court in the coming weeks on behalf of more than two dozen conservative groups that claim their harassment at the hands of the nation’s tax authority continued...

Senator John Cornyn’s office has launched an online “hotline” for Texans who believe they were unfairly targeted by the IRS to share their stories.

The conservative Houston-based True the Vote filed suit against the Internal Revenue Service in federal Washington, D.C. court Tuesday, requesting the court grant the organization tax-exempt status and damages from IRS harassment. “We’ve been waiting for three years to receive a decision from the IRS about our tax exempt status,” True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht said in a statement. “After answering hundreds of questions and producing thousands of documents, we’re done waiting. The IRS does not have the power to pocket veto our application. Federal law empowers groups like True the Vote to force a decision in court –...

True the Vote, a Houston-based nonprofit dedicated to fighting voter fraud, has filed suit in federal court against the IRS, asking the court to grant its tax-exempt status (three years after applying) and seeking damages for unlawful actions taken by the IRS against the organization. Catherine Engelbrecht, a member of the Harris County, Texas, tea-party organization King Street Patriots, founded True the Vote after serving as a poll worker during the 2008 elections. Observing how understaffed polling places seemed to encourage voter fraud, she established True the Vote to train poll workers to “true” the vote: “to research the voter...

The foreign-headquartered company that recently purchased the leading U.S. electronic voting firm is boasting that it was highlighted in a report on how technology is making the election process more efficient, secure, transparent, accessible and reliable. The report, WND has learned, was authored by a firm with links to billionaire activist George Soros. The information comes after WND reported two weeks ago that SCYTL recently acquired the software division of a non-profit election organization tied to Soros’ Open Society Institute. Yesterday, WND reported SCYTL announced its technology will be deployed at more U.S. jurisdictions ahead of the 2014 midterm elections....

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) asked Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate election integrity org True the Vote and its associated Tea Party group, King Street Patriots, immediately before the IRS and DOJ began targeting the group in June 2010. Rep. Jackson Lee sent a letter to Holder which alleged that True the Vote was intimidating voters and their election monitors were crossing the line in unspecified “instances” of voter intimidation. The letter went on to directly assert that the “alleged events” were factual and that the True the Vote effort was behind the crimes. The letter offered no documented...

UNREAL!… IRS Shake Down of ‘True the Vote’ Involved Visits From FBI, OSHA and ATF – Who Checked Gun Safe (Video) Catherine Engelbrecht of True The Vote joined Governor Mike Huckabee to discuss the harassment and abuse she received from the Obama IRS since she applied for tax exempt status. Her group does not advocate for particular parties or candidates but just for fair elections at all levels. The group obviously is a huge threat to Barack Obama and Democrats. Engelbrecht reminded Governor Huckabee that in the last 18 months voter fraud cases have been prosecuted in 36 states. Engelbrecht...

Catherine Engelbrecht’s tale has all the markings of a classic conspiracy theory: She says she thinks that because of her peaceful political activity, she and her family was targeted for scrutiny by hostile federal agencies. Yet as news emerges that the Internal Revenue Service wielded its power to obstruct conservative groups, Catherine’s story becomes credible — and chilling. It also raises questions about whether other federal agencies have used their executive powers to target those deemed political enemies. Before the Engelbrecht family’s three-year ordeal began, Catherine says, “I had no real expectation or preparation for the blood sport that American...

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Last week, the IRS admitted it targeted groups with Tea Party or patriot in their name for extra scrutiny. The groups were applying for tax exempt status. True the Vote is one group based here in Houston. True the Vote was the subject of harsh critique during the election season for some of their polling place monitoring work. Critics said it was designed to hurt Democratic candidates. It may be one of the things the IRS was looking at to keep the group from being tax exempt. But after three years of intense IRS questioning and investigations...

Access to all ballots and registration information has been granted to True the Vote for citizen-led audit of the 2012 contest for Florida's 18th Congressional District HOUSTON, TX. May 7, 2013 - True the Vote (TTV), the nation's leading voters' rights organization, today announced its settlement with the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections regarding records inspection rights under federal law and the Florida Constitution. The agreement provides True the Vote access to all ballots, registrations, and other election related data necessary to conduct an audit of a federal election in Florida's 18th congressional district. The audit is unprecedented in that it will be led...

Voter integrity group True the Vote (TTV) filed a federal lawsuit Monday against St. Lucie County Florida Supervisor of Elections Gertrude Walker for failing to uphold election law and for failing to enforce record inspection rights under the National Voter Registration Act and the Florida Constitution. The lawsuit has been filed in light of the gross mishandling of the recount between Rep. Allen West and now Rep. Patrick Murphy by St. Lucie County election officials. "True the Vote's lawsuit will provide information kept from the public. It will allow for a public debate on exactly what happened, why it happened,...

A progressive foundation and a labor union have combined to pour millions of dollars into a “racial justice” group that was hostile to voter ID laws during the 2012 campaign season, according to a conservative watchdog group in Wisconsin. While True the Vote and other right-leaning campaigns were promoting ID requirements for voters and monitoring the implementation of ID laws at the state level, the Applied Research Center (ARC) was pushing back with claims that photo ID requirements at polling places were thinly veiled expressions of racism. Media Trackers, the conservative Wisconsin group, reported Monday that the W.K. Kellogg Foundation,...

True the Vote commented on allegations reported in the media that citizens they trained forged candidate placement signatures, preventing observer placement in Franklin County, Ohio. The Ohio Democratic Party claimed that a True the Vote volunteer, Jan Loar, forged candidate signatures to place poll watchers in Ohio. The Ohio Democratic Party pasted the words of a left-leaning blog in their November 5, 2012 press release.

HOUSTON, TX - The 2012 election will be the first in 30 years where the country will see a large organized presence dedicated to the integrity of votes cast, all thanks to voter integrity group True the Vote. During the 2008 election cycle, Catherine Engelbrecht volunteered at the polls in Harris County, the second largest voting block in Texas. She noticed that although she was there with a small group of people to observe, Harris County had a poll watcher shortage of at least 50 percent. There weren’t enough people observing the election process to prevent fraud. Shortly after her...

Voter integrity group True the Vote has issued a formal request to Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings asking him to retract defamatory statements he made about the Houston based group on national television and in writing. Not only has Cummings made false statements about the mission of True the Vote, he has also misled the public about the group's response to an October 4 request from Cummings for documents, a request he has no authority to enforce. An attorney representing True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht sent Cummings a letter late Tuesday afternoon. From the letter: Dear Rep. Cummings:I represent Catherine...

As I reported yesterday , Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee Elijah Cummings is using intimidation and bully tactics to threaten voter integrity group True the Vote. As I also mentioned, he isn't alone in his attacks. On October 10, AFL-CIO Florida attorney Alma Gonzales sent a letter to local True the Vote leader, private citizen and volunteer Kimberly Kelly, threatening legal action should the group continue their efforts to get voter rolls cleaned up and to train poll watchers for Election Day. Gonzales also accused the group of violating the rights of voters. "According to press reports, True...