Free Republic

WASHINGTON - A liberal watchdog group is challenging Focus on the Family's tax-exempt status, claiming that founder James Dobson crossed clear IRS guidelines with his increased political involvement in recent years. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate and consider revoking the nonprofit corporation status of the Colorado Springs-based Christian media empire. The complaint focuses on Dobson's work on behalf of several Republican candidates in 2004, including Rep. Patrick Toomey's unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. Although Dobson has said that he acts only as an individual when making endorsements, the...

It has emerged in the United States that Vice-President Dick Cheney took part in a promotional video for the disgraced accounting firm Andersen. The news came just before an anti-corruption pressure group filed a lawsuit against Mr Cheney, alleging fraudulent accounting practices. In the video Mr Cheney - then Chief Executive of the oil company Halliburton - describes how Andersen gave advice "over and above" what would normally be expected from auditors. Last month, the firm was convicted of obstructing justice by shredding documents relating to the failed US energy giant Enron. On Tuesday President George W Bush tried...