Free Republic

Jarrett’s partisan pulpit speech may have violated IRS church-state rules 12:14 AM 01/17/2012 Valerie Jarrett’s partisan speech at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church may have violated the IRS tax rules for churches’ political activities, said a prominent free speech attorney. “It is problematic under current regulations,” said Erik Stanley, a senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, which is campaigning to roll back IRS curbs on believers’ speech. But if the IRS concludes that the church violated the IRS code, the ADF “will represent the church, just as it would represent any church for what is said from the pulpit,”...

ATLANTA — A top White House adviser delivered a message of hope at Martin Luther King's church in Atlanta. Valerie Jarrett spoke at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Sunday and told worshippers that she believed King would "join with us in celebrating the progress we've made" if he were still alive.

On the Sunday before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett visited Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to give a political speech, in support of her boss (Barack Obama) and congressional Democrats. "We all sleep a little better at night knowing Osama Bin Laden and his lieutenants are not plotting a terrorist attack against the United States," she said, eliciting applause from the crowd. There was also a brief jab at Republicans. "Teachers, and firefighters, and policemen, whose jobs are now in jeopardy because congress, well let me be specific, because the Republicans in congress...