By M.D. Kittle and Graham Deese | Wisconsin Watchdog
MADISON, Wis. – To put it bluntly, Marvin Munyon’s Rock River Patriots tea party group has never really had a pot to pee in.
So why this little limited-government organization operating on a shoestring budget made the Internal Revenue Service’s enemies list was a mystery to Munyon and his mates.
“I was kind of surprised. I had kind of forgotten about the whole thing because we finally just gave up,” Munyon said.
The Rock River Patriots, like so many other limited-government organizations applying for tax-exempt status, was given the administrative runaround for more than a year before Munyon, exasperated and “threatened,” threw up his hands and dropped the group’s pursuit of 501(c)(4) status.
“We are being totally overrun by an out-of-control government,” Munyon told Wisconsin Watchdog in January 2014.
Plenty of small conservative groups like Munyon’s felt the same way.
Last month, the IRS released a “near-complete” list of the many groups it targeted, pestered and harassed. The release came more than three years after the tax collector was forced to admit that it intensely scrutinized tea party organizations, and denied many of them nonprofit status.
The government named 426 groups that it targeted, and the Rock River Patriots made the list.
So was the free-market news organization Media Trackers.
Media Trackers obtained copies of federal court filings that include the list. Several Wisconsin organizations were on it.
Not all of the groups are conservative, but the vast majority are.
Wisconsin Watchdog has found at least eight groups based in Wisconsin or with a significant Badger State presence that made the list.
Those targeted in Lois Lerner’s dragnet included:
Wisconsin Faith and Freedom Coalition Inc. – A national organization “devoted to preserving the simple American virtues.” It holds conservative positions on social and economic policy issues, and works to create grassroots movements among voters of faith in key states.
Wisconsin Small Businesses United – An advocate for small businesses, opposing higher taxes and costly regulations.
United Wisconsin Movement Inc. – The grassroots progressive group that was most heavily involved in the effort to recall Gov. Scott Walker.
Consumer Rights Wisconsin – An organization that advocates reducing regulations and increasing choice for consumers in Wisconsin.
Autonomous Solidarity Organization – A community-based grassroots group organized by people who attended the occupation of the Wisconsin State Capitol in February 2011.
Constitution Counts Inc. – A non-profit organization based out of Rice Lake, Wis. This independent grassroots organization says its mission is increasing citizen participation.
Rock River Patriots Inc. – A Wisconsin-based grassroots activist group dedicated to individual liberty and limited government.
Media Trackers – A free-market news organization dedicated to media accountability and government transparency.
After spending seemingly endless hours fighting Lerner’s nonprofit organization division at the IRS, the Rock River Patriots could fight no more.
The group dropped its fatiguing pursuit of 501(c)(4) status after the IRS eventually ceased its push to penalize the organization with fines and penalties. The agency has yet to give the Rock River Patriots its application fee back.
“That’s all we were asking for in the end. We just wanted our money back,” Munyon said. “They said, ‘We don’t do that.’ They sent a letter informing us that since we had withdrawn our application, that if we applied in the future, we would have to pay another fee.”
A chilling effect
The Rock River Patriots were caught in an administrative Catch-22. Munyon in April 2012 applied for 501(c)(4) designation for the group, as a pending tax-exempt organization.
Munyon was informed by letter in January 2013 that the IRS was delayed in reviewing applications for tax-exempt status, all the while the meter was running on the conservative organization’s tab with the IRS.
The agency eventually did offer the group a “special” tax-exempt status, if Munyon would pledge the group never had or never would violate election law.
Munyon said he didn’t want that kind of help from an agency now notorious for targeting conservative groups, found to have flagged and delayed limited government nonprofits applying for tax-exempt status.
Critics argue it was mission accomplished for the IRS, that the ultimate goal of the targeting campaign was to chill conservative speech and association.
It’s that chilling effect that drove a lawsuit 1,000-plus days in the making.
In late March, a three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, having lost patience with the government’s foot-dragging, ordered the IRS to turn over details on tax-exempt applicants.
An attorney for the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit against the agency told Wisconsin Watchdog that the IRS had delivered a “large production” of documents within a week after the ruling, as ordered by the court.
“We’re very pleased to have it, said Eddie Greim, attorney for Graves Garrett LLC. “We hope to piece it all together and understand how the targeting scheme unfolded over time.”
What we know to date is that the total number of groups targeted is much higher than the 298 groups the IRS’ inspector general identified more than three years ago, according to the Washington Times.
Greim, who represents NorCal Tea Party Patriots and other members of the class, told the Times the list could have ballooned toward the end of the dragnet, when the IRS, knowing it was under investigation, began targeting more liberal groups to soften perceptions of political bias.
Lerner, a close personal friend of the state Government Accountability Board’s Kevin Kennedy, offered Kennedy advice on the GAB’s unconstitutional John Doe investigation into conservative groups.
The Rock River Patriots still meet, just not as much as they once did. There aren’t any card-carrying members; just average citizens interested in discussing ideas on how to make government smaller and less intrusive.
“We’re just a little grassroots group,” Munyon said. “I wish I knew what the red flags were that caused them to go after us. Was it just a name? We deal on such a shoestring budget (that) we weren’t a threat to anybody financially that I knew of.”
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