Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1997 13:46:05 -0500 (EST)
From: [p--t--n] at [utdallas.edu]
To: Multiple recipients of list <[n--b--n] at [Mainstream.net]>
Subject: IRS wants NRA Membership List (fwd)


NRA won't release members' names to IRS
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IRS demands confidential list
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By Rowan Scarborough: Washington Times February 3, 1997

The National Rifle Association is balking at Internal Revenue Service
demands to turn over its confidential membership list as part of an audit
begun 18 months ago and slated to last more than two years.

"Not only have we said no, we've said it in much stronger terms than that,"
said NRA Executive Vice President Wayne R. LaPierre Jr.

The IRS showed up at the NRA's door in 1995 after President Clinton publicly
lashed out at the nation's leading gun lobby, blaming it for the Republican
takeover of Congress in the 1994 elections.

The audit is costing the group about $1,000,000 a year in legal and
accounting fees, office space and other costs, said Wilson H. Phillips Jr.,
NRA treasurer and chief financial officer.

"It's a separate line on our budget," Mr. Phillips said.  "We budget about
$1 million a year. Last year, it looks like we ended up just under that."

The group is one of about a dozen conservative public policy groups the IRS
has chosen to audit since 1994, All have opposed Clinton Administration
policies.  Two are mentioned in an internal White House report as
responsible for negative news stories about the president and first lady
Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Mr. Phillips said in an interview the dispute over access to the names and
addresses of dues-paying NRA members is likely headed for the courts.  The
NRA's membership list contains some 2.8 million names.

The association worries that if the IRS, with its extensive powers to audit
individuals and businesses , obtains custody of the members' list,
gun owners will be discouraged from joining.

IRS agents began the audit in June 1995, parked themselves at NRA
headquarters for months and demanded reams of internal documents.

Mr Phillips said the IRS is employing a far-reaching team approach called a
Coordinated Examination Program (CEP).

The IRS typically uses a CEP for tax-exempt groups who have offices in
different geographic regions and whose assests or income exceed $50 million.
The NRA estimates its net worth at $85 million.

Neither Mr. LaPierre nor Mr. Phillips would directly criticize the IRS for
so rigorous an audit.

When asked to discuss in general Mr. Clinton's use of federal law
enforcement agencies, Mr. LaPierre said: "I think there has been a tendency
to politicize a lot of the federal agencies in the Clinton Administration."

Frank Keith, an IRS spokesman in Washington, declined to say whether it is
routine to request a group's membership list during a Coordinate Examination
Program.  He said federal law prevents him from discussing individual cases.

A spot check of other conservative groups under IRS audit found that they
were not asked to provide a membership list.

The NRA is a nonprofit group that under IRS rules may engage in political
activity.  The lobby also operates foundations for which donations are
tax-deductible. The foundations are barred from participating in political
campaigns.

IRS audits typically check to make sure the tax-deductible groups,
designated 501(c)3, are not involved in partisan politics.

President Clinton, still stinging from the Democrats' election debacle,
singled out the NRA for blame in an interview with the Cleveland Plain
Dealer published on Jan. 14, 1995.

"The fights that I fought, bloody though they were, cost a lot," Mr. Clinton
said.  "The fight for the assault-weapons ban cost 20 members their seats in
Congress.  The NRA is the reason the Republicans control the House. I can't
believe nobody has written that story, but it is - partly because our guys
didn't know how to fight them, the NRA."

One month later, the IRS notified the NRA it would face a sweeping audit,
which began the following June.

The IRS denies that politics are a factor in choosing which organizations to
audit.  Officials say many decisions are based on media reports about a
group's activities or complaints from opponents.  Conservatives contend this
makes them juicy targets since the press, which they describe as liberal,
tends to churn out more critical reports on right-of-center advocacy groups.

The struggle with the IRS comes as Mr. LaPierre is fending off a challenge
from dissident members of the board of directors.

A vote on whether to retain Mr. LaPierre is expected at a Feb. 8-9 board
meeting.  Board member Neal Knox, who is leading the anti-LaPierre movement,
said the IRS audit has no bearing on the issue.
      
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