VERY
FRIGHTENING’: PROMINENT CATHOLIC PROF. CLAIMS IRS AUDITED HER AFTER SPEAKING
OUT AGAINST OBAMA AND DEMANDED TO KNOW WHO WAS PAYING HER
·
Noted professor and sociologist Dr. Anne Hendershott
claims IRS may have targeted her with a 2010 audit
· IRS demanded to
know which groups paid her and “what their politics were”
· Hendershott
believes her articles critical of President Barack Obama’s policies
and George Soros’ funding of liberal Catholic groups may have spawned
the IRS audit
·
Audit was emotionally and financially expensive and scared
the professor into silence
Dr. Anne
Hendershot (Photo Credit: Franciscan University)
In the midst of the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) scandal,
individuals and groups, alike, are continuing to come forward with
ever-startling allegations. On Wednesday, Dr. Anne Hendershott, a devout
Catholic and a noted sociologist, professor and author, exclusively told
TheBlaze that she believes she may have been one of the IRS’s targets.
According to
Hendershott, the IRS audited her in 2010 and demanded to know who was paying
her and “what their politics were.”
It all started with a
phone call she received at her home in May of that year — a call during
which Hendershott was told she would be audited. A letter that followed on
May 19, 2010 solidified the IRS’s request to meet her in person two months
later in July. While IRS investigations are certainly not uncommon occurrences,
the professor believes that the situation surrounding hers was
more-than-curious.
“The IRS calls my
house and says … ‘I just wanted to let you know that we’re going to be auditing
your business’ and I said ‘My businesses?’ and he said, ‘You know the expenses
you take off for writing,” the academic recalls.
Hendershott was
surprised she was being audited on business grounds considering she does not
operate an entrepreneurial endeavor in the traditional sense. In
addition to her academic work, she told TheBlaze that she
occasionally freelances for Catholic outlets and for the Wall Street
Journal. But can this really be considered “business” activity?
“I don’t make a lot of
money from writing. In fact most years I don’t show a profit,” she told
TheBlaze.
Hendershott said some
of the outlets and organizations she has written for haven’t paid her a cent.
But the circumstances
surrounding the irregular nature of the experience don’t end
there. Hendershott noted it was particularly surprising that she, alone,
was audited. Her husband, who brings in the vast majority of the family’s
income, was not included in the IRS’s inquiry — even though the
Hendershotts always files jointly.
So when the agent
explained that she would need to come alone and in person to discuss her
“business” activity in July of 2010, the professor was perplexed.
“[The IRS agent]
didn’t even let me decide when it would be good for me … He didn’t want my
husband to come,” she said of the meeting, which was held at an IRS office in
New Haven, Connecticut.
The process was
a grueling one, including many questions that Hendershott felt were
political in nature. Numerous records were requested before the in-person
meeting, as well as during and after.
“Every question had to
do with bank deposits we made. Every single question,” she said.
“What is this money? And I didn’t know a lot of it. We had to go to our bank
and get deposits back. We had to get records showing where the money came
from.”
While asking about the
deposits, the agent wanted to know if the monies came from groups and, if so,
what the organizations’ politics were.
The mention of groups,
Hendershott notes, is particularly interesting, as she had been writing for
numerous Catholic outlets and organizations at the time. In addition to
Catholic World Report and the Catholic Advocate, she also penned op-eds for the
Wall Street Journal. Many of these writings were critical of President Barack
Obama and his policies.
And the plot thickens.
Among the organizations she targeted in her writings were progressive groups
highly supportive of Democratic causes, including: Catholics in Alliance
for the Common Good, Catholics United, and Catholic Democrats.
At the time, one of
the founders of Catholics United, Chris Korzen, had become a target of her
work, as she exposed, in her view, his true leftist agenda and some of the
complicated theological stances the left-of-center organizations he associated
with were taking. Plus, there were alleged financial ties with billionaire
liberal George Soros. Here’s just two paragraphs from an article she wrote in March
2010, just months before her meeting with IRS officials:
Yup, that's me with an empty wallet standing outside the IRS in DC
On its website,
Catholics United describes itself as a 501(c) (4) non-profit
organization—eligible to accept donations. But, Catholics in Alliance for the
Common Good emerged in 2005 as a kind of sister organization to Catholics
United. A 501(c) (3) organization, donors can claim a deduction against
personal income tax when they donate money to Catholics in Alliance. Reviewing
the 2007 IRS 990 forms for both Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and
Catholics United raises some questions, because Chris Korzen is listed as
having received $84,821 in compensation for 40 hours per week from Catholics in
Alliance on the group’s 990 Form—even though the Catholics United website
claimed he was the director there during the same time period. [...]
Despite their
inability to engage in extensive lobbying, Catholics in Alliance has been
extremely successful in attracting large donors. Never a friend to the Catholic
Church, George Soros, one of the earliest donors, contributed $50,000 to
Catholics in Alliance in 2005 and another $100,000 in 2006 through his Open Society Institute. Likewise, Smith Bagley,
a major Democratic donor and fundraiser, whose wife, Elizabeth Frawley Bagley,
is Chairman of the Board of Catholics in Alliance, came close to matching Soros
with grants from his family’s Arca Foundation.
With a long history of supporting progressive organizations like ACORN, the
Gamaliel Foundation, People for the American Way, and Planned Parenthood, Arca
contributed $50,000 to Catholics in Alliance in 2007 and another $75,000 in 2008.
Hendershott can’t help
but wonder if her writings against progressive groups played a role in her
audit. It’s obvious that before she was notified by the IRS she was commenting
regularly about matters of faith and politics and, in particular, Obamacare.
While she doesn’t have proof that the IRS investigation was political
in nature, she has strong suspicions that it was.
“I started writing
articles like crazy saying these are fake Catholic groups,” she said of
the aforementioned organizations, noting that Korzen would often
target her work and rail against her assertions.
Hendershott noted that
the progressive leader once called into a radio show she appeared on to
challenge her contention that he had accepted Soros money.
“I had the tax return
in front of me and read off the amounts that Chris Korzen was getting paid from
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good — a Soros supported fake Catholic
group,” she told TheBlaze, noting that, through Catholics in Alliance, he had
received $85,000.
While Korzen denied
this on the air, Hendershott read from the 990 form in an effort to prove he
wasn’t telling the truth. This, she believes, may have sparked — or played a
role — in spawning the IRS audit.
“He was getting paid
by one organization and working for another,” the professor said of
Korzen. ”The IRS should have gone after them.”
Her writings for the
Catholic Advocate soon ceased because, Hendershott admits, the IRS audit
silenced her. If her suspicions are true, this may have been its chilling
intention.
“I haven’t written
for them since the audit, because I was so scared,” she said (records show her last article
for the organization was on July 10, 2010 — the same month the
IRS audit unfolded).
So far, she has only
shared her story with friends and those close to her, but in light of the
recent IRS scandal, she has decided to speak out.
“It was clear they
didn’t like me criticizing the people who helped pass Obamacare,” she said of
the audit,” later adding, ”The IRS is very frightening.”
In addition to
creating stress and fear, Hendershott said that the experience came at a great
emotional and financial expense for the family, noting that even
after the audit the government sought more information from her.
“It was like they just
couldn’t find what they wanted because they wanted more and more and more,” she
said.
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