The National Organization for Marriage Files Lawsuit Against The IRS Over Illegal Leak of Organization’s Confidential Tax Return to Marriage Opponents

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 3, 2013
Contact: Elizabeth Ray or Matille Thebolt (703-683-5004)

“We can prove that NOM’s confidential tax return was released by the IRS and went to our chief political opponent. This is a federal crime.” — Brian Brown, NOM president —

Washington, D.C. — Today, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) announced it has filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service seeking damages over the illegal release of the organization’s 2008 confidential tax return which went to the Human Rights Campaign, America’s leading marriage opponent whose president was a national co-chair for President Obama’s reelection campaign.

“We have irrefutable proof that NOM’s confidential tax return was released by the Internal Revenue Service and went to the number one opponent of marriage, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) whose president was a national co-chair of President Obama’s reelection campaign. The HRC promptly published it and released it to the media,” said Brian Brown, NOM’s president. “This is a federal crime. Worse, the confidential information contained in the illegally leaked documents included the identity of dozens of our major donors and the HRC used this confidential donor information to harass our donors. This is a chilling set of circumstances that should ring alarm bells across the nation.”

The lawsuit, The National Organization for Marriage, Inc. v. The United States of America, Internal Revenue Service was filed in federal district court in the Eastern District of Virginia. NOM is represented by ActRight Legal Foundation, NOM Chairman John Eastman, Cleta Mitchell, of counsel to ActRight Legal Foundation and Jason Torchinsky of Holtzman, Vogel & Josefiak, PLLC.

“There are many emerging examples of how the IRS has targeted conservative groups, but what’s happened with the release of NOM’s confidential tax return to a group that fights marriage at every turn, and which was headed by President Obama’s national reelection campaign co-chair is in a special category of abuse and concern,” said John Eastman, NOM’s Chairman.

“So far the IRS and Obama Administration officials have stonewalled our every attempt to get information or answer basic questions about who knew what inside the IRS and who in the Obama administration had any information or involvement in this crime. Our lawsuit will be a powerful tool in ending the stonewalling and getting the truth to the American people.”

NOM called on the Congress to continue to pressure the IRS, Treasury Department and other officials to disclose what they know about who is responsible for the illegal leaking of NOM’s tax return and confidential donor identity information, which was then published by the Human Rights Campaign.

“The American people are entitled to answers about who at the IRS is responsible for this crime, and whether anyone in the Administration, White House, or Obama Reelection campaign had any information about or involvement in the crime,” said Brown. “We urge Congress to continue to pursue an investigation, including putting the appropriate government and HRC officials under oath and subpoenaing documents to get to the bottom of this matter.”

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To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, please contact Elizabeth Ray (x130), [email protected], or Matille Thebolt (x143), [email protected], at 703-683-5004.

Paid for by The National Organization for Marriage, Brian Brown, president. 2029 K Street NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006, not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. New § 68A.405(1)(f) & (h).