The IRS’s targeting of Tea Party groups went even further than has been revealed. A conservative Hispanic outreach group that educates Spanish-speaking and English-speaking Hispanic communities on the US Constitution was also targeted after applying for 501(c3) status, according to the group’s founder and president, Adryana Boyne.
Boyne’s organization, named Voces Action, also applied for 501(c4) status. Boyne said she abandoned her 501(c3) efforts due to the IRS’s treatment of her. “I spent thousands of dollars on attorneys and hundreds of hours dealing with the IRS on this. Our groups had separate boards and followed all of the laws,” said Boyne.
“We applied for nonprofit status in June of 2009 and we did not hear back from them until late 2010, even though we began calling them after six months had passed,” said Boyne. “We received the same kind of intrusive questions that Tea Party groups received. We are not a Tea Party group, but I have spoken at some Tea Parties.”
Though Boyne’s group only focused on educating Hispanic communities on the US Constitution and on conservative social and economic values, she said her group was treated unfairly.
The IRS sent us 27 pages of questions, they demanded recordings of every speech I’ve ever given and details about every person I know who is a politician in my life. They demanded to know how many times I had met with them and details of my personal relationships with them. Many of my closest friends are politicians and they wanted private information about my friendships.
The questions Boyne and her Voces Action group received were not only exhaustive and intrusive, but the IRS also demanded the 27 pages be answered in full within two weeks, according to Boyne. “They would say, ‘If you do not answer in the next two weeks, your application will be terminated and you will need to reapply.'”
“We did everything according to the law but we were treated like criminals,” Boyne concluded.
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