Former Virginia governor slams Kamala Harris video urging votes for Terry McAuliffe

Former Virginia Democratic Governor Douglas Wilder, the first black Governor of the Commonwealth, condemned the campaign by Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe for the publication of a video played in black churches in which Vice President Kamala Harris urged churchgoers to follow suit to vote for McAuliffe at the service. Lawyers have suggested that if churches play the video, they violate Section 501 (c) 3 of the IRS Code, potentially compromising their tax-exempt status.

“Well, it is very good for them to do what causes these churches to lose their tax-exempt status,” Wilder quipped in a remark to The Washington Examiner, referring to the Johnson Amendment, which bans organizations from doing under 501 are exempt from taxes (c) 3 of supporting candidates. “If that’s legal, I am surprised.”

KAMALA HARRIS VIDEO INVITING COMMUNITY TO VOTE FOR MCAULIFFE MAY BE ILLEGAL

“I believe my friend Terry McAuliffe is the leader Virginia needs right now,” Harris says in the video where the McAuliffe campaign says 300 black churches have agreed to play. It remains unclear whether churches played it. “The early voting has already started and this is the first year you can vote on Sunday, so please vote after today’s service and if you can’t vote today, plan to go to the vote.”

Governor Douglas Wilder, D-Va., March 8, 1991. (Photo by Maureen Keating / CQ Roll Call via Getty Images)
(Photo by Maureen Keating / CQ Roll Call via Getty Images)

Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University’s Law School, cited the law extending the tax exemption to companies that “do not participate or participate in”. [including the publishing or distributing of statements], any political campaign on behalf of [or in opposition to] any candidate for public office. “

He cited the Johnson Addendum, which states that tax-exempt groups “are absolutely prohibited from participating, directly or indirectly, in political campaigns on behalf of. attend or participate in it [or in opposition to] any candidate for public election. “

However, even when the video breaks the law, the IRS doesn’t often threaten the churches’ tax-exempt status in this way, Jan Baran, partner at Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC, told Fox News last week.

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“I don’t think the IRS applied the law in the way Turley advocated,” Baran told Fox News. “I am not aware of any church, not even a Protestant church, in which a candidate has spoken that is subject to the revocation of the tax exemption. Turley gives no example.”

The McAuliffe campaign did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment by the time we went to press.

The Youngkin campaign claimed that McAuliffe’s decision to seek help from Harris proved the Democrat’s weakness as election day approached.

“Forty-year-old politician Terry McAuliffe is not enthusiastic about the Democratic Party, so he has called on other politicians to appeal for votes,” campaign spokesman Macaulay Porter told Fox News on Sunday. “Glenn Youngkin wins with his message of being an outsider who, as always, goes against politics.

Vice President Kamala Harris (Leigh Vogel / UPI / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(Photographer: Leigh Vogel / UPI / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Wilder, who became the nation’s first black governor in 1989, previously attacked McAuliffe for campaigning with Governor Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring. In 2019, both Northam and Herring admitted wearing blackface while in college, and McAuliffe then called for Northam’s resignation. Two years later, however, McAuliffe said he was “honored” to have Northam’s support.

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“The Virginia people haven’t forgotten. They are not stupid. They are not deceived, they are not being duped,” said Wilder. “Terry… you said [Northam] was in the black face. He has to go. Have you changed your mind about any of this? And if not, why not? Now explain it to the Commonwealth people. “

Wilder also noted that McAuliffe did not appear ready to endorse any of the other candidates running for governor in the 2021 race – two of whom were black women.