Rich

Well, color me surprised!

The report found that officials of the nonprofit groups, including Americans for Tax Reform, a prominent conservative group run by the Republican strategist Grover G. Norquist, agreed to “carry out Mr. Abramoff’s requests for help with his clients in exchange for cash payments.”

The committee’s ranking Democrat, Senator Max Baucus of Montana, said in releasing the report that the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service would “have to determine whether tax laws were broken, but in my view, these groups’ dealings with Jack Abramoff certainly violated the spirit, and perhaps the letter, of the laws” on tax-exempt groups.

[...]

None of the officers of the charities that were the focus of the new Senate report have been charged with a crime, and the charities have denied any wrongdoing in their dealings with Mr. Abramoff. But the report suggested that several of the charities had taken actions to benefit his lobbying operation that should put their tax-exempt status in question.

Spokesmen for Americans for Tax Reform did not return phone calls for comment Thursday night.

What truly baffles me is how does a group such as Americans for Tax Reform -- a group dedicated to pushing policy -- receive tax-exempt status. When I give to liberal non-profit advocacy groups, I assume that that's not a deductable expense, such as is the case with a charitable group. Hmmm.

Meanwhile, another disgruntled White House staffer writes a book.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 — A former deputy director of the White House office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is charging that many members of the Bush administration privately dismiss its conservative Christian allies as “boorish” and “nuts.”

The former deputy director, David Kuo, an evangelical Christian conservative, makes the accusations in a newly published memoir, “Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction” (Free Press), about his frustration with what he described as the meager support and political exploitation of the program.

“National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as ‘ridiculous,’ ‘out of control,’ and just plain ‘goofy,’ ” Mr. Kuo writes.