U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a favorite of the Religious Right and the Tea Party, announced that he will run for president at a Lynchburg, Va., college founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell.
During a March 23 speech at Liberty University, which advertises itself as the “largest Christian university in the world,” Cruz explained why he is the best choice to save America from the ruin he believes President Barack Obama has caused.
“God’s blessing has been on America from the very beginning of this nation, and I believe God isn’t done with America yet,” Cruz told the crowd of about 10,000. “I believe in you. I believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to reignite the promise of America, and that is why today I’m announcing that I’m running for president of the United States.”
Cruz clearly sought to energize the Liberty students who sat in on his announcement, even though their attendance was mandatory (failure to show up without an excused absence could result in a $10 fine) and some wore T-shirts and waved signs expressing support for U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who weeks later announced his own campaign for the presidency.
“Today, roughly half of born-again Christians aren’t voting,” Cruz asserted. “They’re staying home. Imagine instead millions of people of faith all across America coming out to the polls and voting our values.”
Some observers, including Americans United, took issue with the location of Cruz’s announcement. In a letter to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, Americans United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn said Liberty likely violated federal law, which bars political intervention by organizations that are tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3).
Lynn said Liberty officials apparently worked with Cruz to maximize the effect of his appearance at the school.
“Indeed, it appears that Sen. Cruz chose Liberty because it offered him certain advantages, and Liberty was more than happy to work in coordination with the senator to assist his cause,” Lynn wrote. “Sen. Cruz wanted potential donors and conservative voters to believe that he has the support of thousands of young people at the largest Christian university in the world. And Liberty helped sell that idea by making attendance at the senator’s rally mandatory for students.”
Lynn added in his letter that Liberty’s activities are a stellar example of why the IRS must go back to enforcing the law against church politicking. The IRS put all examinations of non-profit groups on hold after allegations that Tea Party groups had been subjected to heightened scrutiny. But Lynn told Koskinen that the claims made by Tea Party groups have proven to be groundless.
In light of this, Lynn said, it is time to start enforcing the law.
“I believe it would be detrimental for our country and the democratic process to go through another election cycle with the ‘no-politicking’ rule unenforced,” Lynn wrote. “The more the IRS delays, the more organizations like Liberty University and the churches that follow the advice of the Alliance Defending Freedom conclude that they do not have to abide by our nation’s laws.”
Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr. shot back almost immediately, denying that his school had done anything wrong.
“The event was a speech,” he told the Lynchburg News and Advance. “It wasn’t an announcement of candidacy for the Republican nomination of president….We were clear with the folks from the campaign in advance that this would not be an announcement.”
But Lynn noted that there is no way Falwell could have been ignorant of Cruz’s intentions. Prior to the speech, Cruz announced his intention to use the Liberty event as a platform to launch his campaign and even tweeted about it.
