Issue #92

by Art Kelly

1. Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, said the landslide victory of Dr. Rand Paul in Kentucky’s Republican Primary for U.S. Senator represents a major vote of no confidence in Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who strongly backed Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson.

“If we had a parliamentary system of government, McConnell would be expected to resign,” Viguerie said.

“The elections results are a massive repudiation of McConnell and the Republican congressional leadership, which aggressively supported Grayson. Coming on the heels of Senator Robert Bennett’s defeat in Utah and the Republican Senatorial Committee’s previous support for Charlie Crist in Florida, it is clear that many Washington, D.C. GOP leaders are enormously out of touch with the base of the Republican Party, grassroots conservatives.”

The near final results of the Kentucky Republican Senate Primary are:

Rand Paul 206,812 (58.77%)
Trey Grayson 124,710 (35.44%)
Bill Johnson 7,855 (2.23%)
John Stephenson 6,885 (1.96%)
Gurley Martin 2,852 (0.81%)
Jon Scribner 2,813 (0.80%)

In the Democratic Senate Primary, State Attorney General Jack Conway apparently edged Lt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo. The almost complete results are:

Jack Conway 228,531 (43.91%)
Daniel Mongiardo 224,989 (43.23%)
Darlene Price 28,543 (5.48%)
James Buckmaster 20,539 (3.95%)
Maurice Sweeney 17,810 (3.42%)

Since there will not be a run-off under state law, if Conway’s 3,542 vote margin stands up, he will advance to the general election to face Paul.

Democrats were quick to note that both Conway and Mongiardo each received more votes than did Paul. But a blogger at Newsvine.com points out that both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama received a lot more votes than did John McCain in the 2008 Kentucky presidential primaries, yet McCain beat Obama by almost 300,000 votes in the general election in the state.

2. In the Florida Senate race, the latest poll shows that Republican Marco Rubio has re-gained the lead over independent Charlie Crist and Democrat Kendrick Meek.

Rasmussen Reports stated, “Charlie Crist received a bounce in the polls when he left the Republican Party to run for the U.S. Senate as an independent. New numbers suggest that the bounce for the governor is over.”

Rubio 39%, Crist 31%, Meek 18%, Undecided 12%.

Last week’s issue of this newsletter indicated that Crist may become the de facto Democratic nominee, while Meek receiving only token support from the party.

3. 214,000 small non-profit organizations almost lost their tax-exempt status for failure to file a new form with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The Associated Press (AP) reported, “Many of these groups already operate on a razor-thin budgets” and an unexpected tax could bill could force them to close.

“It’s most likely the non-profits aren’t aware of the deadline” and “may not find out until January 1, 2011, when they’re notified they have to pay taxes on donations they thought were exempt,” the AP wrote.

However, at the last minute, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman relented.

“Many of these smaller organizations are just now learning of the May 17 deadline. I want to reassure these small organizations that the IRS will do what it can to help them avoid losing their tax-exempt status,” Shulman said.

As tricky as it is for non-profit organizations to stay informed of rules and regulations, it can be even more problematic for grassroots organizations that work to influence governmental policies. Many of these groups are run by volunteers who lack the legal background and technical knowledge to avoid the many complex pitfalls that exist.

To overcome many of these difficulties, Mark Fitzgibbons, President of Corporate and Legal Affairs at American Target Advertising, Inc., has recorded a DVD training session on how to comply with the complex web of registration and reporting requirements.

The DVD is available through Viguerie Marketing Institute.