Karl Rove Accused Of Hypocrisy For Condemning Liberal Groups
Karl Rove is upset that his Crossroads GPS super PAC is facing scrutiny while “liberal groups have operated for decades in the same way GPS does without Democrats complaining.”
But critics say Rove’s PAC is one of the worst when it comes to “bending the law.”
The Daily Beast noted that Crossroads GPS has massively outspent other 501(c)(4) groups on political expenditures over the last two national election cycles, while “fielding a tiny staff and offering no discernible social welfare purpose.”
The report continues: “If Rove and his colleagues intend to make the point that there are liberal groups that emulate the scheme perfected by Crossroads GPS, they are absolutely correct. Priorities USA, a 501(c)(4) organization started by former Obama aides, raised $2.3 million from only 5 donors according to its only tax returns filed to date. Like Crossroads GPS and every other 501(c)(4), Priorities USA doesn’t have to tell us who those donors were. Both groups also have a separate, disclosing super PAC—which, for the sake of clarity, do not factor into the data discussed in this article.”
While Rove has stopped short of accusing President Obama of directing the IRS in its plan to give extra scrutiny to conservative groups seeking tax exemption, he did say Obama had a chance to stop it and didn’t.
“And this administration has done an ineffective job of managing it,” Rove said. “When this issue came up in 2010, if the administration was serious about it, President Obama should have picked up the phone and called [Timothy] Geithner at Treasury and said, ‘You better get your secretary for Treasury or the undersecretary to check into this because this is corrosive of our democracy to have the IRS targeting conservative groups.’ ”
The debate over the IRS scandal comes as it appeared that Rove was moving toward the middle on some key social issues. When asked if he could imagine Republicans selecting a 2016 presidential candidate who gave full support for gay marriage, Rove said he could.
Though not a resounding endorsement, it is a big deal coming from Rove, a leader in getting same-sex initiatives on ballots. Karl Rove joins a number of other national Republicans in signaling at least some support for gay marriage.
