http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ted-cruz-address-hollywoods-secret-681838Ted Cruz to Address Hollywood's Secret Conservative Group Friends of Abe (Exclusive)
7:30 AM PST 2/20/2014 by Paul Bond
The group rightly refused a request from the IRS to reveal the names of its members, says the Republican senator from Texas; "FOA should respond to the IRS as it would to any McCarthyite request for information."
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz will visit Hollywood's not-so-secret group of conservatives called Friends of Abe next month, and he tells The Hollywood Reporter he will address what he considers is a government effort to intimidate artists who criticize President Barack Obama and his policies.
FOA, a group of about 2,000 entertainment industry workers, likes to remain under the radar. But The New York Times on Jan. 22 revealed the group's two-year-long effort to be recognized as a tax-free charity organization. One thing the IRS has wanted from FOA is its membership list, and Cruz says the group has been right to refuse such a request, which he says stems from "an abuse of power."
"FOA should respond to the IRS as it would to any McCarthyite request for information," Cruz says in an interview. "The US. Supreme Court has already ruled that Americans have freedom of association and that groups should not be forced to reveal the names of members, because that information could be abused for political gain. There has already been an incident where the IRS leaked that kind of information about a group."
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