Mike Huckabee appeared on Fox & Friends this Saturday to complain about the tax-exempt status of the new non-profit political action committee, Organizing for Action, which as we already noted here will build on infrastructure of President Obama's campaign apparatus. Funny I don't ever seem to recall Huckabee, or anyone else at Fox for that matter having any issues with Karl Rove and his tax-exempt PAC, even though it appears they've broken the law and not complied with the rules they were supposed to be following.
And as Media Matters pointed out, Huckabee hasn't minded taking advantage of those same laws in regard to his own organizations: Mike Huckabee's Poor Grasp Of Tax Law And Irony:
Fox News host Mike Huckabee is irked at President Obama for converting his campaign apparatus into a tax-exempt non-profit advocacy group. Appearing on Fox & Friends Saturday, the former Arkansas governor admonished the president by saying: "Fine, go ahead and have your organization. Pay taxes on it like the rest of us have to when we get out and speak in our businesses and personal lives."
This is nonsense. Huckabee has his own tax-exempt political action committee, Huck PAC, that he has hyped up on Fox News and uses to "promote conservative principles and help elect conservative candidates at every level of government." Indeed, Huckabee has made ample use of tax-exempt groups throughout his political career and actually has a sketchy history with non-profits.
Back when he was lieutenant governor of Arkansas, Huckabee and his allies formed a non-profit group that had just two functions: to pay for Mike Huckabee to travel across the country bashing health care reform, and to pay Mike Huckabee. The New York Times reported in December 2007, when Huckabee was running for president, that Huckabee had been losing money serving as lieutenant governor, and "to bridge the gap between his income and his expenses, Mr. Huckabee and a few close political advisers came up with a plan. They formed a nonprofit organization that raised money for Mr. Huckabee to travel the country promoting conservative politics to fellow ministers and attacking Hillary Rodham Clinton's health care plan."
The group, Action America, existed for only three years and paid Huckabee a total of $61,500 -- money that Huckabee failed to disclose, drawing a "letter of caution" from the Arkansas Ethics Commission. Read on...
As always, IOKIYAR. And as the Media Matters post noted, the PAC has said they're going to disclose all of their donors and the people drawing a salary there are certainly going to be paying their individual income taxes.