Living Word Pastor Knew IRS Rules Before Endorsing Candidate

When Pastor Mac Hammond’s pulpit endorsement of congressional candidate Michele Bachmann prompted a formal complaint to the IRS, a church official said the Brooklyn Park minister simply misunderstood federal tax guidelines.

But a recording from a Living Word Christian Center (LWCC) staff meeting on Election Day in 2004 indicates that Hammond clearly understood IRS regulations governing his church’s tax status and was aware of the risk in which he placed the church when he personally endorsed Bachmann.

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“There have been two or three churches who have gotten a little too vocal about supporting President Bush that did get sued,” Hammond said in the audio recording obtained exclusively by Minnesota Monitor. “One of them did nothing more than compare what the scripture said to what the candidate’s platforms were….But we did what we felt led to do.  I preached a Sunday on it [the upcoming presidential elections], talked a lot about it, nobody should have any doubts about what’s the right thing to do…. The law does clearly state that a non-profit tax-exempt organization cannot use their property, premises or influence to support one candidate over another. I could, but I would have had to offer it formally to his opponent.”

Hammond, speaking in an October 14th sermon that was seen by his parishioners in the Brooklyn Park location as well as multiple satellite churches and via web stream broadcast, endangered his church’s tax-exempt status when he said: “[W]e can’t publicly endorse as a church and would not for any candidate but I can tell you personally that I’m going to vote for Michele Bachmann.”

When asked about the statement, a LWCC official said that the endorsement was the result of Hammond’s misunderstanding of IRS guidelines.

Associate pastor Tim Burt told the Associated Press that Hammond thought he was within the rules by saying he was speaking personally. “When Pastor Hammond went to introduce her, he did make a comment of publicly endorsing,” said Burt, who confirmed the video publicized on Dumpbachmann was accurate. “He didn’t knowingly or willingly violate IRS guidelines. He misunderstood the IRS guidelines…’” Burt continued, in a statement in direct contrast to the November 2004 audio.

A formal complaint was filed with the IRS by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) on October 17th.  According to representative Tim Mooney, Hammond “has the perfect right to endorse a candidate on his own time, but he used church resources in making that statement.”  According to IRS regulations, “The church or religious organization must ensure that: Neither the individual nor any representative of the church makes any mention of his or her candidacy or the election, and no campaign activity occurs in connection with the candidate’s attendance.”

Please stay with Minnesota Monitor as we continue our investigation of LWCC and Mac Hammond Ministries.

Joe Bodell contributed to this report