Last night I watched a video clip on Fox of Senator Tim Scott responding to remarks made by a NAACP leader, Rev. William Barber. Last year I looked at the NAACP and concluded that Tea Party organizations would likely set up political activity guidelines modeled after the NAACP guidelines. They were best example of a 501(c)(3)/501(c)(4) organization that is engaged in issue politics and political education while successfully meeting the IRS guidelines for political activity. So I was surprised to hear a NAACP leader engaged in petty partisan politics when the True The Vote versus the IRS issue is a hot issue. The last thing the IRS wants to explain again is how their treatment of the True The Vote organization is not different than the way they would treat other 501(c)(4) organizations such as local NAACP affiliates. Rev. Barber did not talk about voter registration or educating people about the issues. He engaged in a personal attack of an elected official. The IRS has frowned upon this behavior in the past. The parent organization of the NAACP has specific instructions to its 501(c)(4) affiliates forbidding partisan politics and Rev. Barber’s actions seem to be unnecessarily risky in an election year. If the IRS is applying the same standards to all 501(c)(4) organizations then they should be talking to the NAACP today. Rev. Barber crossed the line.