WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- NAACP leaders are questioning the timing of an IRS investigation into the civil-rights group's tax-exempt status saying the probe is politically motivated.
The IRS said in a letter postmarked Oct. 8 that the focus of the investigation was limited to the issue of whether or not the organization has intervened in a political campaign.
The letter specially charged NAACP Chairman Julian Bond condemned Bush administration policies on education, the economy and the war in Iraq in a speech at the organization's 2004 convention in Philadelphia. Bush declined to address the NAACP convention and spoke at the National Urban League convention in Detroit.
Bush has not appeared before the NAACP, the nation's oldest city rights organization, since he became president.
Bond said his remarks focused on policy, not politics.
"We're confident that our position is defensible and that in the end we will be vindicated," Bond told BET.com.
