Filmmaker prosecution revives accusations of conservative targeting - foxnews/politics/2014/01/27/filmmaker-prosecution-revives-accusations-conservative-targeting/ Less than a year after the IRS admitted to singling out Tea Party and other like-minded groups, federal agencies and prosecutors once again are facing accusations of going tougher on conservatives than their liberal counterparts. In a case that riled conservative filmmakers and producers, federal prosecutors last week announced campaign finance charges against Dinesh DSouza, the documentarian behind an anti-President Obama film released during the 2012 presidential campaign. DSouza pleaded not guilty on Friday, though his attorney did not outright deny that a violation of some kind may have occurred. But colleagues rallied to DSouzas defense, calling the decision to prosecute the case politically motivated. When you make a film that hits the president between the eyes and could shift an election, you become a target, conservative filmmaker Dennis Michael Lynch told Fox News, referring to DSouzas 2016: Obamas America. Producer Gerald Molen, in a statement to FoxNews, called it a selective prosecution. Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, on Sunday, also described it as part of a pattern during his interview on CBS Face the Nation. Though the comments were not aired on CBS, Cruz posted the full clip online. Can you image the reaction if the Bush administration had ... gone and prosecuted Michael Moore and Alec Baldwin and Sean Penn? Cruz said. It should trouble everyone the government uses government power and the IRS in particular to target their enemies. DSouza was charged with felony campaign finance violations, relating to allegations that he directed people to donate a total of $20,000 to New York Republican Senate candidate Wendy Long, and then reimbursed them. His lawyer claimed there was no quid pro quo at play, nor was there even any knowledge by the candidate that campaign finance rules may have been violated.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 20:48:53 +0000
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