Democratic Underground - Senator Grassley bounced from Iowa delegation for investigating evangelists and their finances.

Last year Charles Grassley started an investigation of several churches in his role as ranking member of the Senate Committee on Finance.

Here are some of the churches investigated

One of them was the Without Walls Church in the Tampa area. Among other charges was that they used their tax exempt status to buy a Bentley convertible which they transferred to Bishop J.D. Jakes.

From left, Paula White, Bishop T.D. Jakes and Randy White. The investigation seeks information on a Bentley the Whites gave to Jakes. (St. Pete Times file photos)

The ranking member of the Senate Committee on Finance has begun an investigation of the financial structure of six television ministries, including Tampa's Without Walls International Church and Paula White Ministries.

In a five-page letter sent to ministers Randy and Paula White on Monday, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, set a Dec. 6 deadline for answers regarding the couple's personal and professional financial histories. In August, the Whites announced they planned to divorce.

The sweeping investigation pinpoints five specific areas, including executive compensation, real and personal assets, and other general expenses paid or received, mostly since 2004.

There were others being investigated as well.

Also included in the investigation are Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga.; David and Joyce Meyer of Joyce Meyer Ministries in Fenton, Mo.; Creflo and Taffi Dollar of World Changers Church International in College Park, Pa.; Kenneth and Gloria Copeland of Copeland Ministries in Newark, Texas; and Benny Hinn of World Healing center of Grapevine, Texas.

Looks like that investigation is coming back to bite Grassley now.

From Right Wing Watch:

Grassley Gets Bounced From Iowa Delegation

Evangelical Christians in Iowa, dominant in the state's Republican Party, have denied Sen. Charles E. Grassley his request for a place on the state's delegation to this summer's Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. Mr. Grassley may attend the party's Sept. 1-4 nominating convention in St. Paul, but not as a voting delegate.

With a majority of nine out of 17 members on the Iowa Republican central committee, religious conservatives made Iowa Christian Alliance President Steve Scheffler chairman of Iowa's 40-member delegation in a vote immediately after their state party convention July 12.

"The Republican Party of Iowa is moving significantly to the right on social issues," the just-ousted Iowa Republican National Committee member Steve Roberts told The Washington Times. "It hurts John McCain's chances to win this state."

Other party officials said money for the party is drying up because of past mismanagement and current religious dominance, which has turned traditional Republican politics upside down.

"It's pretty well controlled now by the Christian Alliance," Mr. Roberts said. "If somebody came to me and wanted to be a delegate to the national party convention, I used to say, 'Talk to the state party chairman or to Grassley.' Now it's very simple. You go to the Christian Alliance, and they determine who is a delegate, and you have to do exactly as they say."

Wow..."You go to the Christian Alliance, and they determine who is a delegate, and you have to do exactly as they say."

That's called a takeover.

I found a little more on this from The American Prospect's The FundamentaList from last year.

No word yet on whether the Democrats will join him, and so far no subpoenas have been issued, just requests for financial statements. Grassley is acting on information from the Trinity Foundation, a religious fraud watchdog group in Texas whose investigations have launched many of the leading media exposes of televangelists. But none of those exposes have resulted in changes in the tax law, which shields �church� finances from public view.

The List further states that "You can read much more about all of this, and in particular about Copeland, Long, and Hinn, in "God�s Profits." There already have been cries of protest of this government �intrusion,� so stay tuned for how all of this will play out."

I guess Senator Grassley knows how it turned out now.

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