Catherine Engelbrecht is an ordinary American citizen and small business owner from Texas, who prior to 2009 had little or no involvement in politics. After volunteering as a poll worker in 2010, she became concerned about the potential for fraud in the election system and decided to found the nonprofit groups True The Vote and King Street Patriots. And accordingly, applied for the tax exempt status that millions of civic organizations are entitled to under law.

What she had no way of knowing at the time was that there was a new bureaucracy in town in Washington, one that had no compunction about enforcing its own rules based on a hyper-partisan vision of truth and justice that had no room for groups like Engelbrecht’s, or Karen Kenney’s San Fernando Valley Patriots or thousands of other conservative and Tea Party organizations which were exercising their constitutional participation in the public square. And so instead of having routine applications approved in a few weeks as was customary, she was subjected to months of delay, followed by hundreds of invasive inquiries and unprecedented audits.

First came the FBI investigation, then the IRS audited her personal tax returns for two prior years. Then the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms audited her business, then the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, audited and fined her business, then the ATF came back for more.

The IRS demanded copies of every leaflet she had ever handed out at a public event. Descriptions of every event at which she had spoken or was planning to speak to for the next two years and every page of her websites. They asked for names and addresses of all the donors to the organization, which is directly contrary to the rights accorded to such organizations.

Prominent politicians like Elijah Cummings and California Senator Barbara Boxer attacked Engelbrecht personally and publicly. Donations to the organizations dried up as long as the tax exempt status was not established.

Powerful government operatives like the IRS’s Lois Lerner were counting on people like Catherine giving up and in fact many civic organizations folded under the burden. But Lerner and company underestimated the enduring spirit of American citizens who take the Constitution and the civic participation traditions of this country seriously.

Catherine Engelbrecht did the unthinkable. She fought back.

She stood up as a lone citizen to the almost unlimited power and resources of the federal government and its partisan and unaccountable agencies. She told the story to the U.S. Congress to investigative journalists like the Wall Street Journal’s Kimberly Strassel and to the American people.

“I was targeted by this government for daring to speak out. I’m one of the thousands of Americans who have become sadly living examples of this kind of trickle down tyranny that is actively endorsed by the current administration and rigorously enforced by the Department of Justice.”

Catherine Engelbrecht

Thanks to the courage of Catherine Engelbrecht and dozens of citizens like her, the worst anti-free exercise thereof excesses of the IRS and other agencies was terminated in 2013. The story is far from over. Responsible parties like Lois Lerner have yet to be held to account for their abuses of power. And every day reveals more operatives within our federal agencies at all levels engaging in naked politics against the American people and their duly elected representatives. But our traditions and the character of our people are far more durable than any transitory power in Washington.

“I come before you today Mr. Chairman on behalf of Americans just like me asking for a solution to end this ugly chapter of political intimidation. There was a time when people of goodwill were encouraged to participate in the processes of government not targeted because of it.”

Catherine Engelbrecht

The American freedom alliance is honored to recognize Catherine Engelbrecht as an exemplar of courage and standing up at great personal risk and cost for the principles for which this country was established over 200 years ago.