The IRS violation by Race for Grace

It's OK for a Democrat-run organization to skirt the law?

*** EDIT 2: An article on this issue (scroll down to bottom of this article for scan of article) was printed in the Trib on 3/20, which is different from the online article. It doesn’t surprise me how when Democrats, like the Ekises are caught, they can’t just admit their fault and instead go with the deny and obfuscate legalese statements, probably prepared for by their on-staff attorney who should have advised them to not violate the IRS rules to begin with.

*** EDIT 1: An article on this issue was published in the Trib on 3/12 ***

As the community knows, the Reflections of Grace Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, puts together Norwin's largest fundraising 5k race, known as Race for Grace (RFG), to benefit research of a specific cancerous brain tumor and families affected by such. This race has thousands of participants and spectators. Last year's race was held on April 22. A few days before each race, RFG organizers distribute bags with runner information, shirts/bibs and advertising material from sponsors.

As you know, last year, there was a school board primary election with five seats up for election. RFG accepted a paid-for political flyer by the We Are Norwin candidates (attempting to win on both Republican and Democrat tickets in the primary election) and put copies of this flyer into thousands of bags. On April 20, 2023, the Thursday before the Saturday race, thousands of such bags containing the flyers were distributed to the runners and families of runners. The IRS will determine if this act violates IRS rules by RFG intervening, directly in a political campaign on behalf of candidate(s) for public office. Specifically, they will determined if RFG has violated Rev. Rule 2007-41 (accepting monetary donations for publication and distribution of statements / political campaign materials on behalf of candidates for public office). I believe they have. Of note, after I was contacted by the RFG attorney on April 20, there was no attempt by the organizers to provide a retraction to the community or attempts to provide some sort of equal representation to other candidates.

I believe the actions of RFG, contrary to the limitations imposed on 501(c)(3) organizations, influenced the election, resulting in the We Are Norwin candidates on the flyer winning the election.

MY EMAIL TO THE EKIS FAMILY (RFG OFFICERS) AND ALSO POSTED ON FB

Hello Brian, Tamara:

​Please note that a complaint has just been filed with the IRS under Rule 2007-41 regarding RFG's actions last year in intervening, directly in a political campaign on behalf of candidates for public office. I find it odd that a non-profit that has the luxury of having an attorney on-staff is not familiar with the most basic of restrictions of tax-exempt organizations and advised them to proceed as they did. A concerned citizen should definitely look into an ethics inquiry of the attorney who gave this bad legal advice that could jeopardize the 501(c)(3) status of an organization meant to help those afflicted with a devastating illness. I'm going to give you free advice: get new counsel.

We are a nation governed by laws that its citizenry must follow or, to paraphrase Bender from The Breakfast Club, "if [RFG] gets up, we'll all get up, it'll be anarchy." As registered Democrats, I know the idea of following laws is probably foreign to you. It's foreign to the Norwin School District, as well, but that will be rectified at the upcoming trial. But I digress. With respect to RFG, I will leave any further actions in the hands of the IRS.

I anticipate my email being shared with the community, so not letting any good opportunity go to waste let me say: "Hello, groomers! Hello leftists! Hello RINO mommies! Hello controlled husbands!"

Oh, and say hello to your son for me, as I unfortunately must have missed him and his regular display of Trump Derangement Syndrome in November that he exhibited year after year each time I worked the Sunset Valley poll.

Your pal,
Alex

ADDITIONAL FB POST:

​And before any of you RINOs or leftists decide to chime in with your low IQ opinions that neither I nor any other true conservative cares about, let me reiterate that RFG brought this on themselves.  For the same reason that all of you WAN supporters have to pay the Westmoreland 34% tax increase AND upcoming, school tax increase that the leftist WAN board members and RINO Ray Kocak will support, is the same reason that RFG can't do what they want.  LAWS.  You follow them whether you like it or not until you vote for change.

I'll leave the comments open so I can see those leftist and RINO low IQ replies rolling in.  Seeing these folks become unhinged always felt like a reward to me.  As I've always said, not receiving pushback makes me feel like I'm not doing my job as a conservative.

Fighting the good fight, always,
Alex

And then the low-IQ responses started rolling in… one after another… the same idiocy that only someone suffering from a mental disorder like liberalism could post.

None of their reactionary nonsense answered my questions:

• Why did RFG think they were above the law?

• Was there a conscious effort to manipulate an election?

• Were they provided legal advice (was it even competent?)

• If yes, why did they go against their counsel's advice?

• When they realized they were violating the rules, why didn't they try to rectify their mistake by giving all candidates an equal voice?

Here are some of the best low-IQ responses and my awesome responses to them:

Garrett: You sued a non profit because the owners didn't support your personal political views? The ONLY outcome in your favor is for the no profit to lose money that is earmarked for children with cancer.....So basically....you did everything in your power to take money away from an organization whose only purpose in existing is to help victims of cancer because your feelings were hurt that your community doesn't share your political beliefs? Pretty low move my guy...the very definition of petty to be honest.

Alex: I said I was expecting low IQ responses and here we are with your response. At least read the post, attempt to process the information contained within, and then comment.

1) RFG wasn't "sued" - an IRS complaint was lodged
2) the only ones doing everything in their power to jeopardize taking away money is RFG by not following probably the #1 rule of being a non-profit. But that's what liberal run organizations do. The Norwin Library campaigned on their own behalf to "Save the Library" which is also clearly against IRS regulations.. You know what both RFG and the library have in common? They are run by Democrats.

But I see your insistence on following laws arbitrarily.  How about we do this? Don't pay your County Tax bill. And maybe run through some red lights while you're at it. Let's just pick and choose what laws we follow to make things favorable for ourselves. It's what RFG and the Library did.

Kendal: Here is a low IQ response from someone who graduated from their Master’s at WVU with a 4.0… Alex, you’re a douche.

Alex: A masters from WVU... Is that supposed to be impressive? Seriously, you did not just tell me you got a Masters from WVU as if to try to impress us. Please tell me I read that wrong, Kendal (with one L). Based on your timeline, it looks like you majored in being Self-Absorbed with a minor in Narcissism. <Kendal's FB timeline is filled with her hawking sunless tanner - THE #1 choice of the self-absorbed IG/FB types to give themselves that fake skin glow in winter to divert attention from their dull intellect.)

Barbara: Please seek professional help. All kidding aside, I’m being serious. It is so obvious that your mental health needs addressed. It’s not healthy for you or your family. I don’t care what political beliefs you or anyone else hold, you honestly display behavior that is teetering on falling off the edge. I have never once agreed with the way you execute your beliefs, but as a human being, I’m genuinely concerned with your language and behaviors. People can hold strong political beliefs and fight the good fight without displaying mental health issues.

Alex: Babs, I appreciate your concern, but please don't worry about me. I've been like this for the longest time and it's served me well. I can always sleep soundly knowing that I'm a person of strong moral conviction, never wavering in my beliefs, not being able to be corrupted, never lying, always following through... you know, great characteristics to have unlike the low-IQ lefties and RINOs that now make up more than 1/2 of Norwin. My biggest supporters in Norwin share my qualities, but they are afraid to speak up due to the culture canceling on your side. They were the silent majority... but are now the silent minority in Norwin as it's being overtaken by the Allegheny County folks moving into this area.

You never agreed with my political views and now you're making it sound that it's just my tactics you don't agree with. The disingenuousness of your kind is amusing and we can go on and on about our differences all day. We did that during the past couple of years for fun. Now I can only focus on lawsuits and administrative complaints to address bad and law breaking behaviors within our community and school.

But let's return to RFG. In no way do I claim to know anything about psychology, but am fascinated to learn more about how the minds of deranged people work (aside from those afflicted with the dreadful mental disorder known as liberalism). How do you and your ilk justify arbitrarily following laws? Do you see it happening at the national level with Resident Pudding Brain and his leftist minions and then think it's OK to do it here in our township? Please tell me. I am truly intrigued at the thought process and perhaps we can come to a breakthrough that it's a mental illness similar to liberalism.

Before you read any further, if you’re proclaiming like some did on FB or saying to yourself, “But I’m a Republican and I think what Alex did was mean!” Well, guess what: YOU ARE NOT A REPUBLICAN! They have a name for you: RINO.

Back to more fun FB posts. Next up, we had the typical “You’re not from around here, Alex” posts:

Kaitlin: I was raised in NHT my entire life, live in NHT and my father was a Norwin teacher for 35 years. My Norwin roots are deep. Therefore, unlike you- I support our community, defend my neighbors no matter their political views and raise people up instead of cutting them down.

Alex: Your Norwin roots are irrelevant. If they were that deep you would actually care for the community. It's boggling why it takes an outsider like myself to have tried to save this community. We know Norwin is starting to be overrun by leftists and RINOs. Norwin has fallen and the trend will move east and to other suburbs. It's disgusting that people like yourself are supporting the unlawful actions of a group and blaming those who try to bring these things to light. It's all I need to know about your character and that of others.  <The question I wanted to ask her is why her father, a teacher who should know better, would think it was a good idea to take the name Caitlyn and turn it into some abomination of something not even a Spelling Bee champ could process>

Ray Horvath Fun Fact - Alex Detschelt wasn't even born in the United States Never let this ass clown tell you anything about "American Values", let alone Norwin. He is from Allegheny county by way of Europe.

<I didn't respond - my brain started doing funny things when I read this. The issue was that my brain was attempting to reconcile the fact that an actual human wrote this (walking amongst us in our community) with the fact that my brain has never encountered something this stupid in all of its existence. It took me a second to recover and then realize that Ray Horvath was just trying to take a shot at winning back the "Dumbest 'Ray' in Norwin" Award from RINO Norwin School Board Director Ray Kocak. Makes total sense, now.>

And then the personal attacks started because these low IQ morons have nothing else. Of course, they all deserve fitting responses.

Ashley <who has the body shape and intelligence of an apple>: Maybe your wife needs to control you a bit. You need a leash and a muzzle.

Alex: Come on, you know that true Republican men don't get controlled. Now there's lots of low testosterone man-boob betas out there who settle for loud-mouthed fat or ugly pigs (inside and out) like yourself and they're the ones who don't mind being told what to do. Please don't think you're privileged that I'm calling you a fat and ugly pig. Those terms of endearment are reserved for any vile creatures who try to bring my family into the conversation.

Tracy <her timeline has multiple pics of her 1/2 dozen dogs): my condolences to your family… you are most certainly an embarrassment.

Alex: That's interesting, because in my case, normal, strong, rational-thinking women are attracted to normal, strong, rational-thinking men. That doesn't apply to Democrats, of course where anything goes and traditional norms are discarded. So this guy in your profile - um, does he mistakenly try to kiss any of the many dogs you have, confusing them with you? 

Tracy: keep going… I’m sure your wife and child are beaming with pride. Insults coming from you are meaningless, as you are nothing but a flawed human with a great future in hell someday.

Alex: Woof, woof!

And then came Justin Lokay’s “Doesn’t think before he writes” email to the Norwin School Board (leaving me out of the email even though he ends his email with “inclusive environment” wording. Liberals and their “do as I say not as I do” mentality):

Dear Norwin School Board and Administrators,

I am writing to you as a concerned member of our community, parent of multiple Norwin Knights, and a Co-Founder of a mental health facility in North Huntingdon created by multiple Norwin parents. My commitment to our community, especially to those in need, compels me to seek clarity on a matter that has caused considerable unease.

It has come to my attention that School Board Director Alex Detschelt has been making a series of highly questionable and potentially harmful public statements on a social media platform. These posts, some of which I believe have been made using accounts previously utilized for what appeared to be official school business, raise significant concerns about the values being represented and the potential implications for our district.

Among the claims made by Director Detschelt are assertions that:
 • The Reflections of Grace Foundation has attempted to "influence an election" and acted unlawfully. More, The Ekise family is purposely putting the Foundation, named after their deceased daughter, at risk. In his words, "Ekises want to jeopardize the tax-exempt status of an organization". 
 • The rule of law is "foreign to the Norwin School District," implying a purposeful disregard for legal obligations by the district. 
 • The district is preoccupied with filing frivolous "lawsuits and administrative complaints to address bad and law breaking behaviors".
 • The Norwin Public Library has violated "IRS regulations". 
 • Direct insults towards individuals, including calling School Board Member Ray Kocak "stupid" and mocking community members. Alex said, "Woof, Woof" to community member Tracy Kelso Cahill implying the district believes she is a dog?
 • WVU is a second rate institution and that a Norwin Graduate that attended there even with a 4.0 GPA at graduation is not "impressive". This Norwin graduate and current parent is Kendal Hilko Rudolph. He went further with Mrs. Rudolph eledging, the business owner is "Self-Absorbed" and suffers from Narcissism, a diagnosable mental health condition, because the product she sells is made to sunless tan skin. 
 • Congresswoman Summer Lee who represents the Norwin School District is a "vile person".
 • Accusations that local mental health business, Mind Dojo, of which I co-founded with other Norwin parents was "sent grant money" in what is alluded to be a pay for play scheme. I can assure Norwin that Mind Dojo has accepted and applied for $0 in grant funding from the county, state, or federal government. Mind Dojo is a privately owned, operated, and financed institution. 
 • Allegedly a Norwin parent and business owner (me) is committing fraud by, in his words, "donating to your own created cause and that money just goes back into your (Justin Lokay's) own pocket". When in fact the disclaimer on the Go Fund Me clearly indicates the money raised goes directly to the charity, in this case Reflections of Grace Foundation, of which I cannot and would not access. 
 • Claims everyone that interacted with a post intended to raise money for the Race for Grace is "Norwin's biggest woke trash". 
 • Norwin community members that do not adhere to strict so-called conservative values suffer from a mental disorder.

These comments are unsettling for a government institution funded by our tax dollars, that represents children, to express.  I am not sure if this is worse or nearly on par with his previous expressions made about community members with intellectual disabilities. These statements, made in a public forum and associated with an official of our school district, have understandably led to confusion and distress within much of the community. The nature of these posts, blending political opinions with school-related matters, makes it challenging to discern in what capacity Director Detschelt is speaking.

Given the gravity of the accusations and the potential for these statements to reflect negatively on the Norwin School District, I am seeking official clarification on the following:

 • Does the Norwin School District endorse or share the views expressed by Director Detschelt in these public statements?
 • Can the district confirm whether Director Detschelt's opinions represent the stance of the Norwin School Board, his individual capacity, or his political allies within the board?
 • What measures does the district intend to take to address these concerns and ensure that the values of our community are accurately and respectfully represented by its officials?
The integrity and reputation of our school district are of utmost importance, not only to parents and students but to the entire community it serves. It is essential to uphold principles of respect, legality, and ethical behavior in all public communications by a government entity and the officials that represent it. 

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I eagerly await your response and am hopeful for a resolution that reaffirms the commitment of the Norwin School District to maintaining a positive and inclusive environment for all employees, students, parents, community members, and business owners. 

Sincerely,

Justin Lokay

Alex, here again. So, my quotes are not accurately presented or in their entirety, some taken completely out of context, and with assertions that are completely false. I never once, ever, used my FB account to post a single message relating to the business of the District or school board matters. As with any previous postings of mine (especially the one that got the District sued), I fail to see how posts on a private FB page, unrelated to school matters, exposing lawlessness within our community would implicate any Norwin School District matters. Maybe I misread his email and he wanted to bring attention to Race for Grace’s IRS violation and was wondering if the District should reconsider whether Race for Grace should be allowed to run on school property. I mean, do you think a public school district should associate themselves with an organization that allegedly violates IRS rules?

Just remember that Justin is a ‘Resident Pudding Brain’ supporter and notorious anti-semite Congresswoman Summer Lee proudly attended the opening of his Mind Dojo business last summer.

Why would Justin be critical of me calling Summer Lee a "vile person" when "40 rabbis and cantors in the Pittsburgh area have signed on to an open letter voicing their continued disappointment with her over her criticism of Israel amid its war with Hamas in Gaza, and accusing her of using ‘divisive rhetoric’ that the clergy members say they ‘have perceived as openly antisemitic.’” I don’t understand how anyone in this community, including Justin, could support Summer Lee based on her views. Sadly, there are Democrats (no surprise) here who support her. Please contact the Mind Dojo and ask that Justin put out a statement to the public and on their website that he in no way supports Summer Lee’s antisemitic views and will be mindful of any further association with her. We have no room for hate in Norwin.

I know I’m going off on tangents, but why are socialists like Diana Gray (was We Are Norwin’s campaign manager and member of Voice of Westmoreland) and Norwin School Board directors Bill Bojalad and Nina Totin leaving positive reviews of a mental health clinic? If they are truly clients of the Mind Dojo, would one not question their mental capacity to be on the board? Probably not, if one is a leftist, as Resident Pudding Brain was found to be incompetent to be charged, but still allowed access to the launch codes. Alternatively, why are these two board members positively associating themselves with a business that invited anti-semite Summer Lee? Do they agree with her hateful rhetoric? So many questions. The community should insist that Bill and Nina make statements distancing themselves from such a vile person.

But I digress. There are unintended consequences to Justin emailing the Board, just as all the posts incriminating Race for Race even further were being deleted. The Ekis family must have loved their “supporters” making posts (all nicely saved) about how other candidates were also included in the race bags: so what’s the big deal?! The stupidity of these people is absolutely mind-boggling. Is it my job to point that out to them? Apparently:

Looks like the low-IQ leftists and RINOs were contacted to remove their incriminating posts about other political flyers being put in the bags. "But officer, I see everyone else speed down Route 30, so I should be let off without a ticket, right?" Thank you (Babs and others) for giving me the opportunity to accurately reflect what happened with emailed copies of all responses saved. Your dedication to honesty at the expense of making the RFG violation compounded is admirable. We need more honest people in today's world.

And thank you Justin for your board email. I can guarantee you that Russ (the board solicitor) informed the We are Norwin board members to tell their dumb minions (Lokay et al.) to stop emailing the board and stop posting anything that then puts the district in a difficult position with either having to ignore the board emails about my posts (proving the point of my lawsuit) or having to address my posts (proving the point of my lawsuit). I'm laughing at the conundrum you absolute low-IQ cretins have created just because you think you're smarter than you really are, resulting in writing before thinking, thereby creating the exact opposite of what was intended. The very definition of liberalism.

It’s one thing to be surrounded by intellectual leftists (e.g., Chomksy, Dershowitz, etc.) like those living in Squirrel Hill, Shadyside and the other woke areas, with whom you can have a healthy debate, but it’s another thing to be surrounded by complete imbecile leftists and RINOs here in Norwin. This past weekend, reading these posts made parts of my brain shut down as a self-defense mechanism to prevent me from absorbing the ever-increasing stupidity that I was reading. The concern isn’t the proverbial “how do these people walk and chew bubblegum at the same time” issue, but rather the scary thought that they vote.

I’m always about finding solutions. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem (which is what I say about the apathetic conservative Norwinians who didn’t come out to vote and the beta males controlled by their RINO wives telling them how to vote). So here’s my solution. Let’s create a rule-following 501(c)(3) organization for our community, which fundraises to find a cure for this dreaded affliction known as liberalism for which there is no known cure. No matter how much these victims are subjected to continued loss of personal freedoms, skyrocketing inflation and taxation, twerking drag queens sexualizing their kids, and foreign invaders raping their daughters, they will continue to vote against Republican values. The saying “liberalism is a mental disorder” used to be a joke, something I never took literally, but now I see what a terrible sickness liberalism truly is. We need to desperately find a cure and help families of those afflicted with this disorder. It’s a more pressing matter than any type of cancer because liberalism has a domino effect that is affecting EVERYTHING and EVERY American on a daily basis. Even those directly afflicted by liberalism, suffer, although they are oblivious to it. And then they pass it onto their kids. A vicious cycle - a vicious disease!

So let’s have a yearly 5k, "The Race for Reagan." The top 10 runners in the lead at each 1k mark get put back at the starting line and have to make their way back up to the front while the runners in the back get paid to move up front in order to reward those who are less successful at the expense of those who put in the sacrifices needed to be successful. There would be higher entry fees based on everyone’s tax bracket, of course. Maybe we should allow some foreign invaders to enter the race without paying - maybe ones who were let out of jail by leftist judges who I’m sure will be on their best behavior. Then we have these misunderstood future doctors and engineers run after the younger women runners who will be incentivized to run faster to prevent being a Resident Pudding Brain statistic. I’m open to other suggestions to make this as diverse, equitable, and inclusive of an event as possible.

I'm serious. If anyone wants to form a non-profit with me along these lines, get in touch. I will make sure we’ll follow IRS rules because I don’t want to jeopardize the good standing of a charity for such a good cause! Let’s find a cure — for liberalism, and yes, cancer, and let’s do it in a fashion that respects elections and the rule of law.