Advocacy group sues IRS

True the Vote, a Houston-based advocacy group, filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday, demanding damages amounting to $85,000 after claiming that it was wrongfully targeted as a conservative group with Tea Party ties.

True the Vote, which says it defends voter integrity, first applied for tax exempt status from the IRS on July 15, 2010. The organization was thereafter subjected to 17 investigations and queries from numerous federal agencies - including the FBI, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Commission on Environmental Quality - as part practices described as "unnecessary and burdensome" in its official complaint filed on Tuesday.

In the complaint, True the Vote accused the IRS of deliberately delaying the organization's application for tax-exempt status, requiring excessive paperwork on the organization's activities and possibly releasing the information it compiled in an unlawful manner. During recent public hearings, the IRS has conceded that it unjustly targeted specific conservative groups during the application process for tax-exempt status for non-profits.