COEUR d'ALENE - Several local pastors got involved with the primary elections earlier this spring, and some of those who did participate say they have done nothing wrong.

But State Rep. Ed Morse, R-Hayden, said he believes those pastors may have violated Internal Revenue Service laws that prohibit non-profit organizations from political campaigning.

Morse plans to file a formal complaint with the IRS this week.

"We just can't compete with this," he said in an interview on Friday. "What they did is biased, it's unethical, it's immoral and it's against federal law."

Morse is referring to a political flyer that was distributed by a number of local churches the weekend prior to the primary elections on May 20.

The flyer was created by the Kootenai Family Council PAC, which was formed by Robert Schillingstad and Gary Brown on May 14, and terminated on June 2.

The PAC spent a total of $305, donated by Schillingstad, at Staples in Ironwood Square on literature and copies. If all of that money went to color copies at Staples prices, that would amount to over 600 copies of the flyer.

When contacted by phone Friday, Schillingstad hung up on The Press while being asked to address the flyer. He did not answer follow up calls.

Brown is the founder of Reach America, which is an educational support organization for homeschoolers. He did not return messages left at his office on Friday.

Eric Redman, who unseated Morse in the primary election, sits on the board of directors for Reach America, as well as two other Christian boards associated with Brown and his organization. He did not return phone calls, either.

The flyer listed all of the Republican candidates for state legislative offices and listed their positions on two issues - the state healthcare exchange and the common core education curriculum. It also listed each incumbent candidate's conservative score with the Idaho Freedom Foundation.

According to two of the pastors who participated, the flyer was distributed by many of the pastors who belong to the Kootenai County Ministerial Association.

Morse said the association has 27 or 28 ultraconservative, non-denominational churches among its membership.

"This was a thumb on the scale by the local churches," Morse said, adding there are very clear laws prohibiting tax exempt nonprofit organizations from engaging in political campaigns.

Article 5 of the IRS law governing such activities states:

"No substantial part of the activities of the corporation shall be carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation, and the corporation shall not participate in, or intervene in (including publishing or distribution of statements), any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office."

Pastor Paul Van Noy of Candlelight Fellowship Church said he did participate in distributing the flyers, but as an individual. He said the church did not participate in that.

"Here is the thing," Van Noy said. "Pastors are allowed to have opinions. I am allowed to email those opinions to my friends and my church congregation."

He said the church did not take a position on the candidates or participate in any campaign.

In an email to his congregation on May 19, Van Noy encouraged them to get out and vote during the primary election and attached the Family Council flyer to the email, calling it a "voter's guide."

He gave instructions on how to interpret the guide and added a disclaimer at the end of the email.

"I need to remind you that this is not a political campaign for any particular candidate, but is sent as a help to each of you as you make your decision and vote..." the disclaimer said.

Van Noy said he did send the flyer to the ministerial association as well.

"I was asked by someone to send out what I had," Van Noy said. "Some of the pastors did distribute the flyer and some didn't."

Van Noy said he would have done the same thing for the slate of Democratic candidates, but he wasn't asked to distribute anything from that party.

Coeur d'Alene Church of the Nazarene Pastor Ron Hunter said he put out a stack of the flyers for his congregation as well.

"That's not unusual though," Hunter said. "On request, we distribute information all of the time. We put out a stack but we did not endorse anyone."

He said what he did is no different than what he does to promote a new Christian movie or radio station that his congregation might be interested in.

"We tell them about the movie, but we don't tell them to go to the movie theater," he said.

Nevertheless, Morse said he will be filing paperwork with the IRS this week calling for a formal investigation into the campaign.

"I don't want this to look like sour grapes, but what they did was just wrong," Morse said.

The Idaho Secretary of State's Office said they were unaware of any other complaints related to the Kootenai Family Council PAC as of Friday afternoon.