[citation needed] By 1990 Operation Rescue was down to a core of “professional rescuers” living off of free food and lodging provided by other anti-abortion activists.
[1] The event lasted six weeks, with over 2,600 arrests by the Wichita Police Department,[5] and culminated in a rally that filled Cessna Stadium, featuring televangelist / politician Pat Robertson.
The event became ORN's biggest public relations coup, when thousands of out-of-area protestors on both sides of the argument descended on Buffalo and Amherst.
[citation needed] Keith Tucci departed as director of Operation Rescue National in late 1993 turning the organization over to Rev.
[citation needed] In 1999, Operation Rescue West changed hands when Jeff White stepped down from his position as its director and transferred his leadership of it to Troy Newman.
Newman moved ORW from California to Kansas, and dropped the word West from the group's name, simply renaming the organization Operation Rescue.
[citation needed] In 2006, after the Internal Revenue Service completed an investigation of the nonprofit for electioneering which it launched in 2004, Operation Rescue West's tax exemption status was revoked.