Kim Barker was a guest on Hardball yesterday to talk about her "How Nonprofits Spend Millions on Elections and Call it Public Welfare" investigation.  Barker spoke with host Chris Matthews about one particular nonprofit, the Commission on Hope, Growth and Opportunity, that spent $2.3 million on political ads but reported no political spending to the Federal Election Commission and the IRS.  "We looked at more than one hundred groups that have spent money on politics, some of which are very valid c-4 groups that have been around for a very long time," said Barker. "But this was one of the examples that you just looked at and you thought why is nothing happening?  And if nothing happens to this group, what is the point of even having rules?"

MSNBC contributor Richard Wolffe was also a guest during the segment and he told Matthews, "The anonymity (of these groups' donors) is obviously offensive, but remember these are supposed to be public welfare, public education groups and let's face it, Kim's reporting and ProPublica's reporting much more fits the definition of public welfare.  They have done us a public service in shining another light on how this system is abused.  It's quite clear the IRS does not have the resources to go after this."

Matthews concluded, "Great reporting and I think you have broken some ground here."  Watch the full segment below.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy