Patterico's Pontifications

5/29/2013

IRS Scandal: More Proof Emerges of D.C. Involvement — But in What?

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:34 am

Some more evidence has emerged of inquiries to Tea Party groups originating from the IRS in Washington DC. Ed Morrissey says this is evidence that Washington, D.C. was involved in the targeting of Tea Party groups. Maybe — but I’m not completely sure what to make of this evidence.

The scandal is not that organizations were being asked for more information — that happens all the time with organizations seeking tax-exempt status. The real scandal is why they were targeted to begin with: that they had names that sounded conservative. It’s not clear to me that the new evidence sheds any light on that question, although it might.

I think we need to know: did D.C. typically get involved in the process of questioning an organizing selected for further scrutiny ? If so, the new evidence doesn’t necessarily tell us much about who was involved in targeting conservatives as such — unless there is some unreported aspect of the communications that I am missing.

Comments (24)

24 Responses to “IRS Scandal: More Proof Emerges of D.C. Involvement — But in What?”

I thought it was a couple of rogue employees who acted all on their own. The IG report said so.
JD (df45ac) — 5/29/2013 @ 7:10 am
I believe one of the massive questionnaires had Lerner’s signature on it. Considering the bizarre questions asked — and that they were apparently not a standard form, but custom-tailored for each group — I think it’s reasonable to assume they were about opposition research, not fair and consistent application of the law.

Regardless, this blows the “we didn’t know; it was a rogue group out of Cincinnati” lie out of the water.
Rob Crawford (e6f27f) — 5/29/2013 @ 7:15 am
The dates on some of those are interesting. Seems like this didnt stop quite when they claimed.
JD (df45ac) — 5/29/2013 @ 7:29 am
the IRS is corrupt like Chicago

and deeply, deeply fascist

it’s a scary situation
happyfeet (8ce051) — 5/29/2013 @ 7:32 am
Here’s a further clue as to Ma href=”http://washingtonexaminer.com/lawmakers-zero-in-on-irs-meetings-at-white-house/article/2530439″>White House-IRS coordination:

Former Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Doug Shulman visited the White House 118 times between 2010 and 2011. Acting Director Steven Miller, who took over at the IRS in November, also made numerous visits to the White House, though variations in the spelling of his name in White House visitor logs makes it difficult to determine exactly how many times.

No doubt because “Steven Miller” is just one of those hard-to-spell names. In many cases the WH logs are also unclear, or blank, on whom the IRS commissioner was meeting. Further:

Lawmakers now investigating the Internal Revenue Service practice zeroed in on those nearly weekly White House meetings to determine whether an IRS official — or someone higher up in the administration — had approved the targeting and whether it was politically motivated.

The frequent meetings also raised questions about the White House’s claims that it couldn’t have instigated the targeting of conservative groups because it took a hands-off approach to the tax agency, going so far as to describe it as independent of the administration even though it’s part of the Treasury Department.

Apparently, Shulman is unable to recall why he was going to the White House so frequently. For those that remember the Watergate hearings, “I can’t recall” is a tell.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 5/29/2013 @ 8:15 am
Um … White House-IRS coordination
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 5/29/2013 @ 8:16 am
I think they are pressing lower level people at this point to get to the head of the snake. Let’s hope the committee doesn’t get cold feet.
Patricia (be0117) — 5/29/2013 @ 8:40 am
Apparently, Shulman is unable to recall why he was going to the White House so frequently

Not so. He went for the Easter Egg roll.
JD (b63a52) — 5/29/2013 @ 8:48 am
Former Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Doug Shulman visited the White House 118 times between 2010 and 2011. Acting Director Steven Miller, who took over at the IRS in November, also made numerous visits to the White House, though variations in the spelling of his name in White House visitor logs makes it difficult to determine exactly how many times.

Other than a brief introductory at the time of nomination, there is absolutely no reason for the IRS commissioner to visit the WH.
Joe (debac0) — 5/29/2013 @ 8:49 am
The dates on some of those are interesting. Seems like this didnt stop quite when they claimed.

It’s apparently still going on.
Rob Crawford (e6f27f) — 5/29/2013 @ 9:03 am
We’re making way too much of this secret WH pogram of suppression against the TEA Party, after all what difference does it make if a few disgruntled IRS employees happened to be offended by a disgustingly provocative video of TEA Party patriots picking up trash at the Washington Monument?

IRS agents aren’t ordinary human beings, they’re above the silly rules and regulations they routinely inflict on the taxpaying public. IRS agents don’t have to sit still for the sort of political interference uppity citizens or whining taxpayers think the US Constitution permits them to engage in.

Those two IRS agents in Cincinnati were provoked and they spontaneously decided without consulting each other, their supervisors, or anyone yet questioned before a Congressional Committee whether they took the 5th or not, to bring down the purifying force of government entanglement against so-called grassroots citizen organizations opposed to ever expanding government in a righteous and overdue display of retribution against Obama’s racist critics.

It’s not like a few IRS agents just happened to be out for a stroll one evening on the anniversary of 9/11 and decided to shoot off a few RPGs and murder a US ambassador and several of his fellow henchmen.
ropelight (bd6714) — 5/29/2013 @ 10:43 am
It was a rogue auto pen! It signed him in to cast doubt on the famed independence of the IRS from the White HOuse.
Patricia (be0117) — 5/29/2013 @ 11:37 am
Acting Director Steven Miller, who took over at the IRS in November, also made numerous visits to the White House, though variations in the spelling of his name in White House visitor logs makes it difficult…

How in hades do you screw up the spelling of “Steven Miller?”

…did D.C. typically get involved in the process of questioning an organizing selected for further scrutiny ?

Since more then one of the targeted groups have reported that IRS agents told them their applications had to go to a “special task force” in DC it’s safe to say this wasn’t standard procedure. Unless administration lawyers have invented a new definition of the word “special” as they did when drafting their drone strike policy and they invented the new definition of the term “imminent threat” which now includes “not in the immediate future.”

Whether or not DC had been involved in the process in previous administrations, the Obama administration had clearly invented an entirely new process. How “special.”
Steve57 (9b1cdb) — 5/29/2013 @ 2:31 pm
A conservative today showed letters sent to him THIS MONTH by IRS demanding more information – years after his 501(c)4 application was submitted.

The IRS has the duty to vet organizations applying for tax free status, but the nature of the questions and the dragged out process, coupled with coincidental tax audits of individuals and their companies and surprise inspections by other federal agencies shows there was a coordinated effort to suppress conservative involvement in the elections and their free speech rights.
in_awe (7c859a) — 5/29/2013 @ 4:00 pm
It explains a lot doesn’t it;

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/05/breaking-lois-lerner-told-republican-in-1996-promise-me-you-will-never-run-again-and-well-drop-this-fec-case/
narciso (3fec35) — 5/29/2013 @ 7:33 pm
Wow. If that Gateway Pundit post is accurate the woman belongs in jail.

Given how far she went in the IRS while running outside the law the rot must run deep there. They need to clean out entire organizations and start fresh, say, by hiring only people that have been audited. There’s zero chance that will happen so I guess I’ll have a big cup of shut up, again.
East Bay Jay (a5dac7) — 5/29/2013 @ 8:41 pm
All IRS agents used to be audited as a precondition of employment. I don’t know if that’s still the case.
nk (875f57) — 5/29/2013 @ 8:43 pm
Given that the tax code is so convoluted and contradictory and therefore impossible to comply with in every respect, it is clear to me that the IRS cannot possibly administer the tax system fairly and non-arbitrarily. Therefore it must be abolished and replaced by a system that is clear and fair and has no room for arbitrary whim.
Rorschach (d62b54) — 5/30/2013 @ 12:33 am
Cleta Mitchell who is representing Englebrect/Kink Street Patriots/True the Vote in the lawsuit against the IRS has names. http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/28/18563008-irs-higher-ups-requested-info-on-conservative-groups-letters-show?lite
Rorschach (d62b54) — 5/30/2013 @ 12:40 am
“The scandal is not that organizations were being asked for more information — that happens all the time with organizations seeking tax-exempt status. The real scandal is why they were targeted to begin with”

The first scandal is the selection for special treatment, the second scandal is the treatment itself – requests for answers to onerous and irrelevant questions, and loooong delays.
Robbo (fcc529) — 5/30/2013 @ 4:35 am
I guess that would fit here;

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/05/29/libs-stunned-to-find-tax-breaks-benefit-those-who-actually-pay-taxes/
narciso (3fec35) — 5/30/2013 @ 5:43 am
Atkinson has it;

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/05/30/cbs-the-strange-case-of-true-the-vote-vs-the-irs-and-lots-of-other-bureaucrats/
narciso (3fec35) — 5/30/2013 @ 10:27 am
For what it’s worth:

Douglas Shulman was a very frequent visitor to the White House during the Obama years.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/05/30/more-on-that-frequent-white-house-visitor/

Now the Daily Caller has been doing a little journalism. It reports this morning that Shulman visited the White House a stunning total of 157 times during the Obama administration. How does that compare with other high-ranking officials? Eric Holder, holding the far more important job of attorney general and the president’s close friend, shows up in the White House visitors’ log less than half as often as Shulman. The Daily Caller writes:

[ http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/29/irss-shulman-had-more-public-white-house-visits-than-any-cabinet-member/ ]

Shulman has more recorded visits to the White House than HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (48), DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano (34), Education Secretary Arne Duncan (31), former Energy Secretary Steven Chu (22) and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates (17) combined.

Although Shulman was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2008, he had donated $500 to the Democratic National Committee in the month prior to the re-election of President Bush in 2004. He was confirmed unanimously by the Senate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Shulman
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 5/30/2013 @ 2:56 pm
Some people maybe don’t sign in every time.
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 5/30/2013 @ 2:57 pm

5/29/2013

IRS Scandal: More Proof Emerges of D.C. Involvement — But in What?

24 Responses to “IRS Scandal: More Proof Emerges of D.C. Involvement — But in What?”

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