IRS unfairly targeting Conservatives (Tea Party groups)

[American Patriot]

Outright lies, lies by omission, obfuscation, add confusion, don't take responsibility.

This seems to be the mainstay for this Administration

[American Patriot]

Issa speaking right now.

Specifically about "targeting" of people for their beliefs.

[American Patriot]

Sparks will fly: House panel braces for heated IRS hearing

Yuri Gripas / Reuters, file
Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin testifies before a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs committee hearing on December 6, 2011. Wolin was the Treasury official who learned about the investigation into the IRS in 2012.




By Michael O'Brien, Political Reporter, NBC News


Capitol Hill readied Wednesday for perhaps the most explosive -- or at least dramatic -- of the three hearings into IRS abuses of conservative and Tea Party groups in the past week, with one of the key witnesses expected to invoke her constitutional right to remain silent.


The Republican-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform committee was set to convene its own hearing on the revelations that the tax-collecting agency had singled out conservative groups for additional scrutiny in their applications for nonprofit status. Though the panel will hear from two of the same witnesses who appeared at hearings of the House Ways and Means Committee last Friday and the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, two witnesses who have not yet appeared before Congress could make Wednesday’s hearing into the most eventful yet.


Members of the U.S. Senate ask Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller about his knowledge of the department's alleged targeting of political groups.


Those two witnesses are Neal Wolin, a deputy Treasury secretary, and Lois Lerner, who oversees the tax-exempt division within the IRS. Wolin was the Treasury official who learned about the investigation into the IRS in 2012; Lerner was the official who planted a question at an American Bar Association conference with the purpose of disclosing the IRS’s targeting of conservatives in public for the first time and who is in charge of the agency’s division in charge of overseeing tax-exempt status for such groups.


In perhaps an ominous precursor for the hearing, Lerner’s attorney said Tuesday that her client would invoke her Fifth Amendment rights against having to offer self-incriminating testimony. She will still appear, though, to voice that claim.


The oversight panel has been one of the most doggedly critical of the White House, providing Republicans with an ideal platform to ding President Barack Obama and his team. The committee, for example, hosted a hearing earlier this month featuring whistleblowers that helped breathe new life into Republicans’ questions about the administration’s handling of last year’s terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.


Follow @mpoindc

The two other witnesses, former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman and IRS Inspector General J. Russell George, featured Wednesday have appeared in previous congressional hearings.


Throughout these hearings, IRS officials have blamed “foolish mistakes” for the abuses at the IRS, but have denied that partisan motivations or influence from outside the agency fueled IRS officials’ targeting of conservative groups. That hasn’t stopped Republicans from insinuating otherwise; GOP lawmakers have spent much of the last two hearings probing whether the Obama administration had any role in directing the efforts to single out its ideological adversaries.


This story was originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 4:39 AM EDT

[American Patriot]

Live updates:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...-live-updates/

[American Patriot]

IRS official refuses to testify in Tea Party probe






May 22, 2013 10:42 AM |





Cliff Toye, of Tabernacle, holds a sign as he stands with others outside Internal Revenue Service offices Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Cherry Hill, N.J., during a tea party rally protesting extra IRS scrutiny of conservative groups. / Mel Evans AP

by Gregory Korte, USA TODAY




WASHINGTON -- The IRS official responsible for tax exemptions refused to testify to a House oversight panel investigating the agency's treatment of conservative groups Wednesday.


Citing her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, Lois Lerner would not answer questions about how the IRS developed the "be on the lookout" list for Tea Party groups, what she did when she discovered it, and why she failed to tell Congress about it when asked directly.


In asserting her Fifth Amendment rights, she said, "I know some people will assume I have done something wrong. I have not," she said."I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules and regulations, and I have not provided false information to this or any other congressional committee."


Lerner's said she was following the advice of her attorney, who has cited the criminal investigation into the IRS's decision to target Tea Party groups for greater scrutiny beginning in 2010.


Republicans protested. "You don't get to tell your side of the story and then not stand for cross examination," said Re. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., "She waive her right against self-discrimination, she ought to sit here and answer our questions."


But Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., dismissed Lerner, saying she could be recalled if committee's lawyers determine that she waived her rights by delivering an opening statement.


Though Lerner would not testify, she did provide written answers to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration last November. Those answers were provided to the committee Tuesday night, and Lerner said verified for the committee Wednesday that the answers they had appeared to be hers.


"To the best of my knowledge, no individual or organization outside the IRS influenced the creation of these criteria," Lerner said.


She said that when she first learned of a "be on the lookout" list that included Tea Party groups in June 2011, she "immediately directed that the BOLO list be revised to eliminate the reference to "Tea Party" organizations and refer instead more generally to advocacy organizations.


"Unbeknownst to me," she continued, the Cincinnati office changed the criteria again in January 2012 to include "political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform/movement."


As Lerner refused to testify, one of her employees is cooperating with the committee's investigation.


Holly Paz, who was the director of Rulings and Agreements, spoke to committee staffers behind closed doors Tuesday, Chairman Darrell Issa said.


Paz told the investigators that the IRS conducted its own internal review of its handling of Tea Party cases and came to the same conclusion as the inspector general's audit a year ago.


But Issa said he was also troubled to learn that Paz was so involved in the inspector general's review, sitting in on interviews with subordinated even as they were asked if higher-ups were responsible.


An inspector general's report last week found that the IRS's Cincinnati office, which processes all applications for tax exemptions, put any group with the words "Tea Party," "Patriot" and "9/12 Project" into a separate process where they languished for more than a year. A USA TODAY review of applications processed during that time found that many groups with "Progress" or "Organizing" in their names were routinely approved in the same time frame.


Lerner played a pivotal role in the affair. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said she failed to tell Congress about the targeting of Tea Party groups when asked 14 times by members of Congress over the past year -- even as recently as this month. Then, when the inspector general's report was about to be released, she came up with a plan to plant a question at a conference, which allowed her to publicly apologize, IRS officials have testified.

[American Patriot]

well... it looks like a google search has shown us the way. LOL

About 902,000 results (0.48 seconds)

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      There is a simple way to restrain the IRS so that this scandal doesn't happen again: get rid of it.
      
   
   
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      Time Has Come to Abolish the IRS
      
      Christian Post‎ - 1 day ago
      
      
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   2 days ago – The current federal income tax system is inherently and irreparably flawed.
   
   
   
4. Time Has Come to Abolish the IRS - The Christian Post
   
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   1 day ago – Last Thursday, the House of Representatives for the 257000th time voted to repeal Obamacare. Once more, it was a meaningless resolution.
   
   
   
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   18 hours ago – There is a simple way to restrain the IRS so this type of intrusion doesn't happen again: Get rid of it.
   
   
   
6. Abolish the IRS (and the Income Tax With It) - Reason.com
   
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   3 days ago – No dissenter can ever rest assured he is safe from the arbitrary power of the IRS.
   
   
   
7. House GOP seeks to abolish IRS, replace income tax with ... - The Hill
   
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   Jan 4, 2013 – Fifty-four House Republicans on Thursday re-introduced legislation that would terminate the Internal Revenue Service, and replace the system ...
   
   
   
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   3 days ago – For all of its populist appeal, the corporate income tax is arbitrary and exempting some organizations from paying it is equally arbitrary.
   
   
   
   
9. Sen. Ted Cruz's solution to the IRS: Abolish it - Red Alert Politics
   
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   3 days ago – Ted Cruz The Internal Revenue Service was being dragged through the mud this week, after it came to light that agency had been targeting ...
   
   
   
10. End the Income Tax, Abolish the IRS - Ron Paul
    
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    Apr 15, 2009 – Ron Paul supports the elimination of the income tax and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). He asserts that Congress had no power to impose ...
    
    
    

[American Patriot]

Somehow, I think this gal did something wrong. I'm not quite sure what it is yet, and I don't mean in the IRS, I mean in front of Congress today.

There is a specific way to prevent incriminating yourself and I have this feeling she waived her rights instead of standing firm on keeping her mouth shut.

lol

Lerner Says She Did Nothing Wrong, Then Pleads the Fifth

By Kaylin Bugos on 5.22.13 @ 10:50AM




Lois Lerner, the IRS director of tax exempt groups, said she did nothing wrong in her opening statement before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, before pleading the Fifth and refusing to answer any questions.



Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) asked her to reconsider her decision based on the fact that she offered testimony in her opening statement and confirmed her previous answers to other questions to appear on the record of the hearing.


Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) interrupted, saying that the hearing room should be treated like a courtroom, and that Lerner had already waived her rights by testifying before the committee. “She waived her right to Fifth Amendment privilege. She ought to stay here and answer our questions,” he said. He compared her actions to a a witness offering testimony in a courtroom but not being subject to cross-examination, which is prohibited. (RD: this is NOT accurate, while he DID say that, it was the senior rep on the committee that suggested first that the hearing should be run like a court room! So this article is Bullshit)


The committee eventually determined that Lerner was not subject to courtroom rules. Issa dismissed her, but the dismissal was subject to recall if it was determined she had indeed waived her Fifth Amendment rights.

[American Patriot]

AH HA!!!! the ansewr to the problem isn't to go after the lying liars in the IRS and WH - it's to call for MORE REGULATION! To go after the PEOPLE who CAUSED all this! Those DAMNED Tea Party people!



Democrats Use IRS Hearing to Call for 501(c)(4) Oversight

May 22, 2013, 10:43 am

Senate Democrats joined Republican colleagues Tuesday in criticizing the Internal Revenue Service for targeting conservative groups but also used a Finance Committee hearing to call for greater controls on political activity by nonprofit organizations, Reuters reports.


Though largely focused on the tax agency’s extra scrutiny of Tea Party and other right-wing groups seeking 501(c)(4) status, the scandal has also renewed attention on the rapid rise in campaign spending by such “social welfare” groups, which are not required to disclose their donors.


“Notwithstanding the troubling and unacceptable conduct of the IRS, if political organizations do not want to be scrutinized by the government, they shouldn’t seek privileges like tax-free status and anonymity for their donors,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat. He said such groups should be classified as “527″ entities, which are also tax-exempt but must identify contributors.


J. Russell George, the Treasury Department inspector whose report on IRS screening of conservative groups brought the scandal to a head, told the Senate panel his office will shortly launch a review of the agency’s oversight of “campaign intervention” by 501(c)(4)s, Politico writes.


The probe will also examine nonprofit entities led by unions and business and trade groups and is expected to take six months to a year, according to the office of the inspector general for tax administration.


See the latest Chronicle of Philanthropy coverage of the IRS scandal.

[American Patriot]

IRS House hearing: Lois Lerner pleads the Fifth (LIVE VIDEO)

Lois Lerner, the IRS official in charge of tax exemptions, pled the Fifth, refusing to testify in front of a House oversight panel.









Enlarge Internal Revenue Service Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner is sworn in before testifying to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee May 22, 2013 in Washington, DC. The committee is investigating allegations that the IRS targeted conservative non-profit organizations with the words "tea party" and "constitution" in their names for additional scrutiny. Lerner, who headed the division that oversees exempt organizations, plans to assert her constitutional right not to answer questions. (Chip Somodevilla/AFP/Getty Images)

Lois Lerner, the head of the Internal Revenue Service's tax exempt organizations branch, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday that she did nothing wrong before pleading the Fifth.

The House panel is on its second straight day of hearings to investigate the IRS' targeting of conservative groups seeking tax exempt status.
Lerner exercised her Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination when she was asked about how the IRS developed a list of Tea Party groups to watch, how she learned about it and why she did not inform Congress directly.

"I know some people will assume I have done something wrong. I have not," she said, according to USA Today. "I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules and regulations, and I have not provided false information to this or any other congressional committee."
The committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, was informed of Lerner's decision to plead the Fifth.

On Tuesday, the committee's spokesman, Ali Ahmad, said, "The committee has been contacted by Ms. Lerner’s lawyer, who stated that his client intended to invoke her Fifth Amendment right and refuse to answer questions," according to The New York Times.
Watch the proceedings below:

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/n...ads-fifth-live

[American Patriot]

So basically....

if one stands on the fifth one is presuming oneself to be guilty of SOMETHING and MIGHT incriminate oneself by answering questions.

Therefore, even if you say "I didn't do it" then proceed to say "I refuse to answer questions based on my right to silence to prevent self-incrimination" it's ok?

I think it's not ok. I think you shouldn't say "I didn't do it" and just stand on your rights and let them figure it out.

it's not up to a party to convict themselves in front of the media and congress. But rather, if a person is called in front of Congress and put under oath it's a crime to lie to Congress. Therefore to say ANYTHING at all then becomes part of the process of "conviction".

At least in my mind. Thus, to say "I didn't do anything" makes her a liar.

Because obviously, by logic if one says "I take the 5th" then one is presumed to have done SOMETHING that would incriminate themselves if they answer questions.

Wow.... what a mess.

[American Patriot]

There are videos at the link:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013...endment-right/

Confusion Erupts in IRS Hearing After Lois Lerner Tries to Plead the 5th — Watch It All Unfold

May. 22, 2013 10:50am Madeleine Morgenstern

Internal Revenue Service Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner leaves a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee after refusing to testify on May 22, 2013 in Washington, D.C. The committee is investigating allegations that the IRS targeted conservative nonprofit organizations with “Tea Party,” “patriot” and other words in their names for additional scrutiny. Lerner, who headed the division that oversees exempt organizations, exercised her constitutional right not to answer questions. (Getty Images)



The Internal Revenue Service official at the center of the political targeting scandal invoked her constitutional right not to answer lawmakers’ questions on Wednesday, but defiantly asserted that she has done nothing wrong.


Lois Lerner leads the IRS office that determines which organizations receive tax-exempt status, and was the first to publicly disclose earlier this month that the IRS gave extra scrutiny to conservative groups.


“I have not done anything wrong, I have not broken any laws, I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations and I have not provided false information to this or any other congressional committee,” Lerner told House Oversight and Government Reform Committee members. “While I would very much like to answer the committee’s questions today, I have been advised by my counsel to assert my constitutional right not to testify or answer questions related to the subject manner of this hearing.”


Lerner added that by asserting her right not to testify, “I know that some people will assume I have done something wrong. I have not. One of the basic functions of the Fifth Amendment is to protect innocent individuals, and that is the protection I am invoking today.”

An incensed Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) spoke up that Lerner should testify, arguing that she already waived her constitutional privilege.

“You don’t get to tell your side of the story and not be subjected to cross-examination. That’s not the way it works. She waived her right to Fifth Amendment privilege by issuing an opening statement, she ought to stand here and answer our questions,” Gowdy said, earning applause from the audience.

[American Patriot]

Really? WTF?

The Wolin Side Step

By Bruce Becker
Published May 22, 2013
FOXBusiness

• 

Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin is carefully stage managing his role in the televised IRS drama.
One of four witnesses today before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Wolin carefully stepped outside of camera range when he and the other three witnesses stood to be sworn in, thereby keeping himself out of the iconic swear-in picture. His slid back into his place at the table after the swearing in.
Minutes later, after Lois Lerner, the IRS official who pleaded the Fifth and refused to answer questions, was dismissed from the panel, producing an empty seat between Wolin and the other two remaining witnesses, Wolin initially refused to move into the empty seat, next to the other witnesses.
“I want to stay here,” he whispered to the aide who offered the empty seat.
A short time later committee chairman Darryl Issa insisted Wolin move into the empty seat, which he ultimately did.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/governmen...#ixzz2U2Ntvdk2

[Malsua]

You don’t get to tell your side of the story and not be subjected to cross-examination.

Exactly right.

Go to jail now you partisan POS.

[vector7]

A Crack in the IRS Dam

The dam protecting the IRS scandal began to crack today when Lois Lerner, the IRS official who announced, and apologized for, the improper singling out of conservative-leaning organizations by IRS employees under her command, announced through her criminal defense lawyer that she will not testify as scheduled tomorrow before the House Oversight Committee. Rather, she will assert her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

This marks a milestone in the IRS investigation. It can now be taken as more or less established that crimes were committed by Obama administration employees. Lerner’s lawyer tried to minimize the significance of her invoking the privilege against self-incrimination by saying that since law enforcement authorities have announced they are pursuing a criminal investigation, she had no choice. This is silly: people testify before Senate committees and grand juries when there is a criminal investigation going on, all the time. The ones who plead the Fifth are those who cannot answer questions honestly without confessing to serious crimes.

More information has come out about Ms. Lerner, too. It turns out that in her prior position at the Federal Elections Commission, Lerner was obsessed with religious organizations and their religious practices, some of which she apparently wanted to suppress. Mark Hemingway has the scoop:

prior to joining the IRS, Lerner’s tenure as head of the Enforcement Office at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) was marked by what appears to be politically motivated harassment of conservative groups.

This excerpt is from a deposition taken by an FEC lawyer, acting under the direction of Lois Lerner, of Oliver North. This was in an FEC case, and apparently Lerner and her minions were burning to find out whether Pat Robertson had prayed for Oliver North:

Q: (reading from a letter from Oliver North to Pat Robertson) “‘Betsy and I thank you for your kind regards and prayers.’ The next paragraph is, ‘Please give our love to Dede and I hope to see you in the near future.’ Who is Dede?”

A: “That is Mrs. Robertson.”

Q: “What did you mean in paragraph 2, about thanking -you and your wife thanking Pat Robertson for kind regards?”

A: “Last time I checked in America, prayers were still legal. I am sure that Pat had said he was praying for my family and me in some correspondence or phone call.”

Q: “Would that be something that Pat Robertson was doing for you?”

A: “I hope a lot of people were praying for me, Holly.”

Q: “But you knew that Pat Robertson was?”

A: “Well, apparently at that time I was reflecting something that Pat had either, as I said, had told me or conveyed to me in some fashion, and it is my habit to thank people for things like that.”

Q: “During the time that you knew Pat Robertson, was it your impression that he had – he was praying for you?”

O: “I object. There is no allegation that praying creates a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act and there is no such allegation in the complaint. This is completely irrelevant and intrusive on the religious beliefs of this witness.”

O: “It is a very strange line of questioning. You have got to be kidding, really. What are you thinking of, to ask questions like that? I mean, really. I have been to some strange depositions, but I don’t think I have ever had anybody inquire into somebody’s prayers. I think that is really just outrageous. And if you want to ask some questions regarding political activities, please do and then we can get over this very quickly. But if you want to ask abou somebody’s religious activities, that is outrageous.”

Q: “I am allowed to make-’’

O: “We are allowed not to answer and if you think the Commission is going to permit you to go forward with a question about somebody’s prayers, I just don’t believe that. I just don’t for a moment believe that. I find that the most outrageous line of questioning. I am going to instruct my witness not to answer.”

Q: “On what grounds?”

O: “We are not going to let you inquire about people’s religious beliefs or activities, period. If you want to ask about someone’s prayers-Jeez, I don’t know what we are thinking of. But the answer is, no, people are not going to respond to questions about people’s prayers, no.”

Q: “Will you take that, at the first break, take it up- we will do whatever we have to do.”

O: “You do whatever you think you have to do to get them to answer questions about what people are praying about.”

Q: “I did not ask Mr. North what people were praying about I am allowed to inquire about the relationship between-’’

O: “Absolutely, but you have asked the question repeatedly. If you move on to a question other than about prayer, be my guest.
These inquiries into the contents of “suspects’” prayers foreshadowed the improper inquiries that others, acting under her direction, would later direct to Tea Party groups.

The question now is, how many of Lerner’s colleagues will follow her lead and decline to answer questions? I suspect there may be several. Reliance on the FIfth Amendment tends to be contagious. The IRS investigation will take a new turn before long, but in the meantime, all we can do is sit back and enjoy the proceeding.

[American Patriot]

Mica: IRS’ Lerner Earned $740,000 Between ‘09 and ‘12

Fmr IRS Commissioner: ‘I probably signed off on overall agency compensation’

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
May 22, 2013 11:43 am


Lois Lerner, the head of the Internal Revenue Service’s tax-exempt organizations office, faced with allegations of improper targeting of conservative groups, declared Wednesday that she has done nothing wrong and declined to answer questions, invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.


Later on in the hearing Rep. John Mica (R., Fla.), questioned former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman about the salary and bonuses Lerner earned from 2009 to 2012 and Shulman’s political leanings.


JOHN MICA: Well, did you know, for example, Ms. Lerner who is head of it got a total of $740,000 between 2009 and 2012, over $42,000 in bonuses? Would you check off on bonus? And she was the one that was going to sit there and testify but didn’t. Do you check off –


DOUGLAS SHULMAN: That number does not sound familiar. I didn’t individually make decisions. But I probably signed off on overall agency compensation.


MICA: Have you participated in the political process, could you tell the committee of your political participations, donations?


SHULMAN: My whole life?


MICA: Well, yes. Are you — I don’t know your background. I heard you were appointee of one administration. But what is your history of participation?


SHULMAN: My full life history of participation in politics, I don’t want –


MICA: For example, contribute to parties and groups?


SHULMAN: Yeah, I mean, sorry, to the best of my recollection, I have. I haven’t in a long time. Didn’t make any contributions while I was IRS commissioner.

[American Patriot]

Lois Learner pleads the 5th. Was she the crook behind it or was she following orders from higher up?

• By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
• 5/22/2013
• Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Congress is seeking to find answers to the scandal.

A top IRS official under intense scrutiny said she will invoke her 5th Amendment protection before she is questioned by Congress about her involvement in the scandal. Lois Lerner is set to face the House Committee on Oversight and Government Affairs, but has warned she will plead the 5th.


IRS officials are running scared under the threat of Congressional subpoena.
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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Instead of testifying today, Lois Learner will plead the 5th. Learner is under fire for her role in targeting conservative groups for extra scrutiny by the IRS. In recent days, the scandal has erupted with Obama denying he knew.

Lerner has already retained a defense attorney who notified Congress on Tuesday she would invoke her right to remain silent before Congress. The 5th Amendment allows individuals to be free from providing testimony that might incriminate themselves.

She is being represented by William W. Taylor III.

Her attorney's letter read in part, "has not committed any crime or made any misrepresentation, but under the circumstances she has no choice but to take this course."

Taylor claims the hearings are only designed to embarrass her.

Sorry if the truth is embarrassing, but that's what happens when you break the law.

Several conservative groups and individuals have come forward to share horror stories about how badly they were treated by the IRS, some groups just for applying for non-profit status. The IRS has already said it targeted these groups for extra scrutiny and inundated them with demands for information that were virtually impossible to meet.

Questions asked for synopses of books the members read, the text of speeches delivered, and the names of volunteers.

The IRS even sought to contact group members to ask about their "thoughts."

Such behavior is harassment and illegal as it has nothing to determining whether a group should qualify for a non-profit status.

Learner isn't off the hook entirely. She is under a Congressional subpoena to show up and testify. While she may escape questions that personally incriminate her, she may still have to answer other questions about what she knew.

What investigators are now working to uncover is where the order to scrutinize and harass conservative groups came from and who knew about it. According to the White House, top aides and the Chief of Staff knew about the IRS scandal in April, but said nothing to President Obama --an unlikely scenario.

Obama claims he learned about the scandal from May 10 media reports.

For now, Congress is still investigating the case. The IRS has already admitted wrongdoing. Now it's a question of learning who is responsible for the scandal and providing justice for the people who were relentlessly and wrongly harassed by the IRS.

[American Patriot]

Darrell Issa slams IRS watchdog




By RACHAEL BADE | 5/22/13 11:39 AM EDT
IRS inspector general J. Russell George is one of the few people to emerge from the agency’s scandal looking good thanks to his just-the-facts report on the controversial practice of targeting conservative groups.


Until now.



House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa slammed George on Wednesday for not alerting Congress to the targeting of conservative groups earlier. It’s the toughest swing anyone has taken at George over the course of three congressional hearings probing the IRS scandal.


“Despite numerous requests from the committee for information and updates, including an Aug. 3 letter, the request for the inspector general to inform Congress about serious problem … the inspector general failed to do that,” the California Republican said at the hearing today.


Issa called his failure to inform lawmakers the “greatest failing of an otherwise well regarded inspector” and implied that he didn’t live up to what is expected of such watchdogs in the law.


“You have a responsibility to keep us continually, and according to statue, equally informed,” Issa said. “In this case, it appears you did not. Would you agree with that?”
“No actually,” George answered, explaining that he should not brief Congress until all the information had been analyzed and a solid, correct conclusion has been made.

“There are established procedures for conducting an audit. … It would be impractical to give you partial information which might not be accurate. It would be counterproductive, sir, if we were to do that.”


But Issa said, “That is not the statute.”


Issa is referring to part of the Inspector General Act that requires watchdogs to report serious problems to Congress through the head of an agency within seven days. It’s known as the “seven-day rule” — but it’s often used sparingly.


The Oversight Committee asked the inspector general about conservative group targeting a number of times, and Issa read some of the emails in the hearing Wednesday.
George also raised concerns that incremental information provided to lawmakers would ultimately leak to the public.


“That is not fair to the people we are investigating,” George said.


Issa responded that the White House is the source of plenty of leaks as well.


Meanwhile, Rep. Stephen Lynch warned IRS officials that a special prosecutor might be named if the IRS keeps “stonewalling” investigations.


“There will be hell to pay,” he said.



Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/0...#ixzz2U2WH4Ky2

[American Patriot]

JUST because this woman was appointed by Bush doesn't make her a non-Progressive, Obama-loving, slime-ball criminal....

Lois Lerner Shows Why Obama Needs to Get Rid of All Remaining Bush Appointees

By: Sarah JonesMay. 22nd, 2013





Pleading the fifth is evidence of guilt if you have the bad fortune to work under the Obama administration, but the same folks will defend your right to plead the fifth if you happen to be working under a Republican president. Too bad for Lois Lerner, who was appointed by Bush in 2006 as head of the IRS Exempt Organizations Division, but is now apparently going to serve as yet another fall guy for the cause.


Lois Lerner, “who let slip at an American Bar Association meeting on Friday that, between 2010 and 2012, conservative nonprofit groups were improperly scrutinized by the IRS”, is the person who drew attention to this “scandal”. She is also the IRS Director of Exempt Organizations.


Lerner gave an opening statement before yet another House Committee Wednesday morning, in a hearing on the allegations that the IRS targeted conservative groups for political reasons. Ms. Lerner said, before pleading the fifth, “I have not done anything wrong. I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations, and I have not provided false information to this or any other congressional committee,” Lerner said. “Because I am asserting my right not to testify, I know that some people will assume that I have done something wrong. I have not.”


Charles Krauthammer told Fox News Tuesday night that it’s not unreasonable to infer that Lois Lerner’s decision to plea the fifth was evidence “that there is a lot [the Obama administration has] got to hide and they are very worried.”


It wasn’t so long ago that Krauthammer was all about pleading the fifth. Citing Bush White House Chief of Staff Scooter Libby’s “memory losses”, Krauthammer definitively declared that invoking the Fifth Amendment was his right.



Republicans are trying to insinuate that Lerner covered up for the Obama administration and that’s why she’s pleading the fifth. They can’t possibly know why she is pleading the fifth; the most logical reason is that given the DOJ opening a criminal investigation into the matter, her attorney advised her to shut it.


But if she has any political persuasion, it would seem to be Republican, based on her appointment by the Bush administration (infamous for politicizing government).


Hysteria is the way of the Right. The Daily Caller made a fool of itself the other day, with Patrick Howley claiming that Lerner’s husband’s law firm had strong Obama connections (read: Marxist, Kenyan Hitler, Nixon, Chicago “connections”): “Embattled IRS official Lois Lerner’s husband’s law firm has strong Obama connections.”


Um, no. But nice try. Walter Olson at Overlawywered broke it down, and it looks like her husband’s law firm gave more to Republicans, with Republican Ted Cruz raking in $16,250 from his lawyers. Olson concluded, “‘Embattled IRS official Lois Lerner’s husband’s law firm has strong Ted Cruz connections’ would have made for too confusing a headline on a Daily Caller lead story.” Yes, we mustn’t let the facts get in the way of the Narrative.


In July of 2012, Open Secrets proclaimed that the IRS might finally engage with politically active nonprofits, and that the IRS “has seemed reluctant to engage in the highly politicized debate.”

As the IRS took a step forward toward greater monitoring, “some in Congress” (any guesses?) flipped out on them and they quickly retreated:

On at least one other occasion, the IRS hinted that it was moving to exercise greater oversight — by applying the gift tax to certain donors to social welfare organizations — but it later retreated under fire from some in Congress, saying such actions had “significant legal, administrative and policy implications with respect to which we have little enforcement history.” And this past spring, the agency had to defend itself against allegations that it was conducting a political witch hunt for asking tea party groups — and presumably many others that chose not to make it public — to complete a questionnaire as a part of the application for exempt status.

Oh, filling out a questionnaire after a judge ruled your organization was not a nonprofit but in fact had illegally aided Republicans is now considered “targeting”. Yes, and the media is happy to report True the Vote’s wild sob story as proof, without citing their multiple problems with the law and ethics. Sounds about right for the perennially persecution-seeking paranoids who are quite adept at using the accusation to push back on legitimate attempts at oversight.


(Note: I’m not saying that what the IRS did was legit; we wait for the facts to surface through the muddle of yet another Issa via the Heritage Institute witch hunt. We also observe that it’s big corporate money demanding these witch hunts allegedly about the IRS scrutinizing them.

Though by the numbers, it makes logical sense that with conservative groups outspending liberal groups on politics by 34-1, they would be scrutinized more, see how that works? Math.)

Ms. Lerner told Open Secrets last spring that the IRS is “aware of the current public interest in the issue,” and will work with other offices in the IRS and at Treasury “to identify tax issues that should be addressed through regulations and other guidance.”

Oh. I don’t think Republicans are going to allow any regulations over their “nonprofits”. Why would they? They have the most access to dark money, by the numbers. That is why Republicans have worked hard to understaff and underfund the IRS over the past ten years. Mission accomplished.


What I’ve taken from all of these scandals so far is that by Republicans refusing to allow Obama his own nominees, they’ve saddled him with their appointees, who may or may not have an agenda and may or may not be utterly incompetent. That’s a nifty game. So now Bush appointee Lois Lerner, who claims to be “nonpolitical” but yet donated the maximum amount to Romney if this Open Secrets note is the right Lois Lerner, is the Obama administration’s undoing according to Republicans.

I am only sorry Lois Lerner is pleading the fifth, because I’d really like someone to ask her why she “let this slip” at a Bar Association meeting, and upon what evidence she based this “slip”.

The Daily Beast said that Lerner “acknowledged that the influx in tax-exempt applications starting in 2010 is what sparked the heightened scrutiny. The admission raises the question of whether Lerner had the opportunity to help clean up what has become a messy campaign-contribution system and, if so, why she instead is cleaning up the mess of a field office that supposedly went rogue.” You see why we should be asking some questions.

I’d like to ask her if she or anyone in her office was the “source” for several media outlets reporting that conservatives were “targeted” as fact. Then again, no one in the House was going to ask Lerner these questions, because they don’t serve the Republican narrative.

[vector7]

JUST because this woman was appointed by Bush doesn't make her a non-Progressive, Obama-loving, slime-ball criminal....

Lois Lerner Shows Why Obama Needs to Get Rid of All Remaining Bush Appointees.

The Democrats and MSM fought Bush tooth and nail on every post he filled.

They gave him NO QUARTER to have any real conservative appointed.

If he did get someone like John Bolton the Dems and MSM pounded their drums until they got him replaced with someone else less conservative.

Everyone forgets how hard the Dems and MSM fought to get progressives on the Supreme Court.

These Dems and MSM are communists and will stop at nothing to socialize this nation into Marxism.


While were on the subject of Leftist appointments....

The Russians Are Happy with John Kerry

Jonathan S. Tobin | @tobincommentary 05.19.2013 - 12:45 PM



Last week John Kerry went to Moscow to persuade the Russians to play nice with the rest of the international community on Syria. While he would have liked to have them join in the effort to force the Assad regime out of office, his hope was to at least get the authoritarian regime of Vladimir Putin to not further strengthen their Syrian client.

The only bone Putin was prepared to throw Kerry was backing a proposal to hold a peace conference on Syria next month. But within a few days, the Russian contempt for the Obama administration and its new secretary of state was made all too clear with the news that they were shipping advanced missiles to Damascus that would be perfectly suited to threaten any Western ships or bases in the region that might resupply the Syrian rebels or enforce a no-fly zone in the country. In other words, the Russians demonstrated that when it comes to Syria, they have more in common with Iran and Hezbollah than the United States.

This ought to have been understood to be a sobering development for the administration that calls into question not just Kerry’s competence but a strategy that envisions leveraging a reset of relations with Russia into progress on Syria as well as dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat. But as the New York Times reports, Kerry is undaunted by the evidence of his failure and is instead concentrating on making friends with Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov. The result is, as the Times says, a “change in tone” in the relations between the two countries even if it has not actually advanced American interests.

While there is a case to be made for diplomats keeping the lines of communication open, what recent events have shown is that Kerry is not so much keeping the Russians informed of American positions as he has signaled to them that the U.S. is ready to bow to Moscow’s will. The news that, as the Times makes clear, the Russians are well pleased with Kerry ought to set off alarms in Washington.

The premise of the Times feature is quite clear. While Kerry’s predecessor Hillary Clinton worked hard to butter up the Russians and get them to play ball, Putin and his minions were displeased by her occasional willingness to speak up about human rights violations as well as her assertive statements about Iran and Syria. But in Kerry Moscow has found its perfect American secretary of state: a man willing to both appease them on policy as well as one determined not to offend their sensibilities. As the Times notes, Putin and Lavrov like Kerry a lot more than they did Clinton, let alone her predecessor Condoleezza Rice.

Lavrov appears to have Kerry’s number. It is hardly surprising that Kerry, who once embraced Assad as a moderate, would turn out to be a spineless secretary of state on this front. Sweet-talking the secretary and appealing to his delusions about his diplomatic skill have enabled them to double down on their efforts to strengthen Assad without incurring much American outrage. Kerry is so happy with the idea of a conference where he can play Metternich that he doesn’t seem to have noticed that the plans for this conclave are serving to delay any American action to punish Assad for crossing President Obama’s red lines about the use of chemical weapons.

And Assad is using the time the Russians have helped buy him well, as his forces have gained considerable ground in recent weeks making it more likely than ever that Obama and Kerry’s predictions about his fall were wrong.

Yet Kerry seems satisfied by what, as one source told the Times, is his rapport with Lavrov. We are told the two have bonded over “their mutual love for hockey and the grace of the older school style.”

But the main result of all this schmoozing is the stark fact that the bottom line here is that the United States has buckled under to Moscow:

Mikhail V. Margelov, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the upper chamber of the Russian Parliament, said that Russia’s position on Syria had been consistent and that Mr. Kerry had finally accepted it.

John Kerry isn’t the first American to be taken to the cleaners by the Russians, but it’s doubtful that any of his predecessors were fleeced so effortlessly.

[American Patriot]

Agreed. I remember what they did.

I didn't make my point clear though, if someone got in under Bush it was because the Democrats "liked" them even though they didn't say so.