Yeah, I heard about that story too. And it received virtually no play on any of the networks!
Can you imagine what kind of play this story would have gotten had Reagan been in office?
2 more congressmen urge IRS probe
Hearings into politically motivated audit of journalists?
By Stephan Archer
¸ 1999 WorldNetDaily.com
Two more congressional leaders have spoken out concerning the 1996 audit of Western Journalism Center, parent company of WorldNetDaily, in light of new evidence that the audit was politically motivated.
Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., said about the WJC audit, "I believe Congress should hold hearings into (it)." He added: "There has still been no reasonable explanation offered by the Clinton administration for its decision to crack down on conservative non-profits, while turning a blind eye to liberal groups."
A member of the Government Reform Committee and an assistant majority whip, Barr took further aim at the Clinton administration, charging it has politicized the executive branch as never before. He mentioned specifically the political manipulation of the Immigration and Naturalization Service that resulted in citizenship for foreign criminals, the use of confidential FBI files by White House political operatives, allegations that foreign military action may have been coordinated for political impact during the impeachment process, and the solicitation of donations from foreign sources, including communist China.
Now, allegations of a politically motivated audit, said Barr, only add to the already long list of White House practices of using government agencies for any purpose it likes.
"Evidence of selective IRS auditing is simply further indication the White House is more than willing to play politics with any agency of government that suits its needs, whether it is the FBI, our military, or the IRS," said Barr.
The evidence Barr is referring to is a 1997 Treasury Department report about Western Journalism Center, titled, "Questionable Exempt Organization Activity," which was released to Western Journalism Center July 6 following three years of Freedom of Information Act filings. The report reveals unequivocally that the audit began with a letter forwarded from the White House to the Internal Revenue Service: "The audit originated from a taxpayer who faxed a letter to the White House expressing his concern over a one-page advertisement paid for by WCJ (Western Center for Journalism) that asked for contributions to investigate (White House deputy counsel Vincent) Foster's death," said the official Treasury report. "The fax was forwarded to the EO (Exempt Organizations) National Office and then to the respective Key District Office for appropriate actions." The taxpayer mentioned in the report, Paul Venze, had written a letter to Clinton on Nov. 9, 1994, after seeing Western Journalism Center's ad in the Los Angeles Times.
Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, R-Md., also commented on the politically motivated audit of the center. "Unfortunately, the Clinton administration's record fully justifies the suspicions that this is politically motivated, because of their past history, such as (the scandals involving) the 900 FBI files, the travel office, the voter registration of ineligible aliens and a laundry list of failures by the Justice Department and questionable IRS enforcement actions against conservative, non-profit organizations," said Bartlett.
"This pattern by the Clinton administration undermines the integrity and trust of the American people in their government," he added.
Western Journalism Center is one of many tax-exempt organizations targeted for an IRS audit after angering President Clinton. Joseph Farah, the center's founder, and editor of WorldNetDaily, first exposed what appeared to be a pattern of audits in 1996, the same year the center was audited.
Farah began to suspect that what had seemed to be a random audit was indeed part of a systematic vendetta against Clinton critics when Thomas Cederquist, the Sacramento-based IRS agent in charge of the center's audit, told John Roux, the center's accountant, "Look, this is a political case and the decision is going to be made at the national level."
The center filed a $10 million lawsuit against the agent and other IRS officials. The action was filed on behalf of the center by Larry Klayman, chairman of the legal watchdog, Judicial Watch.
Soon after Farah's revelations, former IRS Commissioner Margaret Milner Richardson, a close friend of the Clintons, resigned, and Rep. Bill Archer, R-Texas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Taxation, began a congressional probe into the matter. No report has ever been released. |
