"the IRS targeting conservatives is a "manufactured" scandal."
It is, and manufactured by D Issa. the real scandal is that Ike changed "exclusive" social welfare to "primarily", eg 51%.... but, I digress... the scandal that is D Issa...
IRS Documents Show Liberal Groups, Occupy Movement Were Targeted Like Tea Party: Democrats
By Kim Dixon
WASHINGTON | Fri Jul 12, 2013 12:09pm EDT
(Reuters) - A top Democrat probing the Internal Revenue Service scrutiny of conservative "Tea Party" groups released documents on Friday suggesting that "Occupy" and other liberal-leaning groups received similar scrutiny.
Representative Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives' Oversight and Government Reform Committee, released documents from 2010 and 2012 used by IRS staff reviewing tax-exempt applications that suggest the key words "Progressive" and "Occupy" were subjected to added review, in addition to Tea Party applications.
"Occupy Wall Street" and similar left-leaning groups have sprouted up in recent years to protest corporate power.
Cummings blasted the chief of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), who issued a report two months ago that said the agency targeted conservative terms like "Tea Party" and "Patriot" when examining applications from non-profit political groups seeking federal tax exemption.
Cummings, of Maryland, called for TIGTA's chief, J. Russell George to be summoned before the committee
huffingtonpost.com
Rep. Elijah Cummings threatens to pants Rep. Darrell Issa by releasing transcripts of IRS agents
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
A week ago Sunday, Rep. Darrell "Grand Theft Auto" Issa referred to selectively edited transcripts of interviews with IRS employees in the Cincinnati office to insinuate that the "targeting" of Tea Party groups by the IRS was "ordered from Washington." CNN host shoots down Issa’s claim that IRS ‘rogue’ agents were ‘ordered from Washington’:
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) on Sunday was unable to produce evidence to back up his claim that so-called “rogue” agents at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) were “directly being ordered from Washington” to target tea party groups.
* * *
CNN host Candy Crowley pointed out that Issa’s committee had provided transcripts of an interview with one IRS agent who was asked if the practice of scrutinizing conservative groups had been ordered by Washington, and the agent replied, “I believe so.”
“It’s totally not definitive,” Crowley observed.
“Well, that one isn’t,” Issa admitted.
* * *
“This is a problem that was coordinated in all likelihood right out of Washington headquarters,” he insisted. “And we’re getting to proving it.”
“But as yet, you don’t have the direct link,” Crowley noted.
Issa has refused to make the full transcripts publicly available (and the Democrats on the committee have been precluded from release).
This past Sunday, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings (D-MD), was Candy Crowley's guest. Cummings said that the so-called scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) targeting of tea party groups was "solved," but Committee Chairman Darrell Issa has refused to release the testimony of a "conservative Republican" IRS manager because it indicated that the White House was not involved. Cummings Calls Issa's IRS Bluff: 'I'll Release' Transcripts Clearing White House if He Doesn't:
Rep. Cummings explained to Crowley that he had "begged" Issa to release the full transcripts.
"He's the chairman of the committee, we're not in power," the Maryland Democrat pointed out. "If he does not release them, I will. Period."
"I'm willing to come on your show next week with the chairman, with the transcripts, if he agrees to do that," he added. "But if he doesn't, I'll release them by the end of the week."
Crowley observed that in a portion of the transcripts that had been released, an IRS screening group manager in the Cincinnati office told Issa's committee that he had "no reason to believe" that the White House had ordered the targeting of conservative groups.
"He was a 21-year veteran," Cummings said of the IRS manager. "He described himself in the interviews in response to a Republican attorney's question as a conservative Republican. Very significant. He is a conservative Republican working for the IRS. I think these interviews and these statements go a long way to showing the White House was not involved in this."
"Based upon everything I've seen, the case is solved. And if it were me, I would wrap this case up and move on."
The Washington Post adds today, Cincinnati IRS employees say they started the targeting:
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) on Sunday revealed new details about the IRS controversy that he said should absolve the White House of blame for the issue, providing excerpts of interviews between IRS workers and congressional investigators.
The partial transcripts, which Cummings shared in a memo to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, shed light on a key but redacted portion of the inspector general’s timeline: The first event that prompted the targeting campaign.
A self-described “conservative Republican” manager from the Cincinnati office told congressional investigators that he sent a tea party case to Washington on Feb. 25, 2010 to help determine whether the group should qualify for tax-exempt status, according to the excerpts.
A timeline from the inspector general’s report listed an event on that same date as the genesis of the targeting initiative, which first focused on groups with names including “tea party,” “patriot” and “9/12,” a term associated with conservative political commentator Glenn Beck.
A screening agent from the Cincinnati office told congressional investigators that he developed the initial search criteria after the conservative manager asked him to identify additional cases, according to Cummings.
* * *
According to Cummings’ memo, the conservative IRS manager said no one from Washington ordered him to identify additional tea party cases. “There was no — there was no — no one said to make a search,” the employee said, according to an excerpt.
“Based upon everything I’ve seen, the case is solved,” Cummings said Sunday on CNN. “And if it were me, I would wrap this case up and move on, to be frank with you.”
The ball is in your court, Grand Theft Auto. Release the full transcripts or Rep. Elijah Cummings will. Your hyped IRS "scandal" is about to be exposed.
Maybe we can finally get around to the real scandal, that any of these political organizations were given a 501(c)(4) tax status by the IRS.
blogforarizona.com
A May 14 report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) critical of IRS practices led to the removal of top IRS officials along with FBI and congressional investigations.
Since then, Democrats have accused TIGTA of unfairly focusing on Tea Party-related groups in its report, while failing to look for liberal terms. TIGTA has since expanded its review to such groups.
The internal IRS documents made public on Tuesday include the word "Emerge," a term used by some Democratic-leaning groups, and "ACORN," an acronym for a liberal community activism group no longer in business.
One documents says applicants associated with ACORN should be elevated to a Washington IRS official, Chip Hull, who was also helping review Tea Party applications.
"This new information should put a nail in the coffin of the Republican claims that the IRS's actions were politically motivated or were targeted at only one side of the political spectrum," said Representative Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House oversight panel probing the matter.
reuters.com |
