IRS Scandal Update – 31 May 2013
Another periodic update on that seemingly-endless IRS scandal:
- The former IRS Commissioner at the heart of the scandal, Douglas Shulman, met with the POTUS a minimum of 157 times before he
was “fired” due to the scandalleft office. This is almost twice as many times as the POTUS met with any other Cabinet official during that same period. (Shulman’s boss, Treasury Secretary Gertner, met with the POTS less than 50 times during the same period; the Attorney General, Eric Holder, only 62 times.) In contrast, the previous IRS Commissioner met once with the previous POTUS in four years. That’s one helluva lot of meetings. I wonder what they talked about? - There are indications that at least five pro-Israel groups may have been targeted for IRS “attention” for political reasons – specifically, because they disagreed with the current Administration regarding aspects of US policy towards Israel.
- It also is looking as if the IRS may well have targeted conservative groups and individuals more broadly than previously thought. Substantial anecdotal evidence is now appearing that tends to support this theory. Further, the Treasury Department IG official investigating the matter “recently acknowledged that he’s looking into other watch lists created by IRS employees.”
- And, finally: the IRS appears to have promoted one of those “rogue” employees directly involved in the political targeting of conservative groups. Hey, that’s some serious discipline for violating the law! That will certainly teach him a lesson!
Gee – “watch lists” made up of people who would get additional IRS “attention” because they oppose the POTUS or his policies. That sounds familiar . . . where have I heard of that before? What was it called . . . ?
Oh yeah – I remember. That was about 40 years ago. It was called the President’s “enemies list”.
But remember: nothing to see here, folks; move along. “Pay no attention to the man behind the screen.”
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Crime, Politics
Now, now Hondo…let’s not jump to conclusions… 😉
Schulman was never “fired”, he completed his term of appointment and left the position; it was Miller, the acting commissioner for the past few months, who took the fall and was sham-“fired”, even though he was required to leave that position in a few weeks anyway because of the temporary acting nature of his appointment…
Combat Historian: thanks for the correction; I did get that wrong. Fixed above now.
What goes around comes around, I guess.
I can’t speak to the other aspects of this IRS story, but I have my doubts about the Jewish groups involved and the legitimacy of the complaints about their audits. I find the linked article mostly speculative with highly tendentious connections, especially considering most Jews have never heard of Z Street (a small-potato response to J Street (which sucks)) or YaHovel.
I’m a long-time contributor to the premiere Zionist organizations, like Zionist Organization of America. We’re lifetime members of Hadassah. All of these organizations, along with CUFI (which I don’t support because of their affiliation with Hagee and his eschatology nonsense), generally support settlement activity and do so in a higher profile manner than these fly-by-nights, without scrutiny from the Obama administration. If the Palestinians are magically influencing this administration to audit pro-settlement groups, why are they focusing on such irrelevant targets?
Point of fact: the ZOA lost its 501(c)(3) status a couple of years ago for failure to submit returns. They got the status back this year, and at no point did they claim they were examined for their stance on Zionism. Needless to say, they’ve been openly critical of this administration, from Obama, to Hagel, to Brennan, to Kerry, to Clinton.
Again, this isn’t a commentary on the wider implications of the IRS shenanigans. I am concerned that the inclusion of marginal Jewish groups being audited diminishes the wider argument.
Someone want to explain to me why Holder hasn’t been arrested and indicted for perjury yet?
Oh, wait–Democrat administration. Nevermind.
@6 Right responsibility is different for Dems than Republicans. Nixon resigned, James Watt was asked to leave, Janet Reno, Bill Clinton, Eric Holder, Barney Frank, Ted Kennedy are all Democrats who took responsibility for their actions and those under their command without ever leaving their position of authority.
Remember this simple formula;
R
esponsibility for Republicans means resignations or termination and disgrace.
Responsibility for Democrats is a meaningless phrase devoid of repercussions, and often results in accolades for the “bravery” exhibited by the person taking the meaningless responsibility.
When it comes to responsibility: Republicans resign, Demonrats dodge…
…and then run for NYC mayor.
BK: ‘ why are they focusing on such irrelevant targets?’
They are probably doing that for the same reason that Nixon had a list of enemies that included people who simply made small donations to the DNC’s campaign fund.
You might want to watch this video. A Conservative college student made a thank you card to the IRS thanking them for targeting Tea Party and other Conservative groups. He then got Liberal college kids to sign it. Some of the things they have to say are downright disturbing.
http://conservativevideos.com/2013/05/people-sign-thank-you-card-to-irs-for-targeting-of-conservatives/
Twist–it’s UC Boulder. Hardly surprising.
For anyone unfamiliar, think Berkeley with thinner air so the little skulls of mush get even less oxygen to their few remaining brain cells.
Well Twist, you have sure made me feel a whole lot better about the state of our higher education system. The majority of those kids have no idea what they are talking about. They hear “Tea Party” and immediately go into sheeple mode. Sad.
Ex-PH2: I still think that assumes these groups were specifically targeted by the administration. When Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and no friend to the Obama administration, says that along with the US Treasury report, there’s no evidence this was based on pro-Israel or being a Jewish organization, one has to wonder.
Z Street is a one-woman show. Lori Lowenthal Marcus falls outside of mainstream Zionist circles. YaHovel? Meh. There are over 40 tax-exempt groups that give collectively about $200 million a year to settlers in the West Bank, some of whom give far more questionable things, like body-armor. We donate to some of those, in fact, including the Central Fund of Israel, which sends about $13 a year, was audited under the previous administration, to settlements for humanitarian projects.
Folks need to keep in mind the Abramoff scandal, as well, when considering why some of these groups were targeted. Part of what Jack plead guilty to was using the Capital Athletic Foundation. Its tax filings indicated it was donating over $100K to a religious athletic and study program, but in reality, the funds were being used to fund a settler paramilitary operation, which is illegal to fund under tax-exempt status, in Beitar Illit.
To date, the IRS under this administration has investigated far more pro-Palestinian organizations for possibly funding Hamas or Hezbollah.
I am definitely not saying there’s nothing to the IRS scandal. I am merely dubious of the pro-Israel connection.
the folks who live near Boulder describe it as five square miles surrounded by reality. It’s like a little micro-slice of the ’60s inhabited by the inbred descendants of thew Hashbury.
With all of the scandals, I think the public might want to start taking the same interest that the Media is starting to take. Hell, Holder said he knew nothing about the Fox Warrant for that reporters records, but HE SIGNED THE WARRANT HIMSELF!
That right there is perjury. Too bad the Justice Department won’t enforce the perjury on it’s top official… let alone, the President of the United States.
@15 – yeah, add hypocrisy too. When I was a young adult working in the People’s Republic of Boulder, it was still your typical hippie town with Hari Krishna and pot on the Mall. Now those hippies have grown up into the 1%, limiting growth so that housing is prohibitively expensive, only allowing designer retail (God forbid there be a Walmart in Boulder!!), and walking around in their designer biking clothing/shoes riding their designer bikes on the backs of their elitist cars.
I try never to set foot there. My poor son’s route for work includes Boulder and he absolutely HATES it. Sometimes he’ll drive his lifted Suburban, covered in decals for the Air Force, Gadsen Flag, US flag, etc., just to rub it in their faces. It never fails that he gets flipped off sitting at a stop light.
You can get a good education at CU though, IF you stick to the hard sciences and engineering.
Once in Boulder I was flagged over and stopped by some female in another car – I thought she was trying to tell me my car was on fire or something – turned out it was she could tell me she found my “Illiterate? Write for help” sticker VERY offensive. (I still get heat from the wife for the response I gave due to the kids being in the car, too.)
I always find it comically and ironically hilarious that “Soldier of Fortune” magazine has its editorial headquarters in Boulder; that must piss the prog-lib-loons off to no end…