The IRS Scandal, Day 604

Forbes:  IRS Hid Conservative Targeting Until After 2012 Presidential Election. Smidgen Corrupt?, by Robert W. Wood:

Was the IRS used for politics? It’s a fair question, yet one that suggests an answer when you look at numerous ‘coincidences’ that are too hard to fathom. Add that to that the testimony of key IRS figures and their inconsistent emails. The result is a mismatch revealing an IRS run amok in political spin it later admitted was wrong.

Ironically, a new report issued by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee concerns some handlers at the IRS who seemed to be playing politics while criticizing conservative organizations for playing politics. That is only one irony wrung from the more than 200 page report. The report summarizes its investigation into the IRS’s treatment of politically active nonprofit groups. ...

Many democrats have dismissed the report as more political theater with facts taken out of context. But it is hard to argue with the facts: A top IRS official considered going public with the agency’s targeting of conservative groups at a hearing just months before the 2012 presidential election. One wonders what might have happened in the election if he had. Ultimately, the IRS official decided against revealing the bombshell news, according to the new House committee report.

The IRS official was none other than the Deputy IRS Commissioner Steven Miller. He would become Acting Commissioner, then would be fired by the President in May of 2013. Would a more prompt disclosure to Congress have made for a different Presidential election?

It is impossible to say, but it is hard to argue with the notion that this truly is political. Mr. Miller wrote to his Chief of Staff in June 2012, a month before a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing. Significantly, Mr. Miller wrote that he was weighing whether to testify to “put a stake” in the “c4” issue — apparently a reference to allegations about politics playing a role in the agency’s denial of tax-exempt, 501(c)(4) status to conservative groups.

At the very least, the email makes it plain that Mr. Miller was aware of the situation. Mr. Miller ultimately testified on July 25, 2012 but never revealed his knowledge of the IRS misconduct. ...

Mr. Miller testified before Congress six times from May 2012 until May 2013, before being forced to resign. Until the bitter end, Mr. Miller said the targeting was not motivated by politics, but his emails show otherwise. And the administration’s handling of the investigation was appalling, the report claims.

The belated disclosure that emails were destroyed, the who’s-on-first routine about the recycled hard drives, the no smidgen of corruption, were all telling. Too many excuses generally are. How was the administration’s cooperation? The report says that, “Even as recently as July 2014, after the IRS informed Congress that it had destroyed two years of Lerner’s e-mails, the FBI continued its refusal to provide any information about its investigation.”

The Justice Department even considered criminal prosecutions, a topic the Justice Department discussed with disgraced Exempt Organizations Chief Lois Lerner. It’s all rather amazing when one recalls President Obama’s testy “not even a smidgen of corruption” remark to Fox News in February 2014.

• The IRS Scandal, Day 603 (Jan. 2, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 602 (Jan. 1, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 601 (Dec. 31, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 501-600 (Sept. 22, 2014 - Dec. 30, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 401-500 (June 14, 2014 - Sept. 21,2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 301-400 (Mar. 6, 2014 - June 13, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 201-300 (Nov. 26, 2013 - Mar. 5, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 101-200 (Aug. 18, 2013 - Nov. 25, 2013)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 1-100 (May 10, 2013 - Aug. 17, 2013)