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Paul L. Caron
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Thursday, June 11, 2015

The IRS Scandal, Day 763

IRS Logo 2Wall Street Journal editorial, Return of the Speech Police:

You won’t read much about it in the Beltway press corps, but a behind-the-scenes effort is under way to lobby the Federal Election Commission and Justice Department to stifle free political speech the way the Internal Revenue Service did in 2012. Don’t be surprised if the subpoenas hit Republican candidates at crucial political moments. ...

Criticism of the FEC is part of the left’s strategy to turn the commission into its agent to intimidate conservative groups and limit their political speech. The letter writing campaigns use the same accusations about “dark money” that the groups used to lobby the IRS in the 2012 election cycle.

In September 2011, Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center wrote to then IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman and Exempt Organizations Director Lois Lerner requesting an IRS probe into whether “certain organizations are ineligible for tax exempt status under section 501(c)(4).” Around the same time, the IRS created its process that targeted conservative groups. The same outfits are back at it, filling the FEC’s docket with complaints that target Republicans or GOP-leaning organizations 75% or more of the time.

If these liberal outfits don’t like Super PACs, they should look in the mirror. Super PACs are the inevitable reaction to campaign-finance limits on candidates. Instead of unleashing another round of political targeting, this time corrupting the Justice Department, true liberals should deregulate politics.

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2015/06/the-irs-scand.html

IRS News, IRS Scandal, Tax | Permalink

Comments

Hmmmmm. “Criticism of the [IRS] is part of the [right]’s strategy to turn the [Service] into its agent to intimidate [liberal] groups and limit their political speech. The [right-wing media] campaigns use the same accusations about “[targeting]” that the groups used to [attack] the IRS in the 2012 election cycle.” Think it’ll work?

BTW, the offending September 2011, Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center letters (i.e. “free speech”) allegedly written to then-IRS [Republican] Commissioner Douglas Shulman and EO Director Lois Lerner requesting an IRS probe into whether “certain organizations are ineligible for tax exempt status under section 501(c)(4)” were written, if at all, well over a year after the Cincinnati EO non-partisan bureaucrats published and began using the first BOLO list for 501(c)(4) political applicants.

Posted by: Publius Novus | Jun 11, 2015 10:35:06 AM

Also, it is important to note that these two organizations are both nonprofits and both engaged in politics as their only reason to exist.

Not only are they nonprofits engaged in politics but they are nonprofits trying to wage lawfare against other nonprofits that don't align with their political agenda.

So sure, Obama's IRS was just doing its job.

Posted by: wodun | Jun 11, 2015 9:59:57 AM

"In September 2011, Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center wrote to then IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman and Exempt Organizations Director Lois Lerner requesting an IRS probe into "

The Obama IRS's persecution of political dissidents began years earlier.

Posted by: wodun | Jun 11, 2015 9:54:11 AM