The IRS Scandal, Day 820

New York Times, Senate Report Cites I.R.S. Mismanagement in Targeting of Tea Party Groups:

A Senate committee on Wednesday closed a two-year investigation with unanimous agreement that mismanagement at the Internal Revenue Service led it to improperly target conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. But a report by the panel did not suggest that any laws were broken, and Republicans and Democrats were divided over whether White House politics was behind the problems.

“This bipartisan investigation shows gross mismanagement at the highest levels of the I.R.S. and confirms an unacceptable truth: that the I.R.S. is prone to abuse,” Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah and the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement after his panel voted behind closed doors to release the report of more than 400 pages.

An I.R.S. official acknowledged the agency had singled out nonprofit applicants with “Tea Party” or “patriots” in their titles.

Mr. Hatch added that “the committee found evidence that the administration’s political agenda guided the I.R.S.’s actions with respect to their treatment of conservative groups.” But the committee’s senior Democrat, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, said in the same news release that the inquiry had found “pure bureaucratic mismanagement without any evidence of political interference.”

“Groups on both sides of the political spectrum were treated equally in their efforts to secure tax-exempt status,” Mr. Wyden said.

The two parties’ differences of interpretation left them where they began more than two years ago, after Republicans and conservative groups first accused the I.R.S. of singling out applications of Tea Party-affiliated organizations seeking tax-exempt status for extra scrutiny and delays. Even so, the overall bipartisanship of the conduct and the conclusions of the Finance Committee investigation was notable given both the charged nature of the allegations and the more partisan parallel inquiries in the Republican-controlled House.

“Our investigation found that from 2010 to 2013, I.R.S. management was delinquent in its responsibility to provide effective control, guidance and direction over the processing of applications for tax-exempt status filed by Tea Party and other political advocacy organizations,” the committee concluded.

• Breitbart, Sarah Palin Rips Lois Lerner for Targeting Bristol
• Daily Caller, Lois Lerner Wanted To Audit A Group With Ties To Bristol Palin
• Fiscal Times, Senate Probe Into IRS Targeting of Tea Party Groups Issues Mixed Report
• The Hill, McConnell: IRS Report Shows Obama 'Misled' Congress
• Utah Policy, Hatch: Obama Ordered IRS to Target Conservative Groups

• The IRS Scandal, Day 818 (Aug. 5, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 817 (Aug. 4, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 816 (Aug. 3, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 815 (Aug. 2, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 814 (Aug. 1, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 813 (July 31, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 812 (July 30, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 811 (July 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 810 (July 28, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 809 (July 27, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 808 (July 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 807 (July 25, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 806 (July 24, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 805 (July 23, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 804 (July 22, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 803 (July 21, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 802 (July 20, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 801 (July 19, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 701-800 (April 10, 2015 - July 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 601-700 (Dec. 31, 2014 - April 9, 2015)
• 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)