The IRS Scandal, Day 921

The Press Enterprise editorial, IRS Scandal Does No Harm to Ruling Party, So No Foul:

Self-government can collapse when government doesn’t police itself — when abuses of power fester too long. That has happened with the investigation into the Internal Revenue Service’s unjustified 2010 audits of numerous nonprofit conservative groups, which sidelined many of them during President Obama’s 2011-12 re-election campaign.

In a letter to Congress, the Justice Deparment said it will file no criminal charges in the case, not even against Lois Lerner, the former director of the IRS’s Exempt Organizations Office. Yet in 2013, Ms. Lerner herself sparked the uproar, telling an American Bar Association meeting that IRS auditors “actually used case names on this list. They used names like Tea Party or Patriots, and they selected cases simply because the applications had those names in the title.”

Before a congressional investigation, Ms. Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Former House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Vista, conducted one of the investigations. He said in a statement, “The Justice Department's decision to close the IRS targeting investigation without a single charge or prosecution is a low point of accountability in an administration that is better known for punishing whistleblowers than the abuse and misconduct they expose.” He charged, “Giving Lois Lerner a free pass only reinforces the idea that government officials are above the law and that there is no consequence for wrongdoing.”

With the 2016 elections approaching, restoring clean, honest government should be voters’ top priority.

• The IRS Scandal, Day 920 (Nov. 15, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 919 (Nov. 14, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 918 (Nov. 13, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 917 (Nov. 12, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 916 (Nov. 11, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 915 (Nov. 10, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 914 (Nov. 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 913 (Nov. 8, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 912 (Nov. 7, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 911 (Nov. 6, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 910 (Nov. 5, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 909 (Nov. 4, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 908 (Nov. 3, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 907 (Nov. 2, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 906 (Nov. 1, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 905 (Oct. 31, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 904 (Oct. 30, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 903 (Oct. 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 902 (Oct. 28, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 901 (Oct. 27, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 801-900 (July 19, 2015 - Oct. 26, 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)