The IRS Scandal, Day 989

Washington Examiner editorial, The Dog Keeps Eating IRS Hard Drives:

In Oscar Wilde's comedy, "The Importance of Being Earnest," Lady Bracknell is indignant to hear that Jack Worthing is an orphan. "To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."

If only one could enjoy a similar belly laugh over President Obama's IRS repeatedly losing hard drives loaded with data related to scandals at the agency. To lose one might be regarded as suspicious happenstance; to lose two looks like conspiracy.

The most famous case is that of Lois Lerner, whose division became notorious for targeting conservative groups applying for nonprofit status. Her computer hard drive malfunctioned before that scandal broke, around the same time Congress was looking for information on a separate IRS targeting scheme aimed at conservative donors.

One of Lerner's emails to colleagues, which was finally retrieved from data tapes after roughly two years of congressional demands, stated, "No one will ever believe that both your hard drive and mine crashed within a week of each other."

The newest case of IRS hard drive trouble happened last April, but came to light only this month. Law 360, a subscription-based trade publication, reported this week that the IRS has notified the Justice Department that it erased a hard drive after being ordered not to do so by a federal judge.

In this case, the missing communications are those of a former IRS official named Samuel Maruca in the Large Business and International division. He is believed to have been among the senior IRS employees who made the unusual and possibly illegal decision in May 2014 to hire the outside law firm Quinn Emanuel to help conduct an audit of Microsoft Corporation. ...

Another reason Congress is upset about this law firm's $2.2 million contract is that it came at the expense of IRS customer service. Ever since the Lerner scandal, IRS leadership has moaned incessantly about cuts to their budget. In an effort to gain public sympathy, they made a big deal of the fact that the cuts would diminish the agency's capacity to provide taxpayer assistance during spring 2015.

But at the same time, the IRS was using funds to pay executive bonuses and to hire this outside law firm, even though the agency has many qualified tax attorneys and auditors on staff capable of investigating Microsoft

House Oversight & Government Reform Committee Press Release, Chaffetz, Jordan Letter to IRS Commissioner Regarding Destroyed Documents:

Today, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Health Care, Benefits, and Administrative Rules Subcommittee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent a letter to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner John Koskinen after learning the IRS destroyed documents covered by a federal district court’s preservation order. The preservation order was issued in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Microsoft relating to the potentially wasteful hiring of an outside law firm by the IRS to assist in auditing Microsoft.

Key excerpts from the letter:

“The destruction of evidence subject to preservation orders and subpoenas has been an ongoing problem under your leadership at the IRS. …

“It is stunning to see that the IRS still does not take reasonable care to preserve documents that it is legally required to protect. …

 “It is now apparent that the IRS has not solved the management problems that have led once again to the destruction of documents in contravention of its legal obligations.”

The letter requests documents from the IRS so that the Committee can better understand the IRS’s policies.

• American Thinker, Another Instance at the IRS of a 'Crashed' Hard Drive
• The Daily Caller, Chaffetz, Jordan Erupt After IRS Erases Another Hard Drive
• PJ Media, IRS Erases Hard Drive Critical to Congressional Investigators
• Washington Examiner, IRS Under Fire for Erasing Records Sought in Court Order

• The IRS Scandal, Day 988 (Jan. 22, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 987 (Jan. 21, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 986 (Jan. 20, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 985 (Jan. 19, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 984 (Jan. 18, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 983 (Jan. 17, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 982 (Jan. 16, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 981 (Jan. 15, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 980 (Jan. 14, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 979 (Jan. 13, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 978 (Jan. 12, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 977 (Jan. 11, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 976 (Jan. 10, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 975 (Jan. 9, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 974 (Jan. 8, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 973 (Jan. 7, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 972 (Jan. 6, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 971 (Jan. 5, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 970 (Jan. 4, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 969 (Jan. 3, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 968 (Jan. 2, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 967 (Jan. 1, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 966 (Dec. 31, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 965 (Dec. 30, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 964 (Dec. 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 963 (Dec. 28, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 962 (Dec. 27, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 961 (Dec. 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 960 (Dec. 25, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 959 (Dec. 24, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 958 (Dec. 23, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 957 (Dec. 22, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 956 (Dec. 21, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 955 (Dec. 20, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 954 (Dec. 19, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 953 (Dec. 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 952 (Dec. 17, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 951 (Dec. 16, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 950 (Dec. 15, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 949 (Dec. 14, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 948 (Dec. 13, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 947 (Dec. 12, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 946 (Dec. 11, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 945 (Dec. 10, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 944 (Dec. 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 943 (Dec. 8, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 942 (Dec. 7, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 941 (Dec. 6, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 940 (Dec. 5, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 939 (Dec. 4, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 938 (Dec. 3, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 937 (Dec. 2, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 936 (Dec. 1, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 935 (Nov. 30, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 934 (Nov. 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 933 (Nov. 28, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 932 (Nov. 27, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 931 (Nov. 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 930 (Nov. 25, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 929 (Nov. 24, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 928 (Nov. 23, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 927 (Nov. 22, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 926 (Nov. 21, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 925 (Nov. 20, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 924 (Nov. 19, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 923 (Nov. 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 922 (Nov. 17, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 921 (Nov. 16, 2015)
• 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)