Republican IRS agent says Cincinnati began 'Tea Party' inquiries

[maxrandb]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Internal Revenue Service manager, who described himself as a conservative Republican, told congressional investigators that he and a local colleague decided to give conservative groups the extra scrutiny that has prompted weeks of political controversy.

In an official interview transcript released on Sunday by Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, the manager said he and an underling set aside "Tea Party" and "patriot" groups that had applied for tax-exempt status because the organizations appeared to pose a new precedent that could affect future IRS filings.

Cummings, top Democrat on the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee conducting the probe, told CNN's "State of the Union" program that the manager's comments provided evidence that politics was not behind IRS actions that have fueled a month-long furor in Washington.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/democrat-irs-testimony-shows-no-white-house-involvement-162842119.html

---

Please Proceed Chairman Issa

[alfredo]

1. Another "scandal" bites the dust.

[tridim]

2. They're all biting the dust multiple times now. GOP FAIL.

[alfredo]

6. Issa made it clear that he was going to keep investigating Obama until he

destroyed the Republican party.

[Auntie Bush]

34. LOL

I think he succeeded!

[alfredo]

35. He had to flush twice.

[Abukhatar]

21. they know this one lost legs that is why

the NSA thing got released - divide and conquer

[alfredo]

33. They keep trying but they keep getting a big meh from the public.

[thefool_wa]

36. Except that the NSA thing is a real problem

Though, its not a direct Obama scandal, its puts dirt on ALL of their hands. Everyone who voted for the Patriot Act, everyone that strengthened it a few years back. Everyone who was charged with protecting and upholding the constitution when they took their oath of office.

ALL OF THEM ARE TO BLAME! This isn't a distraction, this is the real news they are going to spend the next month trying to cover with something else.

I'm fairly certain we can expect another "terror attack" before the 4th of July. There was already another "mass shooting" this week. I know this is tinfoil hat territory, but am I the only one who feels these things are happening at more and more politically convenient times all the time?

The NSA is not the distraction, it is what they have been trying desperately to distract us from!

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Bet this one doesn't make it in the news.

[ThoughtCriminal]

4. But if he had described himself as a liberal Democrat

That would be screeched all week. Count on it.

[VWolf]

29. Heard it on the radio this AM.

So they did mention it, but only after a story about a cop getting shot in the foot. (No, I'm not joking.)

This was the NYC area, BTW.

[Skittles]

5. LOL

in your FACE, ISSA

[Coyotl]

7. No problem, a new scandal is always brewing at Faux News

You know, in that kitchen down the rabbit hole, where up is down and false is true

[Turbineguy]

23. But the NSA now

knows the Faux scandal schedule. That's why the repubs are so upset about the spying.

[Iliyah]

8. Issa is still searching.

I still want to know who leaked the altered memos on Benghazi. I bet it came from a GOP huh.

[delrem]

9. Is underlying this an important issue that shouldn't be dismissed as a phony "scandal"?

The issue being the use of Section 501(c)(4) by PACs to claim tax exempt status *and* equivalent tax deductions. Attention should be paid, first, to what kind of scam that kind of thing is.

Here's an absurdity. Some mega-billionaire prince, who did not earn all that money but got it anyway, sets up a PAC and labels it Section 501(c)(4), so money he donates to his PAC is tax free and is due for an equivalent tax deduction on the billionaire's earnings. Some of the mega-billionaire princess's friends invest in the scheme, and some of the money is spent on political action favoring the mega-billionaire and her friends. The rest is eaten up in administrative costs, paid to the mega-billionaire and friends in return for their good work. Maybe that idea isn't so absurd.

I hope the IRS keeps an accounting of Section 501(c)(4) applications that were granted, and were denied. That's full transparency, full disclosure, and being an IRS thing full disclosure is mandatory.

[Iliyah]

13. Actually they are

fighting against each other and blaming of course. .wh..while they claim "welfare"

and victim.

[delrem]

14. I think the best way to deal with the 1% is the IRS.

[maxrandb]

31. That's why the 1% will pull out all the stops

to try to destroy this President and make sure Dems stay home in 2014. Don't let them get away with it.

Give this President what he needs. A Democratic House and Senate!!

[tofuandbeer]

10. It sounds like they're looking for the one that sticks.

In the mean time, they're looking like the Waste of Time Party.

[JDPriestly]

15. Yes. But the one that is going to stick is not the one they

want to focus on -- since it is the spying on Americans and it started under Bush and is supported by a lot of Republicans. Very strange situation.

These other "scandals" are distractions.

[Iliyah]

16. started before, but since 911, but

Rand Paul will make it right.

Before China comes here, the leak. China is here, the leaker opens up. Watch China.

[JDPriestly]

20. Very good point about China.

But if our government were more open about its surveillance, China would not be a problem.

Surveillance is not really used to find things out that need to be known. It is used to intimidate and control.

China is very good at that.

One violator of human rights is no better than another.

It takes a great country to be honest about its spying on its citizens. Neither China nor the US have anything to brag about here.

[Iliyah]

17. No its not

[meow2u3]

11. Take that, Issa

It was a conservative repuke threatened by teabagger rebels who started this whole thing and Issa is blaming Democrats when they had nothing to do with it.

Don't worry, if Issa can't find something on Obama, he'll just invent a scandal out of whole cloth.

[Grassy Knoll]

12. He must be a Librl Con..

or a RINO

[okaawhatever]

18. Your link didn't work. The story has been updated. This should be the new link:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/09/usa-irs-scrutiny-idUSL2N0EL05W20130609

I swear if this isn't on the front page of every newspaper!!!

[Iliyah]

19. Nope

[DallasNE]

22. I Saw An Interesting Exchange

It was between a Democratic Congressman and the new acting Director of the IRS. The subject was the language of the law and the Congressman wanted to know why the language in the law that says "exclusive" is not being used. The Director explained that they are bound by the revision made in 1959 that "clarified" that to "substantial" (or whatever the exact word is) but the Congressman was not dissuaded. He shot back that he knows that is what the IRS is doing today but insisted that the will of the Congress was that it should be exclusive and that I want to know as a Congressman why the actual language of the law is not being followed. The squirming Director mumbled something to the effect that they would look into it. This has now gone all of the way to the top so it can no longer be ignored. It will be interesting to see the lawyerly wording the IRS provides this Congressman. Given that law has a very defined hierarchy it will be tough for them to find a way around the actual language in the law -- but never underestimate the ability of a lawyer to parse language in a way that cannot be understood by lay people. It does sometime depend on what the meaning of "is" is.

[RBInMaine]

24. There NEVER was a "scandal". These groups are SUPPOSED to be screened for Christ sake. The ONLY

question is, were any groups made to provide MORE information and jump through MORE hoops than other groups? If so, that wouldn't be entirely fair. BUT, if they were making these political groups do that, it is only because they get so many applications for tax exempt status that they were PRIORITIZING their level of inquiry with these kinds of political groups that are only supposed to receive tax exempt status if they are mainly social welfare groups, which of course they are not. Maybe not an entirely fair use of discretion, and maybe a need to re-evaluate and adjust those practices, but there was certainly no "ideological targeting" of these groups. It was a question of HOW they were prioritizing and executing their tasks, and NOT a matter of any kind of intentional "targeting" or "discrimination" based on political ideology. In fact, a few years back a liberal group in Maine, "Emerge Maine", LOST it's tax exempt status because it was show it was NOT mainly a social welfare group. No political group, right wing or liberal, should even be applying for tax exempt status since their activities, obviously, are mainly political and not for social welfare as the 501c4 law requires.

[Kingofalldems]

25. Waiting for comment from internet republicans

[maxrandb]

30. They will probably say that

the NSA got a record of the porn sites the guy was visiting, and then Obama threatened him and made him take the blame.

[Berlum]

26. All of the so-clled "scandals" are ALL REPUBLICAN

It's plain this is a 1% generated shit-fling from the party of systematic falsehoods (R).

[graham4anything]

27. Never forget there are 2 senate races up for grabs in the next few weeks/months

and the repubs want to steal these seats like they did in 2010

[Botany]

28. But will the truth stop Issa from pushing this scandal?

Ah, no.

<Issa vowed to press ahead with the investigation and said the IRS manager's comments "did
not provide anything enlightening or contradict other witness accounts.">

[Hubert Flottz]

32. I'll be damned if Ohio isn't becoming a heaven for...

Reich wing crooks and thugs lately.

Why wouldn't a conscientious, red blooded, government employee, do his or her job and investigate Dick Armey's army of misfits and ne'er-do-wells?

[Dawson Leery]

37. Please Proceed Car thief.

[Dollface]

38. Of course the republicants went after this. It was a government agency doing its job.

[Kingofalldems]

39. Kick this one

[John2]

40. I enjoyed all the comments.

They were very entertaining. At least Issa is giving us a laugh.

[maxrandb]

41. Regretably

The comments on Yahoo about this story are "eerily" similar to the paranoid rants and hyperbolic "the sky is falling" posts from some on DU regarding this NSA story.

Sad!