Aide Takes Blame for Tax Return Provision

[madison2000]

By Dan Morgan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 3, 2004; Page A01

A mid-level House aide said yesterday that he was the one who, during last month's drafting of a huge spending bill, added a provision that could give staffers on the House and Senate appropriations committees broad access to Americans' tax returns.

Richard E. Efford, a 19-year veteran of the House Appropriations Committee, said he did not inform any elected official before inserting the provision and advised his immediate boss, Rep. Ernest J. Istook Jr. (R-Okla.), only after it was too late to make changes. He said other House and Senate appropriations staffers in both parties were aware of the provision, however, and believed it gave them needed authority to enter facilities of the Internal Revenue Service to inspect how taxpayer funds were being used.

I would guess we all thought it was a housekeeping thing that would help our bosses but did not need to be elevated up to them," said Efford, who described himself as "dumbfounded" by the uproar.

When the existence of the provision became known Nov. 20, just hours before Congress was to vote on the spending bill and adjourn, irate lawmakers in both parties denounced it as a sinister encroachment on Americans' privacy. Several suggested its presence in the spending bill may have had the approval of GOP leaders.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29908-2004Dec2.html

[gratuitous]

1. "Dumbfounded" by the uproar

I'm whomperjawed that this little fascisti is dumbfounded that people objected to his Nixonian attempt to use the tax code to stifle dissent.

[Demeter]

2. I Don't Believe It, Either

No wimpy little aide is going to come up with an affront to all the nation held dear all by his lonesome.

[r_u_stuck2]

3. I predict

He will be greatly rewarded for taking the heat for this one. His statement clearing all elected officials will place him high on the "loyal list" and he will be rewarded nicely.

[Moderator]

4. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1040851