IRS HEADQUARTERS IN D.C., NOT CINCINNATI,
CONTROLLED THE TEA PARTY TARGETING
CONTROLLED THE TEA PARTY TARGETING
Jennifer Burke, TPNN Online Editor — Democrat Elijah Cummings was proven to have been in collusion with the IRS in the scandal of the agency targeting, harassing, and intimidating the Tea Party and other conservative groups. According to new emails obtained by Judicial Watch, Democrat involvement in the IRS scandal runs even deeper than once thought. The new emails also prove that the claim made by Barack Obama that the IRS scandal was a ‘phony’ scandal and just the work of a few ‘rogue agents’ in Cincinnati is a flat out lie.Democrat Senator Carl Levin (Michigan) applied unusual pressure to the IRS to target any Tea Party and conservative groups in order to shut them down. After the Republican wave of 2010 in which the GOP regained control of the House, it looks like Levin wanted to make sure the Democrats didn’t experience even worse defeat in the 2012 election. After all, the Democrats were not only trying to maintain control of the House, but Barack Obama’s second term as president was at stake.
Several emails document “an intense effort by Levin and IRS officials to determine what, if any, existing IRS policies could be used to revoke the nonprofit exemptions of active conservative groups and deny exemptions to new applicants. In a July 30, 2012, letter, Levin singles out 12 groups he wants investigated for “political activity.” Of the groups – which include the Club for Growth, Americans for Tax Reform, the 60 Plus Association, and the Susan B. Anthony List – only one, Priorities USA, is notably left-leaning.” Perhaps Priorities USA was used as a handy decoy and included in the mix to allow Democrats to spin the scandal with the talking point that ‘not just conservative groups were targeted.’
Senator Levin, who is the chair of the Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a series of emails beginning in early 2012 and continuing throughout the year, to IRS officials to “discuss how to target conservative groups the senator claimed were engaged in political activity.” Rather than shut down such attempted targeting, then IRS Deputy Commissioner Steven Miller willfully participated in the collusion assuring Senator Levin that the IRS had ‘flexibility to prepare individualized questions and requests for select 501c4 groups.”
As reported by Judicial Watch, the intensity of the emails increased as the 2012 presidential election got closer.
• September 27, 2012: Levin asks for copies of the answers to IRS exemption application question 15 – a question about planned political expenditures – from four specific groups: Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, Priorities USA, Americans for Prosperity, and Patriot Majority USA.
• October 17, 2012: Miller informs Levin, “As discussed in our previous responses dated June 4, 2012, and August 24, 2012, the IRS cannot legally disclose whether the organizations on your list have applied for tax exemptions unless and until such application is approved.” Miller, however, then informs Levin that Americans for Prosperity and Patriot Majority have been approved, but the IRS has no records for Crossroads and Priorities USA.
• October 23, 2012: Levin writes to again express his dissatisfaction with the IRS handling of “social welfare” (501(c)(4) organizations insisting that IRS guidance “misinterprets the law” by allowing any political activity. He again demands an answer as to whether the four organizations he listed in his previous letter were primarily engaged in the promotion of social welfare. He also seeks copies of tax exempt revocation letters sent due to c4 political activities, as well as statistics on how many c4s have been notified that they may be in violation due to political activities.
The targeting of Tea Party and conservative groups was so pervasive, well-planned and coordinated that, in June 2012, Miller took “16 pages to explain to the senator what IRS regulations and policies may and may not be used to evaluate political groups and assures him that the agency has considerable leeway in picking and choosing which groups would be subject to additional scrutiny.
The following month, an even more damning email was sent that demonstrates completely direct and intentional Tea Party scrutiny by the IRS directly from Washington, D.C., not due to rogue agents in Cincinnati. Even more disturbing, this email string actually began in July 2010. It demonstrates coordination of the IRS in D.C. with the office in Cincinnati, individuals who were subsequently thrown under the bus in an attempted cover-up.
On July 6, 2010, Holly Paz (the former Director of the IRS Rulings and Agreements Division and current Manager of Exempt Organizations Guidance) asks IRS lawyer Steven Grodnitzky “to let Cindy and Sharon know how we have been handling Tea Party applications in the last few months.” Cindy Thomas is the former director of the IRS Exempt Organizations office in Cincinnati and Sharon Camarillo was a Senior Manager in their Los Angeles office. Grodnitzky, a top lawyer in the Exempt Organization Technical unit (EOT) in Washington, DC, responds:
EOT is working the Tea party applications in coordination with Cincy. We are developing a few applications here in DC and providing copies of our development letters with the agent to use as examples in the development of their cases. Chip Hull [another lawyer in IRS headquarters] is working these cases in EOT and working with the agent in Cincy, so any communication should include him as well. Because the Tea party applications are the subject of an SCR [Sensitive Case Report], we cannot resolve any of the cases without coordinating with Rob.
The reference to Rob is believed to be Rob Choi, then-Director of Rulings and Agreements in IRS’s Washington, DC, headquarters.
Despite Barack Obama’s claim that there was ‘not a smidgen of corruption’ in the IRS scandal, these newly obtained emails reveal more than a smidgen. There is a tidal wave of corruption and collusion between the IRS, which is supposed to be a non-partisan agency. Instead, Judicial Watch has proven even further that the IRS was weaponized against those deemed to be political enemies of Barack Obama in an effort to shut them down.
The full report by Judicial Watch, including links to copies of emails obtained, can be viewed on their website. The full House has already voted to hold Lois Lerner in contempt. Her hands are all over this targeting and cover-up including an email dated April 2, 2013 in which she discusses the “Be On the Lookout” (BOLO) criteria that agents were to use in making decisions about which organizations should have further screening and scrutiny applied.
Because the BOLO only contained a brief reference to “Organizations involved with the Tea Party movement applying for exemption under 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4)” in June 2011, the EO Determinations manager asked the manager of the screening group, John Shafer [IRS Cincinnati field office manager], what criteria were being used to label cases as “tea party ” cases. (“Do the applications specify/state ‘ tea party’? If not, how do we know applicant is involved with the tea party movement?”) The screening group manager asked his employees how they were applying the BOLO’s short –hand reference to “tea party.” His employees responded that they were including organizations meeting any of the following criteria as falling within the BOLO’s reference to “tea party” organizations: “1. ‘Tea Party’, ‘Patriots’ or ’9/12 Project’ is referenced in the case file. 2. Issues include government spending, government debt and taxes. 3. Educate the public through advocacy/legislative activities to make America a better place to live. 4. Statements in the case file that are critical of the how the country is being run. . . “
So, we believe we have provided information that shows that no one in EO “developed” the criteria. Rather, staff used their own interpretations of the brief reference to “organizations involved with the Tea Party movement,” which was what was on the BOLO list.
Evidence of the IRS scandal and subsequent cover-up is overwhelming, yet to this day neither a full nor even a partial investigation has been conducted by Obama’s Department of Justice. Attorney General Eric Holder has been accused in the past of acting more in the role of Obama’s personal attorney and protector than the top attorney of the Untied States of America. Could his department have failed to investigate in order to avoid any implication of guilt and lying on the part of Democrats, IRS officials, and President Obama himself?
With Lerner held in contempt, it is up to Holder to prosecute her. Given his pattern of refusal to do his job when it comes to anything that would be damaging to the Obama presidency, the likelihood of that remains slim. Will these new emails cause Republican Speaker John Boehner to change his mind in his refusal to exercise the authority of Congress to have Lerner arrested for failure to testify?
One thing looks certain. There was mass corruption in this IRS scandal of targeting, harassing, and intimidating Tea Party and other conservative groups. Will there be justice and accountability? » Full Article
About The Post Author, Jennifer Burke
Jennifer Burke became politically active for the first time at the Porkulus Tea Party in Seattle in February 2009. She was a speaker at the Seattle Tax Day Tea Party at Westlake Center on April 15, 2010, was featured in a popular Tea Party video, Proud to be a Teabagger, that has gone viral on YouTube and many top conservative blogs, and was a Scott Walker WI rally speaker.» Jennifer Burke | Article Archive
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