Some news came out of the first of what will be many Congressional hearings on the IRS scandal.
First, the question that occurred just one week ago and started the controversy–yes, it’s only been one week–was planted. The question came from Attorney Celia Roady. Per a spokesperson from her law firm:
“On May 9, I received a call from Lois Lerner, who told me that she wanted to address an issue after her prepared remarks at the ABA Tax Section’s Exempt Organizations Committee Meeting, and asked if I would pose a question to her after her remarks. I agreed to do so, and she then gave me the question that I asked at the meeting the next day. We had no discussion thereafter on the topic of the question, nor had we spoken about any of this before I received her call. She did not tell me, and I did not know, how she would answer the question.”
Why did it come out last Friday? That’s easy, the TIGTA report was going to be released the following week; maybe an apology on a Friday afternoon would diffuse a crisis. (Nope.)
Acting Commissioner Stephen Miller didn’t like the use of the word “targeting.” Well, that’s exactly what it was. But Commissioner Miller did admit that the IRS provided horrible customer service during this episode.
The New York Times notes that TIGTA let senior officials at the Department of the Treasury know about this. My question: Did this go up to the White House? We don’t know that yet.
Not from the hearing, but related to it: A conservative group sent a Freedom of Information Request to the IRS asking for documents from the tax-exempt division related to the “Tea Party.” The IRS responded that it “found no documents specifically responsive to your request.” Oops. (The request and the IRS response are available at the link.)
Commissioner Miller also stated today that the actions taken by the IRS were not illegal. What?! If they weren’t illegal (I’m not an attorney), they were, at minimum, reprehensible.
The IRS asked about content of prayers. I am not making this up. (Apparently the Tea Party group that sent a copy of the Constitution to the IRS should have also sent a copy of the Bill of Rights.)
I was talking with my mother this evening, and she said we’ll find out all of the truth when someone writes a tell-all book: “Targeted.” Given the magnitude of this scandal, I’m hoping we’ll find out the truth far sooner than that.
Some music from the 1980s which contains an apropos reference to the IRS:
Tags: IRS.Scandal