Acting IRS Commissioner Unsure of Who's Responsible, Objects to Term "Targeting"

The White House's "Sgt. Schultz" Defense

 

The confluence of multiple scandals -- Benghazi, the IRS, the AP wiretaps -- has forced President Obama into a political vise of his own making.

If he appears to be in charge of his administration and all its activities, he is de facto implicating himself in wrongdoing.  To try to hold on to support from anyone but the committed left, he therefore has to distance himself by painting himself as essentially out-of-the-loop in his own administration.  But (by necessity) taking the other tack -- call it the Seargant Schultz approach -- he is losing his liberal base. . . all the people who were counting on his managerial skill to usher in a left-wing utopia.

If he's in the know, he's a wrongdoer.  If he's not in the know, he's incompetent.  That's some wedge issue the President has created for himself.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/carolplattliebau/2013/05/17/the-white-houses-sgt-schultz-defense-n1599507

 

Rep. Kelly OWNS Fired IRS Commish--Gets Rousing Ovation

Stephen Miller, the acting IRS chief who "resigned" this week despite being on his way out the door anyway, appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee this morning to testify about his agency's documented malfeasance.  Here are the biggest take-aways so far:

(1) Miller repeatedly objected to the term "targeting" to describe the IRS' practices, which involved...targeting conservative groups for heightened scrutiny.  He said the term was "pejorative" and "loaded."  Miller later denied that conservative groups were even "treated differently," and faced no "litmus test."  Who believes this?  Both he and the Inspector General insisted there's no evidence (yet) that the targeting scheme was motivated by political bias -- aside from the entire basis of the scandal and any number of specific cases, I guess.  Miller did fleetingly admit that liberal groups were not subjected to similar definitional "triage," which seems to be the preferred term.  "Targeting" is so judgmental.


(2) Under intense questioning from several members, Miller said he doesn't know who was responsible for the agency's inappropriate conduct.  He wasn't even sure who investigated it within the organization.  No names. Over and over again, he said that he didn't know answers to questions.  He also claimed to have become aware about certain aspects of the scandal (such as the auditing of conservative donors and the leaking of private information to outside groups) through the news media.

(3) Miller revealed that the manner in which the IRS made the scandal public was coordinated and staged during a Q&A session last Friday.  Someone outside the IRS was tipped off to ask the question that prompted the initial revelation.  Hugh Hewitt makes a great point:



(4) Incredibly, Miller said that Sarah Hall Ingram -- the woman who was in charge of the division that chiefly responsible for the targeting program, and who now runs the IRS' Obamacare office -- is a "superb public servant."  He added that the division she ran provided "horrible customer service here."

(5) On disciplinary action, Miller stated that one employee has been "reassigned."  (He and one other IRS official have announced a "resignation" and "retirement").

(6) Democrats on the committee seemed to be working from a similar playbook: Expressing "outrage" over the targeting, then (a) invoking Bush and Citizens United, (b) explaining why this was all a stupid mistake that wasn't partisan or malicious, and (c) complaining about the influence of money in politics.  They circled the wagons around the White House and relied on heavy misdirection to change the subject.  Benghazi, redux.


(7) Perhaps emboldened by Democrats' stirring defense, Miller actually asked Congress to give the IRS more funding.  Really.

(8) Here's a key exchange, in which Paul Ryan clearly lays out the evidence that Miller was not truthful with the committee last time he testified on the subject, before everything blew up.  Miller flatly rejected that he'd been anything less than honest, and "stands by" his previous testimony.  Damning stuff:


http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2013/05/17/acting-irs-commissioner-doesnt-know-whos-responsible-objects-to-targeting-as-pejorative-term-n1599512

Rep. Kelly OWNS Fired IRS Commish--Gets Rousing Ovation

 

Incredible! Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PN) will win your hearts and minds with his questioning and statements: you'll see why he got a rousing ovation once he concluded. One of the many poignant allegations Kelly made to ousted IRS commissioner Steven Miller highlights the two freeze-frames below: "This is very chilling for the American people. [...] You should be outraged, but you're not."


Here's the video:

 http://townhall.com/tipsheet/greghengler/2013/05/17/rep-kelly-owns-fired-irs-commishgets-rousing-ovation-n1599659

 

 

Conservative Leadership Institute Targeted By IRS For 2008-Election Year Activities

 

The Leadership Institute [LI], an organization founded by its President Morton Blackwell, has just joined the long list of conservative groups inappropriately targeted by the IRS.

According to LI's website, the organization received a notice on June 1, 2011 of an audit of its tax return and activities in 2008; 2008 is the year President Obama was elected to office. For more than a year, the IRS requested 23,430 pages of records which included a list of 2008 interns and their future employers, sample emails between employers and LI regarding ConservativeJobs.com and how LI's more than 300 trainings are advertised.

"The IRS’ indefensible behavior is worse than we first thought, as it targeted both new and existing conservative groups in politically motivated attacks," Blackwell said in a statement. "Fortunately my Leadership Institute had the resources to stand up to the government’s bullying and intimidation. Other groups, including grassroots and tea party groups we’ve helped train, did not.  Defending ourselves from the harassing audit cost my organization more than $50,000 in legal fees alone."

The mission of the Leadership Institute is to recruit, train and place conservatives in government, politics and media. It was founded in 1979. Blackwell oversaw the national youth effort for Ronald Reagan in 1980. Blackwell also served as a Special Assistant to Reagan from 1981-1984.

 http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2013/05/16/conservative-leadership-institute-received-irs-audit-for-2008-activities-n1598698

 

 

Putting the Lie to the IRS' "Foolish Mistakes" Narrative

 

Testifying before Congress this morning, outgoing IRS Acting Commissioner Steven Miller sought to convince everyone that the targeting of conservative groups in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election was nothing more than a "foolish mistake."

There are many reasons this narrative is profoundly unconvincing -- in addition to the fact that it's being peddled by Miller, who previously withheld information from Congress about the targeting despite inquiries on it.  The main reason, however, has to do with activity by the Determinations Unit's "team of specialists."
Check out the bottom of page 7 of the IG report.  It notes that in June 2011, the Director of Exempt Organizations directed that the targeting criteria be changed and the next month, they were indeed changed to, as the IG report puts it, "focus on the potential 'political, lobbying, or [general] advocacy' activities of the organizations," rather than using "organization names and policy positions."

But then, "the team of specialists subsequently changed the criteria in January 2012 without executive approval . . . the January 2012 criteria again focused on the policy positions of organizations instead of tax-exempt laws and Treasury Regulations." (emphasis added).
That admission alone highlights how absolutely unbelievable the "foolish mistake" excuse is.  Had it simply been a matter of clueless IRS employees -- and who can believe anyone in good faith believes it's OK to practice viewpoint discrimination in administering the tax law?! -- there wouldn't have been a concerted effort to refocus on policy positions after the criteria had been changed to focus on applicants' activities, rather than their beliefs.

Miller's insistence on propagating an obviously misleading narrative for what happened and why points out just how much independent investigation is required.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/carolplattliebau/2013/05/17/putting-the-lie-to-the-irs-foolish-mistakes-narrative-n1599548