Lois Lerner, at the center of the IRS storm, rewarded handsomely by Obama administration
Lois Lerner apparently sent at least one of the letters to conservative groups out under her own signature.
The director of the Internal Revenue Service division under fire for singling out conservative groups sent a 2012 letter under her name to one such group, POLITICO has learned.Lerner has also been caught making numerous false statements from only "low level" involvement, that there was "no political bias," and that "seventy-five organizations effected." Yet, Lerner is the one who has been extensively rewarded for her work by the Obama administration. From the Washington Examiner:
The March 2012 letter was sent to the Ohio-based American Patriots Against Government Excess (American PAGE) under the name of Lois Lerner, the director of the Exempt Organizations Division. . . .
It is unclear if American PAGE had been selected for any additional scrutiny. But at the time of the letter, the group was in the midst of the application process for tax-exempt nonprofit status — a process that would stretch for nearly three years and involve queries for detailed information on its social media activity, its organizational set-up, bylaws, membership and interactions with political officials. . . .
Lois Lerner, the senior executive in charge of the IRS tax exemption department and the federal employee at the center of the exploding scandal over the IRS targeting of conservative, evangelical and pro-Israel non-profits, was given $42,531 in bonuses between 2009 and 2011. . . .An additional point. Obama appears tough by removing Acting Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Steven Miller. Headlines claim: "IRS: First head rolls." But he didn't really do that. 1) Miller will soon be out of a job anyway because acting commissioners are only allowed to serve for six months and his six months are up in early June. 2) Miller isn't leaving right away and will leave when his acting assignment ends. As Miller writes:
"It is with regret that I will be departing from the IRS as my acting assignment ends inearly June."So my reaction is: is this serious?
Labels: IRSgate
posted by John Lott at 2:31 AM
1 Comments:
Two Court Cases come to mind in this matter.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama (1958) and the Texas case where the State of Texas demanded the membership list of the KKK (1993). Actually, both of these cases revolved around demand of membership lists by each state listed above.
As for NAACP v Alabama, the Supreme Court decided in favor of the petitioners, holding that "Immunity from state scrutiny of petitioner's membership lists is here so related to the right of petitioner's members to pursue their lawful private interests privately and to associate freely with others in doing so as to come within the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment" and, further, that freedom to associate with organizations dedicated to the "advancement of beliefs and ideas" is an inseparable part of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The action of the state's obtaining the names of the Association's membership would likely interfere with the free association of its members, so the state's interest in obtaining the records was superseded by the constitutional rights of the petitioners.
The Texas case relied on the 1958 ruling of NAACP v Alabama by SCOTUS.
Why is it that there are those who would fight tooth and nail to defend the NAACP or the KKK, yet when the IRS engages in the almost exact same behaviour against the Tea Party and similar groups, that's ok?
What if this had not been discovered? It seems to I, that when the Obama administration is caught performing acts that are so opposed to the Constitution, Obama just blows it off as right wing nutjob conspiracy thoughts, or whatever excuse comes to mind at the moment.
Not only that, but as Dr. Lott's post shows, those who do the dirty work get rewarded rather than punished.
Post a Comment
<< Home