Posted by Tina
Flagrant IRS abuses have created outrage, resentment, and anger in the American people. Investigations into the growing scandal will continue throughout the summer in Congressional hearings and in the courts. Some have called for a special prosecutor to look into the matter of IRS targeting of conservative groups. These groups were denied 501c4 designation for political reasons. Applications were delayed and questions asked of applicants were political in nature and unrelated to their application. The IRS and several key individuals are facing a number of lawsuits, one is asking for a class-action suit. It looks like we’re in for a long hot summer of further discovery, legal battles, and investigations:
Norcal Tea Party Patriots filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati. They allege their constitutional rights were violated when their application was targeted for extra scrutiny by the IRS and are seeking a class-action status”
“The IRS engaged in a tactic of suffocating NorCal Tea Party Patriots and other similarly situated groups with requests that were so searching and extensive that they would have presented a serious challenge even for sophisticated businesses,” the Colfax, Calif.-based group wrote in its complaint.
American Center for Law and Justice represents 25 Tea Party Groups across America. These groups claim that the IRS and the Obama administration abused their authority, violating the First and Fifth amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The persons named are alleged to have “unlawfully delayed and thereby effectively denied approval of Plaintiffs’ applications for tax exempt status” and this treatment was based “solely upon Plaintiffs’ political viewpoints.” Those named in the lawsuit: IRS, Attorney General Eric Holder, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Steven Miller, former acting IRS chief, and Lois Lerner and Holly Paz. This morning a representative of the ACLJ indicated there will be at least ten additional TP groups joining in this lawsuit within a week.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a lawsuit asking that the IRS “initiate a process to bring its rules on 501(c)4 nonprofits in line with federal law”.
There is a pattern or structure of widespread Democrat Party community organizing behind the abuses of power that are now being exposed at the IRS and other departments of government. Since the IRS scandal broke several Democrats have made public statements decrying these abuses of power but some of those same Democrat Congressmen made public statements and wrote letters encouraging the IRS to scrutinize conservative groups. Max Baucus of Montana was one such Democrat. He’s announced he will retire when his term is finished and, hoping to salvage his reputation perhaps, has taken a bull dog stance regarding the IRS. He co-authored a letter with Orin Hatch demanding answers from the IRS to 41 questions by May 30th.
The IRS is a union shop and the union gave a lot of money to Democrats and the Obama campaign going back to the 2008 election. The American Spectator shows an extremely suspicious connection between President Obama and Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union. Kelley visited the White House at 12:30pm on Wednesday, March 31st. The very next day the policy targeting conservative groups began. Kelley bragged in an interview: “We are looking for a return to what we used to call partnership. I don’t really care what it’s called. For me, it’s about collaboration.”
There is a distinct sense that this administration with the collaboration of its supporters, is entitled to its abuses:
Julian Bond, Chairman Emeritus of the NAACP said the targeting of conservative groups was “legitimate”:
“I think it’s entirely legitimate to look at the Tea Party. I mean, here are a group of people who are admittedly racist, who are overtly political, who tried as best they can to harm President Obama in every way they can…They are the Taliban wing of American politics and we all ought to be a little worried about them.”
Projection, anyone? The Tea Party is not “admittedly” racist but even if it were, this abuse by a taxing authority is not an acceptable method for dealing with racism. And likening Tea Party groups to the Taliban? Please. The IRS, the IRS union head, Eric Holder, Julian Bond and other players in this egregious abuse share the same attitude regarding equality under the law, as powerful Washington elites of the party in power they get to choose who is eligible to have their rights trampled and those who will get favored treatment:
Frontpage Magazine probes the background of the non-profit run by Obama’s half brother in Kenya. Not only was his approval by the IRS swift, within a month after application, but it was made retroactive:
he IRS approved charitable status for the foundation, which was run by President Obama’s brother and named after his father, in about a month’s time.
The IRS also agreed to give the group this important financial status retroactively, back to 2009, when it had begun its fundraising.
As the article indicates the Barack H. Obama Foundation had red flags planted all over it and should have given the IRS pause:
It has been learned that the relationship between President Barack Obama’s half-brother Malik Obama and Sudan’s President Omar Al-Bashir is much closer than previously thought. Malik is the Executive Secretary of the Islamic Da’wa Organization (IDO) as reported by all major Saudi press, including Okaz. …
…The IDO has been created by the Sudanese Government, which is considered by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist state. This places Malik Obama in bed with terrorists and working as an official with a terrorist state.… “The only evidence where monies were spent involves the Barack H. Obama Recreation and Rest Center in Kenya, which housed Malik’s 12 wives in a facility that includes a restaurant and a mosque with a madrassa.”
If anything all Americans should be very worried about a Party that will stoop to such lows.
The President is doing his best to appear unconcerned and as existing outside of the scandal. He has called this targeting by the IRS “outrageous” but I’m afraid this scandal, and many others, has his signature as a community organizer written all over it.
Lois Lerner’s harassment of conservatives goes all the way back to 1996 when she was a Federal Elections Commission (FEC) official for Illinois and the head of the commission’s Enforcement Division.
Republican who ran against Durbin: Lois Lerner told me never to run for office again
Salvi said that Lerner offered to drop the case if Salvi agreed never to run for office again.
“She said, ‘If you promise to never run for office again, we’ll drop this case,’” Salvi said, noting that he thought Lerner was helping Durbin keep him out of Illinois politics in the future.
The case was eventually dropped in 2000, by which time Salvi had reportedly racked up nearly $100,000 in legal fees. A judge ruled that Salvi’s loan to his own campaign was completely legal, according to Salvi.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/30/republican-who-ran-against-durbin-lois-lerner-told-me-never-to-run-for-office-again/#ixzz2Up5wORR7
Peggy I heard about this and I’m glad you brought it to our attention via The Daily Caller. Individuals and groups are beginning to come out of the woodwork with personal stories of harassment.
When you think about it, it all goes back to Chicago style politics and the Alinsky method. The government is being run by radical partisan thugs.
Banks were harassed by ACORN, after being regulated to make bad loans. Then when things turned sour those same banks were targeted again as the force that made the housing market crash.
The way GM was handled has the same mark of thug politics about it. Instead of using the regulations that govern reorganization special rules were made to accommodate unions, harm the bond holders, and selectively close dealerships in a partisan manner.
Anyone or any group that fails to fall in line is targeted for demonization and destruction:
National Review:
IRS Targeted Leadership Institute:
Dr. Anne Hendershott, a Catholic sociologist, professor and author told The Blaze of her IRS experience:
I hope she is among those who gets involved in one of the lawsuits. This is outrageous! It was obviously an attempt to intimidate her speech… chilling to say the least! And the arrogance of the “agent”…a “servant of the people…Ha!
These radicals operate like the mafia…only with the Mafia you know who your dealing with! The Mafia doesn’t pretend to be caring compassionate servants of the people.
Tina, I’ve been busy most of the day so haven’t really caught any news except for hearing Shulman now is reported to have been to the WH 157 times in the past 3-4. That’s once every 9 days. Wouldn’t you just love to know who he was meeting and what they were talking about?
Every time I see Shulman’s smug reply of going to the Easter egg hunt on those WH visits I want to slap him with a contempt of Congress charge. (I’d really like to slap something else too, but I don’t condone violence so wont dwell on that here.) Just the look on his face says how little he respects the Congress and our laws. Laws are for peons not the elites like him, Holder, Obama and Clinton.
It really is like seeing our country being run by a bunch of Jimmy Hoffas with PHDs in Alinsky’s Governing by Radical Studies.
I did hear different individuals and organizations are compiling list of all the groups and different type of groups that were targeted. It will be interest to see if any left, progressive, democrat, anti-religious, anti-Jew, pro-Palestine, pro-abortion groups were targeted too.
Maybe it is time for a flat tax on everyone. If nothing else it eliminate another branch of Big Government that a political body can use for their advantage. Also it charges everyone something and requires everyone to put some skin in the game ,so when they start to abuse it (tax money) they’ll understand it isn’t all that free
Harold, Agree 100%
I’d love to see a Flat tax replace the current progressive tax. It’s the only fair way to go. I don’t like the Fair tax, because it’s again too open to someone deciding what is “fair.” I can just see exemptions being added and growing into the mess we have today.
We will still need the IRS, but on a much more limited bases to collect the taxes still and do an accounting to the treasury dept.
Harold the time is indeed ripe for a simple tax method that eliminates corrupt and evasive strategies by government and by citizens!
Small government works simply because it creates few opportunities for exploitation.
Our justice system also needs cleansing so it can once again serve in the capacity of meting out justice. Right now it often acts as a tool of politics.