The IRS and everyone else involved in this egregious abuse of power needs to get honest real quick before it metastasizes into a serious scandal for the White House. Remember, it was the Watergate cover-up that brought down Nixon, not the break-in itself.
And isn’t it just jolly the IRS appears to be targeting groups that seriously question the government or want change.
IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman testified before Congress in March 2012 saying there was no targeting. The facts appear to contradict him.
Among the other revelations, on Aug. 4, 2011, staffers in the IRS’ Rulings and Agreements office “held a meeting with chief counsel so that everyone would have the latest information on the issue.”
On Jan, 25, 2012, the criteria for flagging suspect groups was changed to, “political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding Government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform/movement”
It’s never happened before, except in the past.
Greenpeace in 2004 (apparently because Exxon Mobile wanted it)
http://www.democracynow.org/2006/3/24/irs_audited_greenpeace_at_request_of
NAACP, same year (someone criticized the Bush administration, if you can imagine that)
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2004-10-29/news/0410290318_1_tax-exempt-organizations-audit-naacp
All Saints Episcopal Church in 2005 (what would Jesus say?)
http://articles.latimes.com/2005/nov/07/local/me-allsaints7
http://articles.latimes.com/2006/sep/22/local/me-allsaints22
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/sep/24/local/me-allsaints24
Note that these groups were audited, not just targeted like the current crop (none of which appear to have been actually investigated). Perhaps our in-house IRS expert can explain the difference, but to me, an lengthy audit seems like a much bigger deal.
And remember the scandal about those US Attorneys who were fired for not investigating political opponents and/or bothering political supporters? Brought down the Bush Presidency, didn’t it?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/26/opinion/26mon4.html
Sources: Zandar at Balloon Juice; David Waldman tweets
Hmm, yes, quite a list indeed. Audits are a big deal but not getting nonprofit status could also be huge too.