May 16, 2013

"'It was pretty much a proctology exam through your earlobe,' said Karen L. Kenney, the coordinator for the San Fernando Valley Patriots..."

"... a tea party group in Southern California that was sent an IRS questionnaire with more than 100 questions on it.... Some groups, including several interviewed by The Washington Post, were asked to provide names of donors or membership lists, which experts say the IRS cannot legally do."
The San Fernando group first submitted its application for nonprofit status in the fall of 2010, which was after the IRS’s Cincinnati-based “determination unit” had implemented its politically charged screening criteria. The group wrote the agency a $400 check to fast-track the process, but 19 months went by before the group heard anything, Kenney said.
So they stole $400 from this group! How many other $400s were pocketed on false pretenses?
That’s when the long list of questions arrived. Kenney said the group sent back a four-inch, seven-pound stack of documents before deciding that enough was enough. The group decided the questions were far too intrusive and could result in individual supporters being targeted.

“We couldn’t sic the IRS on our members,” Kenney said....
This is reminiscent of the way the state of Alabama treated the NAACP back in the 1950s!

That was the Supreme Court's landmark case on the freedom-of-speech-based right of association. Ironically, the IRS behavior has been explained as a response to another Supreme Court free-speech case, Citizens United. From the first link above (which goes to the WaPo article "Groups that sought tax-exempt status say IRS dealings were a nightmare") :
Lois G. Lerner, who heads the IRS’s tax-exemption division, described the targeting campaign as a misguided attempt to deal with a wave of applications after the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which allowed corporations and labor unions to spend unlimited sums on politics.
How many times did Obama say that he was looking for ways to get around Citizens United? How hard did he try to equate "Citizens United" with evil corporations and the money's unfair effect on politics? And here his administration was going after grass-roots groups who were organizing not to lobby for corporate welfare, but to express ideas about limited government and the meaning of the Constitution!

52 comments:

jacksonjay said...


It was the "nice guy" Barry who incited the mob at the SOTU in 2010!

You know the nice guy that Republicans just couldn't criticize!

Matt Sablan said...

Was this like how in Mexico the police sometimes tell you that you can pay your ticket right now, or he will have to run you in, or was this an actual fee that should have done something?

Brian Brown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The democrat party is dead. Classical Liberalism is dead. What we have now is Progressivism.

Progressive: A radical leftwing extremist who operates outside of the law.

Matt Sablan said...

Clearly, the IRS is psychic.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Wait a minute...

I thought this was just a couple of agents gone rouge in Cincinnati.

WIRS in Cincinnati.

edutcher said...

She sounds mad.

And I don't mean Karen Kenney.

Keep in mind, this is the same IRS being sued for stealing 60,000,000 medical records.

And they'll be running your healthcare next year.

Tibore said...

If people continue to wonder why I've been a small government conservative since the Reagan years, I'll have to point at Jimmy Carter for why I started and this Obama period for why I never wavered.

edutcher said...

Lem said...

Wait a minute...

I thought this was just a couple of agents gone rouge in Cincinnati.


I thought the only place agents went rouge was San Fiasco.

Tim said...

Is anyone anywhere really surprised by this?

And if so, why?

Anonymous said...

BS:

Citzen's United was about the ability of evil corporations to spend their money in the public arena. It had NOTHING to do with not for profits...

PS: BS2,

That this was low level unsupervised staff in Ohio. Lois Lerner signed out letters to more than one "Tea Party" and "Patriot" group:

In a 2012 letter, Lerner informed the Richmond Tea Party that its application for tax-exempt status had been placed “in suspense.”

That letter cited a Jan. 9, 2012, request for additional information sent by another IRS official to the Richmond group seeking among other things, the names of donors, how much money they gave and details on how it was used along with the same information for income the group expected to receive in 2012, 2013 and 2014.


Brian Brown said...

Lois Lerner, who again is a Democrat, is a liar.

She said that this only involved 75 applications and included "low lever staffers" - both lies.

About 75 groups were inappropriately targeted. None had their tax-exempt status revoked, Lerner said.

mark said...

Projection is the mental landscape of Democrats, Liberals, and the Media.

All the "evil" they projected upon Bush was just the evil in their own hearts and minds. And the moment they were no longer restrained the attacks started.

And in their warped little minds it is all justified. Because they are protecting the world against "the other".

One case in point from these boards ... Garage vs The Governor.

It's time to drain the septic tank and vote out all the Democrats.

ndspinelli said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DADvocate said...

This is reminiscent of the way the state of Alabama treated the NAACP back in the 1950s!

Now that you mention it, this makes it all OK. Very similar to affirmative action, treat whites (especially white males) the way blacks were treated in the 1950s.

Just another step "Forward" in the march of liberal fascism.

CatherineM said...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/14/naacps-julien-bond-its-ok-irs-target-racist-tea-pa/

Julian Bond and the NAACP doesn't see anthing wrong with this.

Fr Martin Fox said...

This demanding of donor and member lists is PRECISELY what the left wants. This is not an accident.

It's what they have been demanding through legislation for years, called the "Disclose" Act.

And remember, they are so incensed over Citizens United, they have proposed a new amendment to the Constitution that narrows the First Amendment.

Tom from Virginia said...

"Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest," pondered the President, so silently that not a soul could hear.

X said...

clearly we need 2 IRS's. one for democrats and one for republicans. make that 3 IRS's, another one for the libertarians. the commies can just pay 100%.

Nonapod said...

As anyone who has lived under a repressive socialist regime knows, $400 is an insufficient bribe for the Commissars.

Leland said...

misguided attempt to deal with a wave of applications after the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

Yet, there were fewer applications in 2010 than 2009. If the premise of Lerner's comments are wrong, then what are we to make of the rest of her argument?

Scott M said...

What I want to know is whether or not the acting chief was actually due to end his term at the end of June before all this blew up.

If the administration went out to tout having demanded his resignation thinking nobody would notice or that he wouldn't say anything...wow.

gerry said...

IRS liars lie about when the political harassment began - BEFORE the surge of tax-free status applications.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Ann Althouse said...

"How many times did Obama say that he was looking for ways to get around Citizens United? How hard did he try to equate "Citizens United" with evil corporations and the money's unfair effect on politics? And here his administration was going after grass-roots groups who were organizing not to lobby for corporate welfare, but to express ideas about limited government and the meaning of the Constitution!"

This!

(the typo gods are toying with me)

cubanbob said...

If the republicans are serious this is the golden moment to push for severely curbing qualified immunity for government hacks who are merely following instructions from their corrupt masters.

cubanbob said...

clearly we need 2 IRS's. one for democrats and one for republicans. make that 3 IRS's, another one for the libertarians. the commies can just pay 100%.

5/16/13, 9:16 AM

X spot on. Give the bastards what they want in spades.

sakredkow said...

Sic 'em!

traditionalguy said...

The War on Americans rolls on. And the IRStapo is empowered to do whatever is needed.

edutcher said...

Scott M said...

What I want to know is whether or not the acting chief was actually due to end his term at the end of June before all this blew up.

If the administration went out to tout having demanded his resignation thinking nobody would notice or that he wouldn't say anything...wow.


That is exactly correct.

He even sent out a memo saying he would be there through June (scroll down to the last update).

traditionalguy said...

NB: The IRStapo is also the Agency that does 501(c)3s. Franklin Graham discovered that he is a target as are Catholic writers.

The next Muslim/Obama push is to nobly outlaw Christianity as a hate group.

So both ends of the First Amendment are being twisted and discarded by Obama for noble reasons.

Tibore said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tibore said...

"Fr Martin Fox said...
This demanding of donor and member lists is PRECISELY what the left wants. This is not an accident."


There's some truth to this. Remember which side wanted to help unions by trying to defeat proposals aimed at guaranteeing secret balloting in the workplace? And remember which group had to fight to guarantee that privacy?

That was a blatant, naked attempt to stifle dissent back then. Yet it pales compared to what's happening now.

Scott M said...

He even sent out a memo saying he would be there through June (scroll down to the last update).

Yeah, but that appears to have come out after the fact, more of a face-saving than anything else. If there are any communications/emails/memos about him leaving at the end of June dated before last week, which there almost assuredly would be if that were the case, they should come to light.

The key issue with this little facet of a growing scandal is that, if true, it would bold-face, bull-moose drop-a-piano-on-your-head wake up a lot of people to just how stupid the administration must think the American people are.

"WE FIRED THE GUY IN CHARGE!!!"

"Um...he was already due to leave and, in any case, wasn't in charge when all of this went down."

"ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY MUST BE OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES!!!"

"Um..."

Unknown said...

I'm not expecting congress to enact any meaningful reform of the IRS. Congress is always for bigger government, which requires squeezing ever more cash out of the taxpayers. Any moderation of the IRS's ability to intimidate puts at risk the cash flow necessary to keep congress and the government's good times rolling.

The folks who live on filet mignon aren't going to tamper with the efficiency of the slaughterhouse.

cubanbob said...

Now would be the golden moment for the republicans to push for eliminating the entire 501(c) section of the IRS code. Sure there will be some collateral damage but eliminating the tax exempt-non- profit sector would severely damage the left. Hit them with a gross receipts tax at the top C corp rate. The left loves taxes. They should pay them.

edutcher said...

Scott M said...

He even sent out a memo saying he would be there through June (scroll down to the last update).

Yeah, but that appears to have come out after the fact, more of a face-saving than anything else. If there are any communications/emails/memos about him leaving at the end of June dated before last week, which there almost assuredly would be if that were the case, they should come to light.


Fair enough.

Now we come down to what Boehner said - it past who loses their job, it's who goes to jail.

Kit Carson said...

the IRS and the 2012 election:

1. the 2010 election presented the stunning power of the Tea Party movement.
2. shortly thereafter the Word Went Forth - target the Tea Party
3. do we know if Tea Party organizations in key states received special emphasis for obama administration attacks on their political opposition:
Ohio
Florida
North Carolina
Pennsylvania

Oso Negro said...

I want to see a bill introduced in Congress requiring the IRS to prove that "random" audits from 2009 to the present were in fact random. I suspect I was targeted last year for being vocal in my community.

JAL said...

It's the top down trickle effect. It is clear, all joking aside, that many of Obama & Co.'s comments and aside over the past 5 years are the proverbial dog whistle to The Faithful.

Obama acknowledges in his behaviors and asides and more "private" comments that it is OK to go after those who would block The Agenda.

They were primitve, bitter, clinging to the past. Clinging to their guns, blocking him. If only he were a king. Or president of China... But he wasn't.

But The Faithful could help.

And they did.

Damn that outdated crappy US Constitution and especially the Bill of Rights.

Every single person who participated in this needs to be fined, fired and / or Go. To. Jail.

Do not pass Go and by all means do not collect a pension.

Watching how he conducted himself in previous elections -- many of us are not surprised.

What surprises me still is that this is a surprise to many who did vote for him.

Do a little projection of this kind of incompetence and coercion onto Obamacare.

JAL said...

As C-I-C Obama is responsible for how his ship runs all the way down to the latrines.

Massive Fail.

Holder need to be fired for gross incompetence.

So does BHO -- but you lost your chance kiddies. So now emasculating him politically is the safe and only route.

Seeing Red said...

Now the Tea Partiers know how to play the game - it's all in the words,

use "Progress or Progressive" in their titles.

Renee said...

Back in June 2007... from Salon on the downfall of the NAACP

"In his brief tenure, (Bruce) Gordon used his corporate ties for Hurricane Katrina relief and brought in staffers with résumés impressive enough to lift morale in the beleaguered organization. He met three times with President Bush, who had shunned the NAACP for nearly six years. But after 19 months of constant warfare with the NAACP’s board over his lack of interest in protest, he was out.. With him went the corporate funds and credibility desperately needed to save the NAACP.

In defending the NAACP’s change of heart about the leader who was doing exactly what he’d been hired to do, Julian Bond, chairman of NAACP’s ungainly 64-member board of directors, said, “Put simply, we fight racial discrimination and social service groups fight the effects of racial discrimination. Service is wonderful and praiseworthy and fabulous, but many, many organizations do it. Only a couple do justice work, and we’re one of those few.”

Gordon’s departure was only the beginning of NAACP’s troubles. Now, just three months later, the group has announced it will be “temporarily” closing its seven regional offices and slashing its national staff by 40 percent. It has also had to “delay” moving its Baltimore headquarters to Washington, D.C. The nation’s oldest civil rights organization is on the brink of extinction, defeated by its inability to evolve, a fact that no amount of rhetoric will be able to conceal at its 98th annual convention next month."


----------------------


From Wiki


"Citing strain with the board, Gordon resigned in March 2007. He stated "I did not step into the role to be a caretaker, to be dictated to," Gordon said. "I stepped into the role to understand as best I could the needs of the African American community and then to propose strategies and policies and programs and practices that could improve conditions for African Americans…. The things I had in mind were not consistent with what some — unfortunately, too many — on the board had in mind." [3]"

G Joubert said...

I want to see a bill introduced in Congress requiring the IRS to prove that "random" audits from 2009 to the present were in fact random

I'm fairly certain they have the capacity to manufacture that data.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

So they stole $400 from this group! How many other $400s were pocketed on false pretenses?

Ever hear of college application fees?

Alex said...

The Tea Party are racists, that is all you need to know.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's 2-minute hate.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

We need an independent prosecutor with subpoena powers to look into the IRS abuses.

Holder is dragging his feet... again.

Nathan Alexander said...

It should be clear that liberals in all the various levels of govt and in the news industry did not hesitate to do whatever was in their power to get Obama re-elected.

Can our Republic recover?

I think so. But it will require jail time and/or ruined careers for all those liberals in leadership positions right now.

So how about it, liberals? Do you love the nation more, or your ideology more?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I wonder how you get a document shredding contract from the IRS... or do they do that work in house?

Sydney said...

So how about it, liberals? Do you love the nation more, or your ideology more?

They've made it pretty clear these past 15 years or so that they love ideaology most.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Lem said...

I wonder how you get a document shredding contract from the IRS... or do they do that work in house?

They're happy to do the shredding in house, if the document happens to be the Bill of Rights...

Sam L. said...

Yes, anyone against, or even in mild disagreement with Obama is an Enemy Of The STATE!