- Joined
- Aug 27, 2005
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- Conservative
WASHINGTON — A self-described conservative Republican who is a manager in the Internal Revenue Service office that targeted Tea Party groups, told investigators that he, not the White House, set the review in motion, the top Democrat on the House watchdog committee said Sunday.
In the transcript, the manager said he and an underling set aside “Tea Party” and “patriot” groups that had applied for tax-exempt status because the organizations appeared to pose a new precedent that could affect future IRS filings.
Interesting development, but whether the staffer was a Republican or not is not the question. The IRS DID target Tea Party groups a lot more closely than Progressive groups. However, this does not appear to be political, but bungling how the IRS investigates applications for 501(c)3 status by groups. Many Tea Party groups had applied, which appeared to be more political than providing social programs, may have had an impact on how the IRS investigated, but the IRS ended up going overboard. This seems more like incompetence than political motivation, but whatever the reason, the IRS does owe apologies to the Tea Party groups they overscrutinized.
However, take this story with a grain of salt. The story is laid out by a Democrat. What actually occurred could be different. Let's wait and see how quickly this can be verified, one way or the other.
Article is here.
Edit: The actual transcripts of the committee hearings (Part 1 and Part 2) seem to back this up. No wonder Daryl Issa did not want the transcripts released.
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