May 14, 2013

"The same IRS office that deliberately targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status in the run-up to the 2012 election..."

"...  released nine pending confidential applications of conservative groups to ProPublica late last year....  In response to a request for the applications for 67 different nonprofits last November, the Cincinnati office of the IRS sent ProPublica applications or documentation for 31 groups. Nine of those applications had not yet been approved—meaning they were not supposed to be made public.... no unapproved applications from liberal groups were sent to ProPublica.”

97 comments:

dhagood said...

and why, exactly, should this surprise anybody?

ndspinelli said...

Here is a point that I've not seen anyone make. Cincy is MAJOR office. These from investigations from Cincy were coast to coast. When a small biz mails in their quarterly reports they go to Cincy.

edutcher said...

It really does keep getting better, doesn't it?

If we keep adding a scandal a day, will everybody in DC with a D after their name be under investigation?

Brian Brown said...

Why is anyone surprised by this?

This is what big government is and does.

If you don't think these Dem partisans would release electronic health records of their political opposition, you're dumb.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

ndspinelli, I think that point has been made. They were trying to consolidate the work, and a large fraction of it ended up in Cincinnati. It's not a case of "little local office did something dumb."

J said...

The reason Cincinnati was used was plausible deniability.Now not even plausible.Sean Hannity just called it tyranny and it is.

Patrick said...

Will no one rid me of those meddlesome Patriots?

Henry II?

John said...

This will be the most transparent... never mind.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

ProPublica, which recently won its second Pulitzer Prize, initially was given millions of dollars from the Sandler Foundation to “strengthen the progressive infrastructure”–“progressive” being the code word for very liberal. In 2010, it also received a two-year contribution of $125,000 each year from the Open Society Foundations. In case you wonder where that money comes from, the OSF website is www.soros.org. It is a network of more than 30 international foundations, mostly funded by Soros, who has contributed more than $8 billion to those efforts.

Progressive = very liberal?
My ass.

Progressive is code for radical leftwing extremist who operates outside of the law

Why isn't Soros rotting in prison?
Oh that's right - Soros is a progressive.

Beorn said...

A Chicago pol rises through the ranks of the state and national political system without any serious vetting, and now his administration seems to be misbehaving.

Is this so unexpected?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

again...

Progressive is code for: Radical leftwing extremist who operates outside of the law.

edutcher said...

ndspinelli said...

Here is a point that I've not seen anyone make. Cincy is MAJOR office. These from investigations from Cincy were coast to coast. When a small biz mails in their quarterly reports they go to Cincy.

Actually, it depends. It used to be there were 9 IRS Service Centers around the country, but, in the last couple of years, several have been closed due to the high number of electronic returns filed so that now there are only 3 (Philadelphia, the one where I worked has been closed in the last couple of years), Cincy appears to have been downgraded to processing returns from the northern Midwest that include a payment.

Each is/was regionally oriented, so nd is partly right about Cincy (actually, W Covington KY) since it covers a much wider area than it once did - Fresno, KC, Austin. Local offices, however, are handling much of the work Service Centers did.

This doesn't mean nd is wrong, but the news that DC and offices in CA also are involved again plays up the fragmented and regional nature of what happened.

Seeing Red said...

Via Insty:

Conservative groups seeking information from the Environmental Protection Agency have been routinely hindered by fees normally waived for media and watchdog groups, while fees for more than 90 percent of requests from green groups were waived, according to requests reviewed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I can't wait for the IRS to have access to our health insurance and be able to audit us if we don't buy what they want.

X said...

of what use is a politicized IRS to the American people?

Seeing Red said...

If I were president for a day - Soros would be on an Air France flight. I'd tell Hollande we're even.

Wince said...

Even those who bought the assertion that guns were not "walked" into Mexico for domestic political purposes (i.e., in order to build the case for gun control) will have to reconsider.

I.R.S. in Cincinnati

Baby, if you've ever wondered,
Wondered whatever became of me,
I'm living on "Hope & Change" in Cincinnati,
Cincinnati, I.R.S.

Got kind of tired packing and unpacking,
Town to town and up and down the dial
Maybe you and me were never meant to be,
But baby think of me once in awhile.

I'm at the I.R.S. in Cincinnati..

Seeing Red said...

They'll audit then they'll take from your checking account.

A bill was submitted in Britain I think recently - it was voted down -- NOW --

that all paychecks should be sent to the government then they'll send you what's left over.

edutcher said...

X said...

of what use is a politicized IRS to the American people?

Other than oppression and intimidation?

gspencer said...

This "only one IRS office was involved" line is quite deceitful. ALL 501 applications go first to Cincinnati. They are then farmed out to other offices.

Paul said...

Oh it's far far more than just the IRS targeting conservatives or Jews or those opposed to Obama. They gave the info to opposing groups.

I hear the FBI is gonna investigate the IRS but hey, that's like a prostitute investigating a brothel.

These scandals have only started and Obama is a lying lame duck. He has so many times lied and hid that they will not be able to stop all the leaks. He may yet resign before the end of his term.

campy said...

He may yet resign before the end of his term.

Please stop, it hurts when I laugh.

Methadras said...

Anyone here think that the IRS was employed to squelch Romney in Ohio? Remember, ignore those calls about tyranny even when it happens before your eyes.

edutcher said...

You got that right.

gspencer said...

This "only one IRS office was involved" line is quite deceitful. ALL 501 applications go first to Cincinnati. They are then farmed out to other offices.

The involvement of DC and those CA offices would suggest they divvied the country into 3 sections.

gadfly said...

By publishing information obtained clandestinely from the IRS concerning right-leaning organizations during the 2012 Presidential campaign, this "upstanding" 501(c)(3) organization violated their own tax-exempt status by actively engaging in politics - but the IRS will never investigate them.

So we now have another scandal to help cover up Benghazi - and the beat goes on. At this point of the impeachment of Bill Clinton, Cruise missles rained on Baghdad.

Are we invading Syria or are we going back to Libya?

test said...

Paul said...
They gave the info to opposing groups.


Press reports seem to agree the approved applications are public records, which makes sense to me. Presuming that's true this doesn't seem like as big a deal.

I wonder though if all the inappropriately obtained information was provided to Pro Publica (which admits publishing data from 6 of the 9 applications not approved and therefore not public records). If so - whether for approved applications or not - this is a much bigger issue.

chuck said...

He may yet resign before the end of his term

I'd rather he stay. First, the alternative is Biden, and second, he can take the blame when Obamacare comes in with taxes next year. Yes, I do want to him kick around some more.

Of course, he could still wriggle out of this crap filled hole. I expect the MSM to do their best to drag him out.

Anonymous said...

also, there was communication with Washington. They were aware of it at the highest levels. You darn well Axelrod and Jarrett knew about it, though I'm sure they were careful not to leave a paper trail.

dreams said...

It doesn't matter, the liberal media hate conservatives too, they probably hate them more than the Dems do because for most politicians its about getting elected but the liberal media wants to change the world as much as Obama wants to transform America. Remember the media pushed the tea party as racist meme along with the Dems.

Bob Loblaw said...

He may yet resign before the end of his term.

The problem is just about the only person in the country who would make a worse president than Obama is Slow Joe.

The best course of action, both politically and for the sake of the country, is to leave the AA president in office and hang him around the Democratic party's collective neck like an albatross for the next two elections.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Nothing is as bad as it seems... but what if this is the worst ever seen?

KCFleming said...

Boy, if only someone had warned us about what an evil tyranny Obama would create.

Seeing Red said...

From Drudge:Larry Conners, a veteran local news anchor at KMOV Channel 4 in St. Louis, says that the Internal Revenue Service has been targeting him since an April 2012 interview he conducted with President Obama -- a fact that he dismissed as coincidence until the recent reports about the IRS targeting conservative groups.

"Shortly after I did my April 2012 interview with President Obama, my wife, friends and some viewers suggested that I might need to watch out for the IRS. I don't accept 'conspiracy theories', but I do know that almost immediately after the interview, the IRS started hammering me," Conners wrote on his Facebook page late Monday night.


Conners did not specify how the IRS has been "hammering" him. He did not immediately respond to a request for clarification (see Update below).

(Also on POLITICO: Obama: 'Concerned' over 'outrageous' IRS news)

According to his account, his questions for Obama touched on the economy and spending but were not exceptional in nature (video here). But following "allegations that the IRS focused on various groups and/or individuals questioning or criticizing government spending, taxes, debt or how the government is run," Conners now believes there may be a possible connection.

"Can I prove it? At this time, no," he wrote. "But it is a fact that since that April 2012 interview ... the IRS has been pressuring me."

See his full post here.

UPDATE (1:36 p.m.): Conners emails POLITICO:


I’m sorry, but I just was told … Corporate does not want me to do any interviews. Sorry.

dreams said...

Some people are kidding themselves if they think the media will not work and do all they can to defend Obama.

Rusty said...

The decision to release this information to a private third party was a political decision. I hardly think this was thought up by some drone in Cinncinatti. This has Axelrod written all over it.

dreams said...

Watch the nightly news and see if the news networks are as concerned about these scandals as we conservatives are. More likely they will spin it as the Republicans trying to take advantage of the Dems.

edutcher said...

Joe can always be declared incompetent.

Get Choom out.

dreams said...

Some people are kidding themselves if they think the media will not work and do all they can to defend Obama.

As some of that media has now been targets of the Choom Gang, there may be less defense than we've previously seen.

ndspinelli said...

edutcher, Thanks for the good IRS info. You are much more knowledgeable on this subject than I am.

roesch/voltaire said...

While I do not approve the 501s have made determining tax exemption a legal mess, but to claim this is new is to ignore history, for example Under Tricky Dick, the IRS created the Special Services Staff (SSS) to investigate thousands of perceived enemy groups and individuals. (Nixon aide Pat Buchanan feared that groups like the Ford Foundation and Brookings Institution were acting essentially as Democratic organs.)

Astro said...

I can't help but think the story isn't fully told yet.

I bet the IRS wasn't just feeding useful 'anti' info about the right to liberal groups. I think they were feeding other info useful to the left in their social media campaign.
I never 'bought' the idea that the Obama campaign was that much smarter about social media compared to the Romney campaign. I think they were getting IRS help.

KCFleming said...

"...but to claim this is new is to ignore history"

In which roesch/voltaire agrees to doing evil because Nixon did it.

The left has no fucking principles at all. Whatta bunch of bullshit they spew.

edutcher said...

Nobody is saying it's new, but just because it was used before doesn't make it any less wrong.

PS nd, they still use many of the old offices as regional centers. If you're sending in a return with payment and you live in the northern Midwest, it goes to Cincinnati. The fact there are only 3 full-fledged Service Centers means the larger offices handle smaller areas.

SteveR said...

This is a Test, This is only a Test.

You may return to your regular programming

cubanbob said...

gadfly said...
By publishing information obtained clandestinely from the IRS concerning right-leaning organizations during the 2012 Presidential campaign, this "upstanding" 501(c)(3) organization violated their own tax-exempt status by actively engaging in politics - but the IRS will never investigate them.

You're right, they won't. However this may be the catalyst to begin the movement to abolish or severly curtail 501 (c) status along with the other tax exempt and non-profit status of many NGOs. besides the democrats are yammering for more taxes, lets give it to them good and hard.

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

The best part about the IRS being in control of every aspect of your life is, uh...

Gimme a minute.

dreams said...

The FBI is investigating the IRS but even the FBI will be trying to control the damage to Obama. We zooming down hill fast and only the conservatives see it that way. The liberal media and the Dems are too intent on pursuing their utopian world, a totalitarian world.

bagoh20 said...

"(Nixon aide Pat Buchanan feared that groups like the Ford Foundation and Brookings Institution were acting essentially as Democratic organs.)".

Now we have the IRS, the State Department, and the DOJ, and it's not just some paranoid political aide saying so. Now that's progress.

DanTheMan said...

"Nice straw man you got there, R/V. It would be a shame if something happened to it..."

Yes, clearly right wingers are outraged because this is "new".

Or are you saying it's OK for this administration to do it, because Nixon did.
Shall I loan O my copy of "Patton" so he can invade Cambodia?

test said...

roesch/voltaire said...
While I do not approve the 501s have made determining tax exemption a legal mess, but to claim this is new is to ignore history, for example Under Tricky Dick


Maybe rv can show us where someone claimed it was new rather than wrong. No?

The left used to understand Nixon was bad. Now they think pointing out Nixon did it is a defense. Let's remember the key difference: Nixon resigned because Republicans were outraged at his behavior and would not support him. And Obama? Number of lefties asking him or his administration tough questions: zero. Number obstructing and excusing: virtually all of them.

Bob Loblaw said...

While I do not approve the 501s have made determining tax exemption a legal mess, but to claim this is new is to ignore history, for example Under Tricky Dick, the IRS created the Special Services Staff (SSS) to investigate thousands of perceived enemy groups and individuals.

Oh, that's true. But don't forget, Nixon would have been impeached had he not resigned.

Anga2010 said...

"White House spokesman Jay Carney says President Obama will not jump to conclusions until an independent investigation is finished on alleged IRS targeting of conservative political groups."

Only then will he begin the leaping!

Bob Loblaw said...

Nixon aide Pat Buchanan feared that groups like the Ford Foundation and Brookings Institution were acting essentially as Democratic organs.

Well... he's right.

Bob Loblaw said...

By the way, R/V, I really don't think "Obama is like Nixon" is the approach you want to take to defend him.

Michael K said...

Watergate did not affect Nixon's re-election in 1972 as he won all but one state. It didn't help and didn't hurt until the election was well past.

In this case, Obama's re-election was close and the effect on the Tea Parties may have been enough to swing it. This election made history like the 1960 election. It was swung by cheating. Venezuela here we come.

Birches said...

Can we all just agree now that reelecting ANY President is a bad idea, no matter how bad we hate the other team?

I'm no John Kerry fan, but we never would have had Obama if Kerry had won in 04.

And there would have been no Bush fatigue in O8, which would have given us a better Presidential Candidate than McCain (Jeb maybe?).

Sam L. said...

Tar and feathers before hanging seems reasonable.

Michael K said...

oesch/voltaire said...

"While I do not approve the 501s have made determining tax exemption a legal mess, but to claim this is new is to ignore history, for example Under Tricky Dick, the IRS created the Special Services Staff (SSS) to investigate thousands of perceived enemy groups and individuals. (Nixon aide Pat Buchanan feared that groups like the Ford Foundation and Brookings Institution were acting essentially as Democratic organs.)"

So you defend Obama by saying Nixon did it too ?

ricpic said...

Why should any federal bureaucrat root for the team that might take his rice bowl away? It's not just the marxist and his minions presently in the White House, the PERMANENT government sees conservatives as the enemy and acts accordingly.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

The spin from the left is disgusting.

It will not save your false idols.

autothreads said...

The Cinci office is the *national* center for the IRS division that regulates tax-exempt organizations. It would be like NASA calling the Kennedy Space Center in Florida a local office.

The Godfather said...

It seems that the MSM is paying attention to sins that can be blamed on Obama, who is not going to run in another election, while ignoring sins that can be blamed on HRC, who is expected to be the Democrats' candidate in 2016. I suppose that's just a coincidence . . . .

Methadras said...

Michael K said...

So you defend Obama by saying Nixon did it too ?


Some of the greatest retorts that leftists give is moral equivalency.

Matt said...

The liberal view of Obama...

2008: He is 'The One'!

2013: Obama is no worse than Nixon...

David said...

Benghazi?

That was a long time ago.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I have a comical theory about the scandalls but im on the road and i need to link tosomehing to flesh it out.

Michael Haz said...

Do you understand that the provisions of the Affordable Health Care Act give the IRS access to all information in your checking and savings accounts? This is ostensibly so the IRS can say "hell yes, you can afford the premiums. Just get a smaller mortgage and one less car to pay for." What it also does is give the IRS unfettered access to see who every check you write is going to. Every. Check.

garage mahal said...

#OBAMA-IRS-CARE-GHAZI

Matt Sablan said...

Small POTATOES!

Matt Sablan said...

I honestly didn't think I'd still be getting this much enjoyment from small potatoes.

edutcher said...

autothreads said...

The Cinci office is the *national* center for the IRS division that regulates tax-exempt organizations. It would be like NASA calling the Kennedy Space Center in Florida a local office.

Offices in DC, as well as Laguna Niguel and El Monte CA (both near LA) also targeted Conservative groups.

As I said, Cincy's big function is processing returns from the northern Midwest that include a payment.

It's the office where you send for an application to be declared tax-exempt, but you can bet it farms out the actual work. That's how the IRS operates. That's why Laguna Niguel and El Monte CA were in on the act.

PS Houston is where the real HQ is for NASA. Cape Carnival just shoots off the rockets.

cassandra lite said...

Some leftists who love to quote Santayana and Acton, showing off their pretend erudition, somehow think that the U.S. is immune from Big Gov offenses...but only when their side is the offender. So now they're left to flail and explain why this is different.

It would be funny if so much weren't at stake.

We all cheered when Jason Robards as Ben Bradlee told "the boys" that the future of the First Amendment and the country itself depended on their reporting. Now? Not so much.

bagoh20 said...

Has Obama really run out of parolees to take the fall for this, or is it just too hard to find one with no connection to the administration?

Brian Brown said...

but to claim this is new is to ignore history,

That is so irrelevant and dumb, it is funny.

Matt Sablan said...

The funny part? There are probably more people in Obama's administration who the IRS -should- have audited who admitted to cheating on their taxes than within the people they -did- audit maliciously.

Joe Schmoe said...

All of this stuff goes beyond the standard inter-party jostling. The left has declared war on the right in every damn theater imaginable. Cultural, academic, societal, economic, religion, environmental, etc. and etc. They are trying to exterminate the right and we are now realizing the lengths they are willing to go to do it.

Hagar said...

On the evening news, CBS and NBC both carefully avoided mentioning just what the IRS was doing to the prospective (c)(3)'s and especially that the were passing their donor lists to liberal publications and (c)(3)'s free of charge.
CBS went farther in a clip with Wyatt Andrews, who slipped the conversation over to (c)(4)'s without skipping a beat, and then interviewed an indignant Fred Wertheimer who is president of something 21, a very liberal (c)(4), and also ,I think, Common Cause which must be about the granddaddy of them all.

Bryan C said...

"What it also does is give the IRS unfettered access to see who every check you write is going to. Every. Check."

You're starting to sound like one of those people who worry about tyranny, friend. Your family physician will recommend some common-sense changes to your reading habits and political donations which should do the trick. I'm going to schedule you and your employer for a routine audit in six months, just as a precaution. These cases can be tricky, you know. Thank goodness our screening measures caught it in time.

Drago said...

Bryan C.: "
You're starting to sound like one of those people who worry about tyranny, friend. Your family physician will recommend some common-sense changes to your reading habits and political donations which should do the trick. I'm going to schedule you and your employer for a routine audit in six months, just as a precaution. These cases can be tricky, you know. Thank goodness our screening measures caught it in time."

Further, in the meantime, in order to "protect" you from yourself, we'll be sending a couple of law enforcement officers around to your house in order to inspect for how safely your firearms are stored.

Of course, if we find anything "amiss" I'm afraid we'll have to confiscate those weapons.

For your own benefit.

Of course.

Mark O said...

Obama is the one we've been waiting for . . . to make Nixon and Carter look good.

Icepick said...

If you don't think these Dem partisans would release electronic health records of their political opposition, you're dumb.

Andrew Sullivan is salivating at the thought of finally being able to get into the Palin family uteri. Figuratively, of course, just figuratively.

Bryan C said...

"Of course, if we find anything "amiss" I'm afraid we'll have to confiscate those weapons."

Oh, incidentally, we've identified a few unusual charges to your debit card which we'd like to clarify. Perhaps your wife could review these items whi--? No? You'd prefer we move things along? Of course, sir. Thank you so much.

edutcher said...

Matthew Sablan said...

The funny part? There are probably more people in Obama's administration who the IRS -should- have audited who admitted to cheating on their taxes than within the people they -did- audit maliciously.

Exactly; where were they when Terrible Tiny Tommy Daschle and Turbo Tax Timmy Geithner were up for consideration?

Icepick said...

Obama is a lying lame duck. He has so many times lied and hid that they will not be able to stop all the leaks. He may yet resign before the end of his term.

No chance in Hell. By the end of the summer, the press will be burying all of this stuff. Plouffe and Axelrod will get a-hold of them and tell them it is their duty to get butt-fucked by the FBI for the greater good, and they will shut the Hell up. By the middle of the next NFL season you won't be able to find a peep about any of this in the mainstream press, count on it.

edutcher said...

That may be tougher than imagined. The AP was one of the stalwarts supporting Choom and they have had their records filched.

Old saying in American politics, "Never pick a fight with a guy who buys ink by the barrel".

PS Looks like more groups were targeted than originally thought.

Looks like it only started in Cincy. When it began to metastasize, that's when CA and DC got involved.

Icepick said...

The best part about the IRS being in control of every aspect of your life is, uh...

Gimme a minute.


The free colo/rectal examinations, duh!

Icepick said...

I honestly didn't think I'd still be getting this much enjoyment from small potatoes.

Small potato rooooock! Small potato rooooock!

Icepick said...

Small potatoes!

Phil 314 said...

RV agrees, this was Nixonian

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

This goes to Obama. He should be impeached.

Big Mike said...

The left has declared war on the right in every damn theater imaginable.

No, the left has declared war on the entire remainder of the country, right and center alike.

cf said...

Sam L. said...Tar and feathers before hanging seems reasonable.

Like I said yesterday,
"I think it is time to bring out the firing squads. traitors deserve no more than that."

But tar and feathers would be excellent for those that the nation decides they will not have to shoot down like rabid zealot dogs.

Big Mike said...

roesch/Voltaire really needs to learn to think before he hits the "enter" key, doesn't he?

Achilles said...

Garage and R/V are just spelling it out for all of you:

Nothing is bad if a Democrat/Statist does it to further the movement.

Power is everything to these people. There is zero moral fiber. No integrity. They will stand up for Hillary after she stands on the coffins of dead American serviceman and lie to us all. They will applaud when an administration jails an American citizen and film maker to bolster a lie. They will sick the IRS on dissenters because it is no longer patriotic and claim it is justified. They have been tapping your phone conversations for years. They will try to register our guns only for our own good and then they will release those records to good organizations like ProPublica just like the tax applications. They just want to take your guns to make you safer.

They will sink to any level and defend themselves by claiming the other side did it too. These are the enemies of freedom.

Calypso Facto said...

I'm glad to see RV agrees that President Obama should resign over this, the way President Nixon did.

DanTheMan said...

Achilles,
Nakoula was arrested for the photo taken: Blasphemer goes to jail.
Hillary promised we would arrest the filmmaker. So we did, thus the "moderate" Arabs could see we agree with them about the future not belonging "to those who slander The Prophet of Islam"

Michael McNeil said...

An excerpt from the Articles of Impeachment drawn up against Richard Nixon as passed by the House Judiciary Committee:

Article 2

Using the powers of the office of President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in disregard of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has repeatedly engaged in conduct violating the constitutional rights of citizens, impairing the due and proper administration of justice and the conduct of lawful inquiries, or contravening the laws governing agencies of the executive branch and the purposed of these agencies.

This conduct has included one or more of the following:

1. He has, acting personally and through his subordinates and agents, endeavoured to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, confidential information contained in income tax returns for purposed not authorized by law, and to cause, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigations to be intitiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner.

(unquote)