One of the key components of Tea Party ideology is the championing for smaller government. As the IRS scandal targeting the Tea Party, Conservatives, and pro-Israel Jews continues to fester, a cursory glance at the various figures involved in the wrongdoing have resorted to finger pointing and the blame game. According to the key players themselves, "Not Me" did it.
Next,from the IRS officials: Shulman (former) and Miller (current)
Former IRS offical Doug Shulman testified before the House Ways and Means Committee that he was "dismayed and saddened" when he learned about the IG report, and suggested that the IRS is burdened.
"Given the challenges the agency faces, it does its job in an admirable way the great majority of the time. Men and women of the IRS are hardworking, honest public servants. While the inspector general's report did not indicate that there was any political motivation involved, the actions outlined in the report have justifiably led to questions about the fairness of the approach taken here. The effect has been bad for the agency and bad for the American taxpayer."
Yet those same (nameless) hardworking, honest public servants are the ones that Shulman blames for the activity. He said, "I agree that this is an issue that when someone spotted it, they should have run up the chain, and they didn't.
Recent IRS head Steven Miller concurred during his testimony that "I'm not going to disagree with your characterization at all of bad management here."
So, where is the accountability within the levels of the IRS? Ultimately, the IRS falls under U.S. Department of the Treasury, which is part of the Executive Branch. But you wouldn't know it talking to this Administration.
When the IRS scandal was erupting, Jay Carney and Obama both stated publicly (Jay on Friday, May 10, and Obama on Monday, May 13) that the IRS was an "independent agency". This is patently untrue.
The Federalist Society reminds us that there are two types of agencies: One is an "
independent agency" which is not part of an Executive Branch department (thinks Boards and Commissions). They are headed by a Cabinet Secretary and are "independent of presidential control, usually because the president's power to dismiss the agency head or a member is limited".
The other type of agency is the one kind that the IRS falls under. It is headed by a Senate-confirmed Presidential appointee, and is directly part of the Department of Treasury (in the same way that Federal Bureau of Investigation is part of the Department of Justice). The particular IRS Commissioner position was created in 1997, (
26 USC 7803), and the confirmed appointee serves a five-year term.
Our President is counting on either ignorance from the general public ,or else he does not understand how his own government operates. "Not Me" is in charge.
The President and those with whom he has surrounded himself have not been leaders. They have abrogated the basic responsibilities of leadership by refusing to take ownership of the problem and
deal with it. It is short on accountability and long on blame.
Rich Lowry aptly noted this week that the corruption in our administration" is the distortion of our form of government by sidestepping democratic procedures and accountability and vesting authority in bureaucrats".
The greatest irony in this debacle is that the Tea Party has been vindicated. It concern about a government-too-big has proven to be unequivocally and terrifyingly true.