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Washington, especially certain Democrat senators, was clearly driving the targeting of Tea Party groups.

White House spin on IRS scandal collapsing quickly



White House spin on IRS scandal collapsing quickly
The White House spin on the IRS scandal is collapsing more by the day.
The administration has claimed from the beginning that any special attention give Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations came strictly at the direction of people in the Cincinnati office, and was in no way directed by anyone in Washington. That was always hard to believe, but now we’re seeing clearer evidence that it was a lie. The latest testimony comes from IRS attorney Cleta Mitchell, who says very clearly that she talked to people in Cincinnati and they weren’t running the show. “I never heard from Cincinnati,” Mitchell said. “We only dealt with Washington.” And these folks in Washington, whose bidding were they doing? Democrat Sen. Carl Levin for one.

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The Daily Caller reports that Levin wrote a March 30, 2012 letter to Douglas Schulman discussing the urgency of the potential of possible political activity by nonprofit entity.
Levin, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ permanent subcommittee on investigations, wrote a March 30, 2012 letter to then-IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman discussing the “urgency” of the issue of possible political activity by nonprofit applicants. Levin asked if the IRS was sending out additional information requests to applicant groups and citing an IRS rejection letter to a conservative group as an example of how the IRS should be conducting its business. A top IRS official replied that the agency could send out “individualized questions and requests.” “Some entities claiming tax-exempt status as social welfare organizations under 26 U.S.C.&501(c)(4) appear to be engaged in political activities more appropriate for political organizations claiming tax-exempt status under 26 U.S.C.&527,” Sen. Levin wrote. “Because of the urgency of the issues involved in this matter, please provide the following information by April 20, 2012.” Levin asked ”if it is not provided on a routine basis, approximately what percentage of such applicants receive an IRS questionnaire seeking information about any political activities, and how the IRS determines whether and when to send that questionnaire; and approximately how many days after an application is filed that questionnaire is typically sent.” Levin cited a 1997 IRS rejection letter to the conservative group National Policy Forum, formed by former Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour, and asked Shulman, “Is it still the position of the IRS that a 501(c)(4) organization cannot engage in any partisan political activity, even as a secondary activity?”
As we’ve already told you, Levin wasn’t the only Democrat senator calling on the IRS to harass Tea Party groups. He was just one of the most shameless. The mainstream media still shows very little interest in this story, but those determined to get to the truth need to keep the pressure on. The IRS has frighteningly expansive power to harass citizens, and it’s clear that Democrats in Washington know that and see it as a huge opportunity for them to cripple their political opponents. How this is not seen as a massive political scandal is beyond me.


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