Shot in the Dark

A Show Of Hands

Anyone who believes that the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups was – as pointed out in the emphasized bit below…:

IRS officials said last week that the focused review of conservative groups was initiated by lower-level civil servants in the IRS Cincinnati office, not by political appointees in Washington, and that it wasn’t politically motivated. They say it stemmed from a misguided effort to centralize review of a growing number of applications for tax-exempt 501(c)(4) status.

They want us to believe, to paraphrase Fred Thompson in “Hunt for Red October”, that “low-level civil servants take a dump without direction from above?”

Show of hands for anyone that’s buying it.

There is a lesser included question in this flap; the country is flooded with 501(c)4 non-profits.

Tax-exempt social-welfare groups organized under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code are allowed to engage in some political activity, but the primary focus of their efforts must remain promoting social welfare. That social-welfare activity can include lobbying and advocating for issues and legislation, but not outright political-campaign activity. But some of the rules leave room for IRS officials to make judgment calls and probe individual groups for further information.

Organizing as such a group is desirable, not just because such entities typically don’t have to pay taxes, but also because they generally don’t have to identify their donors.

So while conservatives (especially in Minnesota) have tried for years to work through their traditional party functions, done entirely under the scrutiny of Democrat-controlled “Campaign Finance” boards, subject to endless niggling politically-motivated investigations and enforcement actions…

…while the Democrats, especially the MNDFL, have funneled more and more of their money through 501(c)4s, which are regulated – but regulated in such a way as groups like the League of Women Voters get to operate as a de facto liberal PAC while, as we’ve seen, conservative groups come in for extra political scrutiny.

At the hands of “low-level employees”, naturally.

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Mitch Berg

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11 responses to “A Show Of Hands”

  1. kel Avatar
    kel

    From Article 2 of the Richard Nixon Articles of Impeachment”

    “He (Nixon) 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.”

  2. swiftee Avatar
    swiftee

    This scandal has really pissed people off down here in the land of the free. Don’t know why people are so surprised though…leftists are liars and scumbags it’s what they do.

  3. Seflores Avatar
    Seflores

    So many in the Democrat Dominated Media Culture claim they got into the media business inspired by “All the Presidents Men” and Nixon’s (read – Republicans) abuse of power, using the IRS among other agencies to harass political enemies (real and feverishly imagined in Nixon’s case). Based on the last 5+ years, I don’t expect the Culture to give two G-D’s about this. They’ll go along with their handlers explanation that these were ‘low-level employees’ and no one higher up was involved.
    Oh and don’t fret that soon these ‘low-level’ folks will have control of your medical care and will be making decisions for you. Inspiring this scene…
    Scene-Massive Obamacare medical facility in the future:
    Diagnostician Avery Librelle: Hmm, Berg- I see here that you were active in Rethuglican politics before the Dear Leader freed the proles from the chains of capitalistic greed merchant medicine.
    Berg: So am I going to get that kidney* replacement!?!
    AL: Oh darn it, we’re fresh out of replacement kidneys. We hope to have more in soon. We’ll let you know. Not. Buh-bye now.
    And scene.
    *(I’d say ‘heart’, but considering these people don’t think of Republicans as ‘wrong’, but more as evil people who don’t actually have hearts, it didn’t fit the narrative)

  4. Loren Avatar
    Loren

    I might believe that higher-ups were not involved.

    But there is no way that it was not politically motivated on the behalf of the lower level employees.

  5. kel Avatar
    kel

    Loren,
    It doesn’t have to be Obama personally ordering the IRS activity but it could certainly be Axelrod, Jarrett, Emanuel, Rice, or any of their lieutenants – think John Dean in the Nixon WH.

  6. Troy Avatar
    Troy

    Even (maybe especially?) lifelong bureaucrats are smart enough to figure out that they could be fired immediately, and perhaps face much worse penalties, for this type of activity. I think they had a healthy amount of direction from above. Otherwise we would have “outraged” sound bites from the administration and numerous IRS folks with bus tire treads all over their backs by this time.

    Instead we have Barack Öbama Cult singing “Don’t Fear The Tyrant” to college kids.

  7. bubbasan Avatar
    bubbasan

    It was all “lower level” guys. Uh-huh. That’s what the Gambinos and Columbos tried to tell the judge, too. Was our President a community organizer, or a used furniture salesman? And why isn’t his Secretary of the Treasury at Alcatraz, seeing as he did the same crime as did Capone?

  8. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    “Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?” With those words Shakespeare’s Henry II sets into motion the death of Thomas Becket without actually giving a command (the actual words were probably similar in intent). Becket was using excommunication as a political weapon, and Henry escalated his rhetoric in response until their was blood on the floor of the cathedral.

    Did anyone in the White House request that tea party groups be harassed? Probably not, at least not specifically. But, in the venomous atmosphere of today’s Washington, like Becket’s England, are federal employees (largely Democratic party supporters) feeling empowered to act on their political beliefs to please their political leaders, like Henry’s four knights? It’s perhaps most troubling that the people in the IRS department in question probably didn’t think that they were doing something wrong, and illegal. The vehemence and self-righteousness of today’s political speech results in a loss of perspective on both sides. It becomes harder for people who we expect to be independent and un-biased, like federal employees or journalists, to place themselves above politics. If this could happen with IRS employees, is it so hard to believe that it could happen with a bank or EPA regulator, a judge, or worst of all, a member of the FBI or the armed services. Beyond dealing with the offense itself harshly, political leaders of both sides need to make it clear that all government employees will be held to a very high standard, and that it is both possible and necessary for them to stay above politics.

  9. kel Avatar
    kel

    Emery, while I applaud the sentiment, it is exceedingly doubtful that government employees will be held to any standard that is not spelled out exactly in their Union contract that they negotiated with the people they elected and who depend upon them for reelection.

  10. Troy Avatar
    Troy

    Emery said:

    “Did anyone in the White House request that tea party groups be harassed? Probably not, at least not specifically.”

    Yeah, nobody knows, but I guess we’ll have to let the White House know you’re here for them, making all the most convenient assumptions.

    “It’s perhaps most troubling that the people in the IRS department in question probably didn’t think that they were doing something wrong, and illegal.”

    Yeah, all totally ignorant buffoons at the IRS, blissfully unaware of the body of law that directly relates to their jobs.

  11. Night Writer Avatar
    Night Writer

    As I recall, the Becket affair ended up with Henry being flogged. Hmmm, that has possibilities.

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