 by Dr. Jeffrey Lant. Author's program note. Let's be clear about something right from the start: the current scandal at the Internal Revenue Service is by no means the worst the agency has endured... yet at any rate. The IRS has a scrapbook full of more abashing moments and grim memories of things they shouldn't have done... and got caught red-handed doing. Item: In the1930s President Franklin Roosevelt used the IRS against a grab bag of political opponents, including mega-publisher William Randolph Hearst (think "Citizen Kane"), Louisiana Governor Huey Long, and controversial radio priest Charles Coughlin. Item: In the 1940s and 1950s corruption and bribery were rife. Hundreds of (not so) shame-faced employees were dismissed, while President Harry Truman ordered a major reorganization. Employees were put under civil service guidelines to curb political influence. Item: During the administration of President John Kennedy, the IRS created an "Ideological Organizations Audit Project" that investigated conservative groups and challenged their tax-exempt status. The (apple-polishing) IRS started the project after Kennedy complained during a news conference about right-wing groups getting tax-exempt status. Targets included the American Enterprise Institute and Christian Anti-Communist Crusade. Item: In the 1960s and 70s the Nixon administration created an IRS unit called the Special Services Staff, or SSS to target activists and political dissidents. The White House drafted the notorious "enemies list" of political opponents to be targeted for IRS audits. Here, however, common sense (the most limited of commodities in the capital) intervened in the person of Treasury Secretary Donald Alexander who said he wouldn't audit Nixon's political enemies and ordered the SSS dissolved. Then there's the current scandal which apparently started in the IRS' Cincinnati regional office. There someone had the bright idea of making it difficult, if not impossible, for conservative groups to get tax-exempt status. It could easily be done with computerized key-word searches, including overtly ideological searches for applicants seeking to "make America a better place to live" or "criticize how the country is being run". Other key search words and phrases included "Tea Party" and "Patriots" . Once started the culprits (who of course regarded themselves as the real patriots, the true-blue Americans) focused on groups "involved in limiting/expanding Government" and "educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights." So, let's review what was going on... Some hot shot (as yet unidentified, although in due course that'll come out in the wash) decided conservative Americans were anathema and needed to be reined in. That person recruited his best IRS buddies (the ones believing conservatives to be menaces needing curtailment and chastisement for their wrong-headed views). And they merrily started using their access to sensitive information to thwart the entirely legal activities of people who were entirely within their constitutional rights, a sobering fact which seems to have had no influence upon the nimble perpetrators who used their jobs to sabotage. Cui bono? To whose benefit were these shenanigans? The report by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration (released May 14, 2013) offered new, highly suggestive details. Of the 296 applications for tax-exempt status reviewed by the inspector general, 108 were approved, 28 were withdrawn by the applicants (some perhaps because of excessive IRS requests for sensitive organizational details), and 160 were still open, some pending for up to 1,138 days. This necessitates a look at the dates and a worrying scenario. A "sensitive case report" on Tea Party targeting was sent from Cincinnati to Lois Lerner, the head of the IRS' division for tax-exempt organizations, and to another Washington official (as yet unnamed) on April 19, 2010. This suggests the illegal activities began far earlier than otherwise known, perhaps as early as mid-2009. Now, add 1,138 days to, say, July 4, 2009 and you might easily draw the conclusion that certain person or persons involved meant to hurt the conservatives (while helping their competitors) until well past the 2012 presidential election, thereby materially assisting in the re-election of the prime beneficiary, The Honorable Barrack Obama. What would, of course, strengthen this case would be knowing which organizations were so thwarted... and whether theirs was a conservative slant. That, too, should come out in the wash. It's sure to be a busy laundramat. Representative Dave Camp will see to that. Criminal or merely inept, incompetent and "obnoxious"? I'm guessing that Camp is going around his office whistling a happy tune. If so, it's no wonder. In matters such as this, there are always (sometimes hidden) winners and losers. The president and a whole lot of senior IRS officials are taking it on the chin right now as they posture at their "grin-and- bear it" best. They are clear losers. Dave Camp, by contrast, must be in hog heaven. Camp, you see, is chairman of one of the oldest and most powerful committees of the House of Representative, Ways and Means. An 11-term veteran, a handsome, toothy Michigander from Midland, his sprawling district meanders across fifteen counties of mid- and northern Michigan, the very heart of the Great Republic. Camp is a popular figure back home, customarily winning in excess of 60 percent of the vote. For good behavior and exemplary party loyalty, Camp was able to move up, join the GOP House leadership team and as Ways and Means chair deal with the crucial bread-and-butter issues that are so important to average Americans, tax policy, tariff and trade laws, Medicare, Social Security, welfare and unemployment programs. Camp is the guy who'll be presiding over House hearings on this matter... His task is plain: to grill every senior IRS official, then even more senior people in the Treasury Department. Heads have, of course, already begun to fall on this matter, Camp will ensure there are others. President Obama moved fast to get rid of Steven Miller, acting IRS commissioner and a lesser administrator. It is only the beginning. The President's objective is to get through this mess as quickly as possible. He wants us to believe the action was of short duration involving minimum people and that he can clear it all up, including apologizing to irate conservatives who are wailing here, there and everywhere, "See, we told you so." Chairman Camp hopes he won't have to buy ex-commissioner Miller's proposition that it all happened because the IRS was overwhelmed by new applications after the Supreme Court ruled in the 2010 Citizens United case which greatly expanded the ability of corporations, unions and other organizations to participate in election spending. Miller wants America to believe the IRS is a good guy, dim, muddled but well meaning, and that "Dude, it won't happen again. Of course Camp wants the opposite of all this; every subpoena he authorizes, every criminal charge made is a thrill for this man who probably went home May 17, 2013 (the first day of hearings) to find his wife and three kids holding crudely made "Camp for President" posters. There is, however, one more secret loser in the proceedings... and that's Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Mitt Romney's 2012 vice presidential selection. He, too, is on Ways and Means. He's got the presidential bug and cannot afford to let Camp outmaneuver him. He'll be working hard to ensure he doesn't. Camp should check for trip wires and banana peels artfully positioned for maximum effect... Meanwhile, GOP stalwarts of every kind are sending out unbelievable numbers of email, direct mail, and automated phone messages, every one alerting the good people of America, the conservative, God-fearing people to send in a few bucks... and so the stupid idea of a cell of left-leaning knuckleheads in Cincinnati is turned into the mother's milk of politics, cash. Thus is one man's scandal turned into another man's success and this rapt commentator kept happily at his work. Envoi. Of all our recent presidents probably the first president George Bush '41 understood nonprofit organizations best... for he genuinely believes in their necessary mission of improving the Great Republic. Thus it was no surprise to hear his encomium on these absolutely essential organizations of every kind. It was written by crack speech writer Peggy Noonan and delivered in his acceptance speech for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination. It came to be called the "Thousand points of light" speech: "I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, doing good." For Bush this wasn't just rhetoric. It was a core of his belief and he showed as much in 1990 when he spearheaded the creation of the Points of Light Foundation, the goal of which was to promote private, non-governmental, tax-exempt solutions to social issues. Thus, for the music to accompany this article I have selected "Point of Light,"a tune written by Don Schlitz and Thom Schuyler. It was recorded by Randy Travis and is available in any search engine. It isn't a very good song; it doesn't tug at your heart, though it should. Even so, it's worth listening to: "All it takes is a point of light/A ray of hope in the darkest night/If you see what's wrong and you try to make it right/You will be a point of light." But, remember, if your application goes to the IRS in Cincinnati, you might have to wait a while... |
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