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A series of letters suggests that senior IRS official Lois Lerner was directly
involved in the agency’s targeting of conservative groups as recently as April
2012, more than nine months after she first learned of the activity.
By Andrew Stiles
May 23, 2013 6:49 PM
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/349212/[title-raw]
Lerner, the director of the IRS exempt organizations office in Washington, D.C.,
signed cover letters to 15 conservative organizations currently represented by
the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) between in March and April of
2012. The letters, such as this one sent to the Ohio Liberty Council on March 16,
2012, informed the groups applying for tax-exempt status that the IRS was
“unable to make a final determination on your exempt status without additional
information,” and included a list of detailed questions of the kind that a Treasury
inspector general’s audit found to be inappropriate. Some of the groups to which
Lerner sent letters are still awaiting approval.
Lerner has denied involvement in the targeting, which she has blamed on a few
“front-line people” in the agency’s Cincinnati field office. “I have not done
anything wrong,” she told members of the House oversight committee on
Wednesday. However, she then refused to answer any questions, citing protection
under the Fifth Amendment. She has since been placed on (paid) administrative
leave, and the committee may call her to testify again.
“One thing is clear: this correspondence shows [Lerner’s] direct involvement in
the scheme,” wrote Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the ACLJ. “Further, sending a
letter from the top person in the IRS Exempt Organization division to a small Tea
Party group also underscores the intimidation used in this targeting ploy.”
The letters coincide with former IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman’s March
2012 testimony before Congress, in which he said there was “absolutely no
targeting” of conservative groups at the agency. Months later, an internal IRS
investigation concluded that the agency had engaged in such targeting. Obama-
administration officials have insisted the targeting stopped in May 2012, although
a number of ACLJ clients have received similar requests for information from the
IRS within the past year, according to chief counsel Jay Sekulow.
involved in the agency’s targeting of conservative groups as recently as April
2012, more than nine months after she first learned of the activity.
By Andrew Stiles
May 23, 2013 6:49 PM
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/349212/[title-raw]
Lerner, the director of the IRS exempt organizations office in Washington, D.C.,
signed cover letters to 15 conservative organizations currently represented by
the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) between in March and April of
2012. The letters, such as this one sent to the Ohio Liberty Council on March 16,
2012, informed the groups applying for tax-exempt status that the IRS was
“unable to make a final determination on your exempt status without additional
information,” and included a list of detailed questions of the kind that a Treasury
inspector general’s audit found to be inappropriate. Some of the groups to which
Lerner sent letters are still awaiting approval.
Lerner has denied involvement in the targeting, which she has blamed on a few
“front-line people” in the agency’s Cincinnati field office. “I have not done
anything wrong,” she told members of the House oversight committee on
Wednesday. However, she then refused to answer any questions, citing protection
under the Fifth Amendment. She has since been placed on (paid) administrative
leave, and the committee may call her to testify again.
“One thing is clear: this correspondence shows [Lerner’s] direct involvement in
the scheme,” wrote Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the ACLJ. “Further, sending a
letter from the top person in the IRS Exempt Organization division to a small Tea
Party group also underscores the intimidation used in this targeting ploy.”
The letters coincide with former IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman’s March
2012 testimony before Congress, in which he said there was “absolutely no
targeting” of conservative groups at the agency. Months later, an internal IRS
investigation concluded that the agency had engaged in such targeting. Obama-
administration officials have insisted the targeting stopped in May 2012, although
a number of ACLJ clients have received similar requests for information from the
IRS within the past year, according to chief counsel Jay Sekulow.
