The IRS Scandal: The Hits Keep On Coming

It is hard to keep up on the IRS scandal as disclosure followed disclosure today, all damning to the IRS and the administration.  Here is the latest:

1.  Low Level Employees in Cincinnati– Internal Revenue Service officials in Washington and at least two other offices were involved in the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, making clear that the effort reached well beyond the branch in Cincinnati that was initially blamed, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

IRS officials at the agency’s Washington headquarters sent queries to conservative groups asking about their donors and other aspects of their operations, while officials in the El Monte and Laguna Niguel offices in California sent similar questionnaires to tea party-affiliated groups.

Go here to the Washington Post to read the rest.

2.  Confidentiality, What’s That?-The IRS released confidential applications of Tea Party groups to Pro Publica, a left wing thinktank.  How do we know this?  Pro Publica told us so today:

The same IRS office that deliberately targeted [1] conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status in the run-up to the 2012 election released nine pending confidential applications of conservative groups to ProPublica late last year [2].

The IRS did not respond to requests Monday following up about that release, and whether it had determined how the applications were sent to ProPublica.

In response to a request for the applications for 67 different nonprofits last November, the Cincinnati office of the IRS sent ProPublica applications or documentation for 31 groups. Nine of those applications had not yet been approved—meaning they were not supposed to be made public. (We made six [2] of those [3] public, after redacting their financial information, deeming that they were newsworthy.)

Go here to Pro Publica to read the rest.

3.  Who Else Knew?-The current acting commissioner of the IRS knew in May of 2012 that Tea Party groups were being targeted.  How do we know this?  The IRS disclosed this today.  Gee, do you wonder why they didn’t disclose this last year? 

Most cover ups eventually collapse but this one is collapsing at lightning speed. Some of the participants are going to be lawyering up and fast, especially as most of them will be quickly receiving engraved invitations to appear before House committees.  Stay tuned and pass the pop corn.  Most presidential second terms turn to dust for the presidents, but this one is turning into potential quicksand for Obama.