Acting Irs Chief Ousted Over Tax Scandal As Obama Vows Change

[JDGRUEN]

TO: F430murci ....

So - If Karl Rove has done something as a private citizen as bad or worse than the current Administration's IRS officers and you have the evidence - then by all means report him to the FBI ... And by the way I despise Karl Rove ... he was responsible for much of GWB's push to amnesty for 20 million Illegal Aliens in 2006-2007. Rove is the kind of Republican that I wish would just disappear - retire and write books that nobody reads.

[F430murci]

I never said he did anything illegal. Don't know why you read that into it. Rove and many conservative groups and individuals were just abusing basically a loop hole to secretly pump money into the campaign.

Ethically questionable, but not necessarily illegal. This was already investigated by IRS back in 2010. I am sure there is plenty of reading material on it if one searched. I am going a bit by memory as one of my partners out of our DC office handled some of these issues and applications. I know very little about the process.

My point is only that these actions brought this unwanted attention onto 501s, especially by groups or people like to use 501s primarily for political and contribution purposes.

This is not necessarily Obama picking on conservatives, but conservatives creating huge scrutiny of 501s since 2010. More investigation needs to be done.

Edited May 17, 2013 by F430murci

[snarky66]

the hard left radicals had better buckle up for a rough 4 months. This is not going away.

I think we will find out that Benghazi was about running arms to Syrian rebels. And in that respect it reminds one of Iran Contra.

I think we'll discover that is why EXTREMELY HIGH OFFICIALS at the White House ordered that the cameras be turned off , big boss man went to sleep & it took the FBI 18 days to arrive in Benghazi while a CNN news crew recovered Ambassador Chris Stevens diary.

Very heroic, very brave

[geriatrickid]

I am puzzled by some of the people shrieking and making unsubstantiated claims.

The information upon which the comments are apparently based comes from snippets of the Inspector General's report which was LEAKED to the media. The report is supposedly confidential and is intended to allow an implicated department respond to a problem, LEAKING a confidential report that is protected by law is an illegal act. However, let's deal with the report since it is now public.

- The unit that is supposedly evil approved Crossroads GPS. This is the group set up by Karl Rove and that spent $70million campaigning against President Obama and the Democrats.

-The rejection rate between 2001 and 2011 before the practice was stopped, was only 0.04%, which was 56 out of 14,000 groups that came under scrutiny.

- The IG report did not state that anything illegal was done. On the contrary it showed that the IRS was doing its job by checking applicants.

- The IG report takes the IRS to task because of the shortcut used to manage all of the applications for the charitable status.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek offered the following assessment;

From 2010, when the IRS first starting profiling Tea Party groups, to the presidential election, the IRS received 7,357 501©(4) applications. That’s a lot to sift through, and so higher-ups at the agency gave employees a shortcut. The criteria for their so-called Be on the Lookout list fell into four categories: 1) groups with Tea Party, Patriots, or 9/12 in their names; 2) groups that addressed government spending and taxes; 3) groups that lobby “to make America a better place to live;” and 4) groups that criticize the government.

I don't think you have to be a genius to realize that someone at the IRS figured they could process the paperwork faster and get through the backlog if profiling was used. And here's the conclusion offered by BusinessWeek;

No two ways about it: Directing half of the criteria toward groups with a conservative agenda looks horrible. In reality, there may be politically neutral logic behind it. According to ProPublica, more conservative groups apply for social welfare status than liberal ones, so if IRS bureaucrats had gone straight down the middle, targeting liberal and conservatives in equal measure, they may have oversampled liberal groups and wasted even more time.

[geriatrickid]

the hard left radicals had better buckle up for a rough 4 months. This is not going away.

I think we will find out that Benghazi was about running arms to Syrian rebels. And in that respect it reminds one of Iran Contra.

I think we'll discover that is why EXTREMELY HIGH OFFICIALS at the White House ordered that the cameras be turned off , big boss man went to sleep & it took the FBI 18 days to arrive in Benghazi while a CNN news crew recovered Ambassador Chris Stevens diary.

Very heroic, very brave

Benghazi was about the consulate being a CIA outpost and the consular activity being a cover. This is basically what has now beena acknowledged. No one can come right out and admit that the US diplomatic office was used for spying for obvious reasons. The emails leaked by the GOP have now been shown to be doctored. I suggest you pay closer attention to yesterday's release of 200+ emails.

By the same token, I believe that the IRS problem will be shown to be nothing more than over worked, understaffed civil servants trying to cope with a big workload.

[F430murci]

the hard left radicals had better buckle up for a rough 4 months. This is not going away.

I think we will find out that Benghazi was about running arms to Syrian rebels. And in that respect it reminds one of Iran Contra.

I think we'll discover that is why EXTREMELY HIGH OFFICIALS at the White House ordered that the cameras be turned off , big boss man went to sleep & it took the FBI 18 days to arrive in Benghazi while a CNN news crew recovered Ambassador Chris Stevens diary.

Very heroic, very brave

Buford Bucky Rodgers! Is that you! When did they let you out!

Everything is going to be just fine. No doom and gloom end of the world stuff.

On second thought, you might stock up on some diesel and ammo just in case they get close to Obama and he sends out the government to suppress the people and take their guns away. If I was you, I would stay off the net as they will come after you first!

[F430murci]

the hard left radicals had better buckle up for a rough 4 months. This is not going away.

I think we will find out that Benghazi was about running arms to Syrian rebels. And in that respect it reminds one of Iran Contra.

I think we'll discover that is why EXTREMELY HIGH OFFICIALS at the White House ordered that the cameras be turned off , big boss man went to sleep & it took the FBI 18 days to arrive in Benghazi while a CNN news crew recovered Ambassador Chris Stevens diary.

Very heroic, very brave

Benghazi was about the consulate being a CIA outpost and the consular activity being a cover. This is basically what has now beena acknowledged. No one can come right out and admit that the US diplomatic office was used for spying for obvious reasons. The emails leaked by the GOP have now been shown to be doctored. I suggest you pay closer attention to yesterday's release of 200+ emails.

By the same token, I believe that the IRS problem will be shown to be nothing more than over worked, understaffed civil servants trying to cope with a big workload.

Valiant effort at rationale thought and objective data, but Bucky and his militia friends know it is all just a conspiracy. They won't fall for it this time.

[lannarebirth]

I think Obama's best choice to do anything for the country is to ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK. Charge the truth that the republicans are deliberately blocking governance and make the 2014 midterms the Battle Royale. It's his only chance to get anything done for the country, to win back the house, and the only chance for the country to avoid severe damage from another three years of obstructionist insanity. Yes, I'm serious. This political situation is very serious. He shouldn't mince words. Cooperation is 100 percent impossible. These forces of right wing darkness need to be CRUSHED.

Obama has a HUGE untapped base of support ready to fight their American asses off to help him with his final election win in 2014. As long as he gets his clear voice.

Yes it is true the best thing Obama does is winning elections. He really, really needs to win this 2014 midterm for congress. We thought he was done with elections, but turns out this last one might be the most critical. Not saying this can or will be won, but I see no better choice for Obama at this point but to try really, really hard.

I don't think it matters much. He's been a Lame duck president since 2010, even with re-election. Attack mode has worked for him in the past but I don't think it will work for him now. He has no moral high ground to shout from anymore because he's now squandered it. As I said before, ironically, I think MORE legislation can get passed now, like Tax Reform and maybe some of the stuff from the Simpson Bowles committee.

[Loptr]

the hard left radicals had better buckle up for a rough 4 months. This is not going away.

I think we will find out that Benghazi was about running arms to Syrian rebels. And in that respect it reminds one of Iran Contra.

I think we'll discover that is why EXTREMELY HIGH OFFICIALS at the White House ordered that the cameras be turned off , big boss man went to sleep & it took the FBI 18 days to arrive in Benghazi while a CNN news crew recovered Ambassador Chris Stevens diary.

Very heroic, very brave

Benghazi was about the consulate being a CIA outpost and the consular activity being a cover. This is basically what has now beena acknowledged. No one can come right out and admit that the US diplomatic office was used for spying for obvious reasons. The emails leaked by the GOP have now been shown to be doctored. I suggest you pay closer attention to yesterday's release of 200+ emails.

By the same token, I believe that the IRS problem will be shown to be nothing more than over worked, understaffed civil servants trying to cope with a big workload.

Perhaps you should pay more attention to the emails yourself as they contradict the White Houses accounts as they unfolded.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/newly-released-benghazi-emails-directly-contradict-white-house-claims_724603.html

Then there is the question of why the White House did not release any email for the first 67 hours after the event began.

[geriatrickid]

the hard left radicals had better buckle up for a rough 4 months. This is not going away.

I think we will find out that Benghazi was about running arms to Syrian rebels. And in that respect it reminds one of Iran Contra.

I think we'll discover that is why EXTREMELY HIGH OFFICIALS at the White House ordered that the cameras be turned off , big boss man went to sleep & it took the FBI 18 days to arrive in Benghazi while a CNN news crew recovered Ambassador Chris Stevens diary.

Very heroic, very brave

Benghazi was about the consulate being a CIA outpost and the consular activity being a cover. This is basically what has now beena acknowledged. No one can come right out and admit that the US diplomatic office was used for spying for obvious reasons. The emails leaked by the GOP have now been shown to be doctored. I suggest you pay closer attention to yesterday's release of 200+ emails.

By the same token, I believe that the IRS problem will be shown to be nothing more than over worked, understaffed civil servants trying to cope with a big workload.

Perhaps you should pay more attention to the emails yourself as they contradict the White Houses accounts as they unfolded.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/newly-released-benghazi-emails-directly-contradict-white-house-claims_724603.html

Then there is the question of why the White House did not release any email for the first 67 hours after the event began.

Go and read the actual emails. I think a clear reading rather than the filtering through a journal that has an agenda and that has had an axe to grind against Obama is the prudent avenue.

[Ulysses G.]

Perhaps you should pay more attention to the emails yourself as they contradict the White Houses accounts as they unfolded.

Indeed they do.

[Loptr]

Here is an article from the Wall Street Journal on the topic. Fair and unbiased.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323582904578487460479247792.html

This Is No Ordinary Scandal

Political abuse of the IRS threatens the basic integrity of our government.

We are in the midst of the worst Washington scandal since Watergate. The reputation of the Obama White House has, among conservatives, gone from sketchy to sinister, and, among liberals, from unsatisfying to dangerous. No one likes what they're seeing. The Justice Department assault on the Associated Press and the ugly politicization of the Internal Revenue Service have left the administration's credibility deeply, probably irretrievably damaged. They don't look jerky now, they look dirty. The patina of high-mindedness the president enjoyed is gone.

Something big has shifted. The standing of the administration has changed.

As always it comes down to trust. Do you trust the president's answers when he's pressed on an uncomfortable story? Do you trust his people to be sober and fair-minded as they go about their work? Do you trust the IRS and the Justice Department? You do not.

[yourauntbob]

I wonder how many of Obama's senior White House advisers are going to be fired for ever dreaming this little scheme up in the first place?

None, because this White House does not stand for accountability.

[yourauntbob]

The acting IRS Director who was 'Fired" was scheduled to leave his temporary job in a month anyway AND he is not going to leave until the preplanned date - about one month from now

He was not sceduled to leave, his term was up and would have been most likely reappointed. This was not preplanned, that is just a face saving statement.

[yourauntbob]

obama is 'Moderate" compared to ... say ... Mao, Castro, Chavez, Lenin, Stalin ... ??? obama is a Moderate ... what an absolutely hysterical joke. OMG...

To Europeans, Obama is a conservative and that is a fact.

To Europeans so was Marx

[yourauntbob]

I am against the political targeting by the IRS as are probably 99 percent of Americans. But Obama didn't order that. There is no way.

He didnt order it as a direct command, he simply screamed it at every public speech he gave. Throught his presidency he has continually called out and questioned the legitiamcy of these groups. In some instances he has questioned their legality. He has mentioned people by name on his campaign website and within a month or two they are being audited. Strassel of the WSJ has had a running piece on Mr. Vandersloot being audited 3 times last year. This is a man who openly donated to Romney and for the first time ever was audited shortly after, and then audited again, and then audited again.

[Ulysses G.]

I am puzzled by some of the people shrieking and making unsubstantiated claims.

Please stop the spin. Conservative groups were eventually granted tax free status because they met the legal criteria and the IRS had to give it to them. However, they often held it up for years while approving the application for Obama's brother's charity in one month.

Edited May 17, 2013 by Ulysses G.

[Baloo22]

I wonder how many of Obama's senior White House advisers are going to be fired for ever dreaming this little scheme up in the first place?

None, because this White House does not stand for accountability.

Spot on!! The motto of Obama is "The buck stops anywhere else but me!!"

According to Obama's own statements, he seems to become aware of the actions of his own adminstration by the reporting of news media sources instead of from the people within his own administration. We are seeing a new "Obama Defense" being formed as we watch events unfold and Obama explains "You can't blame me for these actions because I was totally clueless on what was happening!"

[Jingthing]

If there is an impeachable offense, impeach him and be done with it.

Otherwise, please don't waste the world's time on this crapola for the next three years.

But we must eat up all of obama's time in office... keep him dodging and running - out of focus... keep him so busy dodging political bullets that he has no time to do more dastardly things to my country.

Cynical and selfish POV.

My United States is optimistic and positive.

My USA is toxically divided and crippled by partisanship.

[F430murci]

If there is an impeachable offense, impeach him and be done with it.

Otherwise, please don't waste the world's time on this crapola for the next three years.

But we must eat up all of obama's time in office... keep him dodging and running - out of focus... keep him so busy dodging political bullets that he has no time to do more dastardly things to my country.

Cynical and selfish POV.

My United States is optimistic and positive.

My USA is toxically divided and crippled by partisanship.

It's really not in everyday life. Nothing much on news about it and I have not heard any talk in person, even at lunch.

[yourauntbob]

If there is an impeachable offense, impeach him and be done with it.

Otherwise, please don't waste the world's time on this crapola for the next three years.

But we must eat up all of obama's time in office... keep him dodging and running - out of focus... keep him so busy dodging political bullets that he has no time to do more dastardly things to my country.

Cynical and selfish POV.

My United States is optimistic and positive.

My USA is toxically divided and crippled by partisanship.

So much for hope and change....

[Jingthing]

So much for hope and change....

You can lead a horse to water ...

[Anongwong]

Nice post, keep it up.............................

[lannarebirth]

So much for hope and change....

You can lead a horse to water ...

But he's not is he? He's calling the horse an idiot as he flogs it at non stop fundraising events. He tells everyone the horse is evil and that the horse hates them. He blames the horse because he doesn't know how to ride it. Everyone thought he'd look good in the saddle but they never cared he'd never ridden a horse before.

[chuckd]

My guess is if the cutouts between Obama and the four agents who claimed they were following their instructions were laid end to end they would stretch from DC to Pennsylvania.

One doesn't survive in Chicago and Illinois politics without learning how to cover the bosses ass.

[chuckd]

Fresh news out today. The fox is truly in charge of the hen house.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IRS Official in Charge During Tea Party Targeting Now Runs Health Care Office

By John Parkinson

Steven Portnoy

May 16, 2013 6:15pm

The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation.

Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today.

Her successor, Joseph Grant, is taking the fall for misdeeds at the scandal-plagued unit between 2010 and 2012. During at least part of that time, Grant served as deputy commissioner of the tax-exempt unit.

Grant announced today that he would retire June 3, despite being appointed as commissioner of the tax-exempt office May 8, a week ago.

Article here: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/05/irs-official-in-charge-during-tea-party-targeting-now-runs-health-care-office/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...and...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATED: IRS tax exemption/Obamacare exec got $103,390 in bonuses

May 16, 2013 | 8:20 pm

Mark Tapscott

Executive Editor

Sarah Hall Ingram, the IRS executive in charge of the tax exempt division in 2010 when it began targeting conservative Tea Party, evangelical and pro-Israel groups for harrassment, got more than $100,000 in bonuses between 2009 and 2012.

More recently, Ingram was promoted to serve as director of the tax agency's Obamacare program office, a position that put her in charge of the vast expansion of the IRS' regulatory power and staffing in connection with federal health care, ABC reported earlier today.

Ingram received a $7,000 bonus in 2009, according to data obtained by The Washington Examiner from the IRS, then a $34,440 bonus in 2010, $35,400 in 2011 and $26,550 last year, for a total of $103,390. Her annual salary went from $172,500 to $177,000 during the same period.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/irs-tax-exemptionobamacare-exec-got-100390-in-bonuses/article/2529899

Amazingly her bonus went from $7,000 in 2009 to $34,440 in 2010.

When did the IRS start profiling again?

[Loptr]

So much for hope and change....

You can lead a horse to water ...

And there's a sucker born every minute.

[Loptr]

There is no denying that the US is more polarized than I have ever seen it, which includes the era of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam war protests. Regardless of the semantics of the details regarding this triple-scandal, on the face of it, how does a democrat continue to support this empty shirt administration? Going back to the NLRB scuttling of Boeing opening a plant in South Carolina to the Keystone Pipeline. From the moratorium on drilling on US waters to his flip-flop position on Gitmo. From the fact that Obama is in the hip pocket of the Wall Street banksters to his overwhelming hubris. Then there is the unbridled spending when the US can ill afford it. My feeling is that liberal's judgement is so clouded by the fact that Obama got elected, then re-elected, that they can find no fault with "their man". As they say, ignorance is bliss.

[Publicus]

If there is an impeachable offense, impeach him and be done with it.

Otherwise, please don't waste the world's time on this crapola for the next three years.

But we must eat up all of obama's time in office... keep him dodging and running - out of focus... keep him so busy dodging political bullets that he has no time to do more dastardly things to my country.

Cynical and selfish POV.

My United States is optimistic and positive.

"Cynical and selfish POV" ... You are prone to presupposition and delusions of self-importance criticizing others instead of saying something relevant to the topic.

Your point of view is facile towards a sacred and solemn document, the Constitution of the United States. You would abuse it for political purposes. You would degrade the Constitution to satisfy your own partisan political appetite.

You would invoke solemn and profound impeachment proceedings against the president only to make sure he hasn't time to pursue the agenda he was legitimately elected to pursue. Why, if you couldn't defeat Obama at the ballot box, do you want to abuse and denigrate the Constitution in order to stop his public policy objectives?

I don't know about you - all I have are your awful statements advocating abuse of the Constitution - but I take the document seriously. I have more than once sworn an oath to preserve, defend and protect the Constitution, to include putting my life on the line for it. Please advise me that you have done something that would constitute something similar or the same.

I await your timely response.

[F430murci]

There is no denying that the US is more polarized than I have ever seen it, which includes the era of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam war protests. Regardless of the semantics of the details regarding this triple-scandal, on the face of it, how does a democrat continue to support this empty shirt administration? Going back to the NLRB scuttling of Boeing opening a plant in South Carolina to the Keystone Pipeline. From the moratorium on drilling on US waters to his flip-flop position on Gitmo. From the fact that Obama is in the hip pocket of the Wall Street banksters to his overwhelming hubris. Then there is the unbridled spending when the US can ill afford it. My feeling is that liberal's judgement is so clouded by the fact that Obama got elected, then re-elected, that they can find no fault with "their man". As they say, ignorance is bliss.

Polarized in media and places like these where anyone can get a voice. I don't hear about any of this stuff in my day to day life and was even watching Fox news last day or so to try understand what the big fus is all about. Jodie Arias sentencing and OJ seems to bigger news than Benghazi, IRS or AP issue.

You state:

" Then there is the unbridled spending when the US can ill afford it."

-----

Republicans cant stop screaming hysterically about fictional persecutions and scandals because the deficit is no longer their Big Thing. Obamas policies are contributing to the most rapid deficit reduction since World War II.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported a continued decline in the federal budget deficit: The CBO projects a $642 billion budget deficit for fiscal year 2013, down more than $200 billion from its February estimate and the smallest annual shortfall since 2008. It is the lowest level of deficit spending to date under President Obama, who faced $1 trillion or more in annual deficits during his first term.

You state:

"My feeling is that liberal's judgement is so clouded by the fact that Obama got elected, then re-elected, that they can find no fault with "their man"."

-----

Let's examine objective data. Stock market up 22 percent this year. All time high at 15,2XXX. Housing market finally coming back. Unemployment finally going down and at 7.5 percent. Gold prices falling and heading to 1,100 or perhaps lower. Dollar stronger. Mega and large caps have best P/L ratios in years. Banks that were all pretty much failed under Bush are back to being profitable, well capitalized and string reserves.

Dude, my man, do you not remember that we almost lost ALL of our largest banks and our largest insurer and reinsurer under Bush and when Obama took office. 2008 and early 2009 was the bleakest period in history of US. Do you realize how much wealth US lost during Bush???

Edited May 17, 2013 by F430murci