Monday, May 27, 2013

How closely did the IRS coordinate with the White House?

How often does the White House ordinarily meet with the IRS?  What we found out during this subject the past week was quite suspicious.  The Washington Examiner writes:
Everson [who headed the IRS under Bush] said he remembers making only one trip to the White House between 2003 and 2007 and said he felt like he'd "moved to Siberia" because of the isolation. [Emph. added]

By contrast:
Top IRS officials, whose agency was under investigation for targeting conservative groups, visited the Obama White House more than 100 times over two years while the probe was going on, far more often than in previous administrations and frequently enough that Republicans suspect White House officials knew about the targeting. [Emph. added]
When asked during his testimony to Congress, the only explanation that Former IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman offered for those visits was that he was at the White House for the Easter Egg Roll:
Virginia Democrat Gerry Connolly: There would be many reasons you might be at the White House. What would be some of the reasons you might be at the White House?
Former IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman: Um, the Easter Egg Roll with my kids. Questions about the administrability of tax policy they were thinking of. Our budget. Us helping the Department of Education streamline application processes for financial aid.
If the White House directed the IRS to silence Obama's political enemies, that is a big scandal.

On the other hand, if the WH had nothing to do with it, it is, as James Taranto frequently points out, an even bigger scandal, one that attacks the heart of the Progressive ideal of a huge administrative government.  If parts of such a government can, on their own, abuse their rules to attack political enemies, then our government has problems that can't be solved by the next election.

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