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Top Unanswered Questions About the IRS Targeting Scandal
http://www.freedomworks.org/content/top-unanswered-questions-about-irs-targeting-scandal?social=facebook_share

1. What does Sarah Hall Ingram do?

Sarah Hall Ingram - who ran the IRS’ tax-exempt division during the targeting of conservative groups - visited the white house 165 times. What was the purpose of these meetings?

Moreover, why has Ingram - who has never worked anywhere except the IRS – been placed in charge of the IRS’ ObamaCare office? 

2. When did the White House know about the scandal?

Politico has called the Obama administration’s account of events an “ever-shifting narrative”, noting five separate iterations. 

The White House initially maintained that it learned about the scandal in the press. Now we know that Obama’s Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Treasury had been aware of the debacle for some time. Is March the earliest that any White House staffer knew of the scandal, or do we still not have the whole story?

On May 20, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that other senior staffers also knew about the scandal in advance. Carney would not name these staffers, however. Who were they?  

3. Has Holly Paz been fired?

Congressional hearings have revealed that Washington-based IRS supervisor Holly Paz knew that the agency was targeting conservative groups.  Paz told investigators that IRS employees consciously allowed dozens of applications, which they openly described as “tea party” cases, to remain untouched for more than a year. 

It’s unclear, however, whether Paz has been fired or placed on paid leave like her supervisor, Lois Lerner. According to National Review, “If Paz has indeed been let go, she would be the first employee fired by the IRS in connection with the targeting of conservative groups.”

4. Why hasn’t Lois Lerner been fired?

IRS higher-up Lois Lerner learned that a BOLO (“Be On the Look Out”) had been issued for “tea party” and “patriot” groups in 2011 - years before she disclosed the scandal. According to the IRS' inspector general, “this was the only BOLO that referred to potential political cases and had anything to do with political criteria.” 

Lerner’s only punishment so far, however, has been a paid vacation, courtesy of American taxpayers. Does our government not understand that the IRS’ political targeting was a fundamental violation of Americans’ trust in government?    

 5. What did the IRS actually do at its conferences?

While the IRS took it’s time processing Tea Party applications – sometimes more than three years – it seems to have been more dutiful in spending its indulgent events budget. The agency spent some tens of thousands of dollars building a mockup starship Enterprise, violated government rules by booking top-dollar presidential suites, and hired costly speakers to lecture on frivolous and irrelevant subjects. 

These details paint a picture of IRS conferences that involved everything except work. Was there any tangible, professional purpose behind these events? 

See also: Rundown: What We Know About the IRS Targeting Scandal

Blog

Top Unanswered Questions About the IRS Targeting Scandal

BY Ian Huyett

1. What does Sarah Hall Ingram do?

0
06/19/2013
Rundown: What We Know About the IRS Targeting Scandal
http://www.freedomworks.org/content/rundown-what-we-know-about-irs-targeting-scandal?social=facebook_share
  1. Beginning in 2010, several different IRS offices – including those in Cincinnati, Ohio; El Monte, California; Laguna Niguel, California; and Washington D.C. systematically discriminated against conservative groups. The targeting was not the work of a few “rogue” agents, as IRS commissioner Steven Miller initially claimed.
  2. The IRS targeted organizations who “criticize how the country is being run” - singling out those with “tea party”, “9/12” and “patriot” in their names.
  3. The agency harassed right-leaning 501(c)(3) applicants with intrusive questions, including “please detail the content of your members’ prayers."
  4. 160 such applications were delayed for over 200 days – some for more than three years and two election cycles.
  5. During this period, the IRS approved applications from several dozen groups who used words like “progressive”, “liberal” and “equality.” Media Trackers, a conservative applicant that had been delayed for 16 months, was approved in three weeks after it reapplied under the name “Greenhouse Solutions.” 
  6. The White House account of these events has changed several times.  While the White House initially maintained that it had learned about the scandal through the media, it has since been revealed that both Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew were aware of the scandal a month prior.
  7. Under the Obama Administration, IRS higher-ups have treated themselves to extravagant entertainment and lavish conferences on the taxpayers’ dime. The agency spent over $60,000 producing two short films for fun. In one instance, the IRS “paid for the construction of an elaborate mock-up of the bridge of the starship Enterprise.” The IRS also spent millions on luxurious accommodations for its managers – in violation of its own policies - and paid $135,000 fees to at least 15 outside speakers. One speaker was paid $17,000 to discuss “leadership through art.”
  8. Democrats have attempted to shield themselves from blame by pointing out that IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman was a Bush appointee. Shulman’s wife, however, is a senior employee at liberal group Public Campaign, an organization “dedicated to sweeping campaign reform that aims to dramatically reduce the role of big special interest money in American politics.”
  9. Sarah Hall Ingram, who ran the IRS’ tax-exempt division during the targeting, is now the director of the IRS’ ObamaCare office.  Since graduating from Georgetown Law, Ingram has never worked anywhere except the IRS. Interestingly, Ingram has visited the White House 165 times.
  10. The IRS has been put in charge of enforcing ObamaCare. Federal agencies are currently assembling a “Federal Data Services Hub” in what has been called “the largest consolidation of personal data in the history of the republic” by USA Today. Under ObamaCare, government-approved health insurance providers will submit reports about their customers to this database - where they will be monitored and cross-checked by the IRS. Although only 10% of Americans now say they have confidence in the IRS, we are apparently expected to trust the agency to oversee our healthcare.

    See also: Top Unanswered Questions About the IRS Targeting Scandal
Issue Analysis

Rundown: What We Know About the IRS Targeting Scandal

BY Ian Huyett

Beginning in 2010, several different IRS offices – including those in Cincinnati, Ohio; El Monte, California; Laguna Niguel, California; and Washington D.C. systematically discriminated against conservative groups. The targeting was not the work of a few “rogue” agents, as IRS commissioner Steven Miller initially claimed.

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06/17/2013