A Special Prosecutor Is Needed for the IRS Investigation
By Peter J. Thomas and Charles Orndorff
For more than two centuries, one of the great strengths of American politics and society has been the vigorous debate encouraged by our First Amendment. National disputes have been thoroughly discussed, with every side having its say. Americans have been allowed to hear the facts and each one could then make up his own mind.
Four years ago, in his 2010 State of the Union message, President Obama denounced the Supreme Court’s recent decision upholding the First Amendment’s protection for the freedom of political speech. The President expressed his concern that such unlimited freedom of speech (much of it critical of him) was dangerous to America.
Soon liberal Members of Congress began contacting the IRS, urging it to focus investigations on conservative organizations which might succeed in influencing public opinion against the President and his fellow liberals.
The IRS followed through by targeting newly-formed organizations with “Tea Party”, “Patriots” and “9/12 Project” in their names, or which said they would focus on such issues as “government spending, government debt or taxes”. “Potential political campaign intervention” was not among the criteria used for targeting, according to the IRS Inspector General. Key decisions concerning this targeting were being made at the IRS headquarters in Washington, despite attempts to blame it on a few employees in Cincinnati.
The targeted organizations were greatly delayed in getting tax-exempt status (a few are still awaiting approval). The IRS did not even begin serious review of these applications until twenty months after the first one was received.
Targeted organizations were asked by the IRS to provide confidential information (i.e. lists of donors) which the IRS now admits should never have been requested. The targets were also asked to respond to what the Inspector General later described as “unnecessary” and “burdensome” questions, which were irrelevant but quite time-consuming for the organizations.
None of the targeted groups has been denied tax exempt status, despite the long and intense investigations by the IRS, attempting to find information that would justify denial.
Documents already released demonstrate that Lois Lerner, then-Director of Exempt Organizations, was in touch with other government agencies, coordinating action against conservative groups.
Lerner has refused to testify before congressional committees, except to protest her innocence. She is unwilling to answer questions about her activities, saying that it would tend to incriminate her. (Unless she was acting alone, her testimony would also incriminate others.)
Many emails of Lerner and six other IRS employees, which would contain important evidence of their activities, are alleged to have been lost through computer crashes on each employee’s personal computer. The IRS ended its contract with the company providing back-up services soon after Lerner’s alleged computer crash. The “loss” of the emails has raised reasonable suspicions that delaying tactics have now been replaced by an actual cover-up.
The IRS is known to have been used as a political weapon by many presidents, from Roosevelt to Nixon. The enormous power of the IRS makes it absolutely essential that it never again take up this political role, yet there are strong indications that the IRS acted to provide political benefits to President Obama and his allies.
The American people must learn the truth. We cannot have any confidence that the President’s appointees at the IRS and the Justice Department will carry out such an investigation.
The only proper solution is the appointment of a Special Prosecutor, with the independence necessary to dig out the truth and prosecute anyone who has broken the law.
Peter Thomas and Charles Orndorff are the President and Administrative Vice President of The Conservative Caucus Foundation, a public policy research organization founded in 1976.
The Conservative Caucus is a public policy organization, contributions to which are not tax deductible. The IRS has determined TCC to be a 501(c)(4) organization, exempt from Federal income tax. TCC can receive corporate donations.
