cartoon credit: Christopher Weyant [The Hill] via Pinterest
The media is reporting that the lawsuits
filed against the IRS by various Tea Party and liberty organizations have been
settled. This extract is from the report in The Washington Post:
The
Justice Department has reached settlement agreements with groups that alleged
their constitutional rights were violated when their applications for
tax-exempt status received extra scrutiny because their names contained words
such as “tea party” or “patriots,” court filings show.
In
one agreement, which still must be approved by a judge, the Internal Revenue
Service admitted that its treatment of the organizations was “wrong” and
expressed a “sincere apology” for what happened.
.
. .
The
targeting of tea party organizations that applied for tax-exempt status was a
major controversy of the Obama administration, as hundreds of
conservative-leaning groups received scrutiny. In some cases, it delayed the
processing of applications for years.
Many
felt the conduct was an example of the president punishing his political
enemies.
.
. .
The
Justice Department, too, conducted a criminal investigation but ultimately
decided not to bring charges, including against Lois Lerner, the IRS official
who oversaw tax-exempt groups.
“Our
investigation uncovered substantial evidence of mismanagement, poor judgment
and institutional inertia, leading to the belief by many tax-exempt applicants
that the IRS targeted them based on their political viewpoints,” Assistant
Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Peter J. Kadzik wrote in 2015.
“But
poor management is not a crime,” Kadzik wrote. “We found no evidence that any
IRS official acted on political, discriminatory, corrupt, or other
inappropriate motives that would support a criminal prosecution.”
"Poor management"? Weaponizing the IRS is “poor
management”? And of course, nobody is going to jail, losing their job, or
losing their pension. Read the rest of the WaPo story here. There’s also a
report at cleveland.com.
UPDATE at 6:21pm from Rick Moran at American Thinker blog:
The settlement, as
unsatisfactory to many as it is, at least closes the book on this sordid
chapter in the history of the IRS. Will it curtail the IRS from using
politics to enforce tax law again? Since no one was punished after
this blatant example of political use of the tax agency, I doubt it.
Full blog post is here.
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