red states rule
05-14-2013, 02:18 AM
So what do you mean by "accountable"? An apology and stern warning not to get caught doing it?
The targeting of political groups by the Internal Revenue Service is not only “outrageous,” as President Obama said Monday, but it also might be a “deadly sin.”
At issue is the boiling scandal about the IRS (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-denounces-reported-irs-targeting-of-conservative-groups/2013/05/13/a0185644-bbdf-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story.html?hpid=z1) singling out dozens of tea party and other conservative organizations for special attention of the most unwanted kind.
It’s worth noting that the IRS is one of Washington’s least political agencies, at least in terms of staffing. It has only two political appointees. The top one, the commissioner at the time of the targeting, was appointed by Republican George W. Bush.
Obama told a news conference (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/13/remarks-president-obama-and-prime-minister-cameron-united-kingdom-joint-)that “if, in fact, IRS personnel engaged in the kind of practices that had been reported on and were intentionally targeting conservative groups, then that’s outrageous and there’s no place for it. And they have to be held fully accountable.”
On Friday, Lois Lerner, head of the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, called it “absolutely inappropriate and not the way we ought to do things.”
Her role in all of this could prove to be complex. She’s a career employee who was vigilant about not playing politics with IRS business, according to reporting by my colleague David A. Fahrenthold. Yet when she found out about and objected to the targeting in June 2011, it took almost a year before more general standards for auditing organizations were implemented.
Since Friday, the IRS has been like a turtle, withdrawing into a silent shell. The agency has not said whether anyone has been held accountable. The union representing IRS employees has been uncharacteristically quiet.
Obama and Lerner are right to call IRS targeting outrageous and inappropriate, but the deeds also could be sinful, at least under the commandments (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-105publ206/html/PLAW-105publ206.htm)that govern the IRS.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/irs-union-mum-on-employees-held-accountable-in-sin-of-political-targeting/2013/05/13/aa33060a-bbfe-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story.html
The targeting of political groups by the Internal Revenue Service is not only “outrageous,” as President Obama said Monday, but it also might be a “deadly sin.”
At issue is the boiling scandal about the IRS (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-denounces-reported-irs-targeting-of-conservative-groups/2013/05/13/a0185644-bbdf-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story.html?hpid=z1) singling out dozens of tea party and other conservative organizations for special attention of the most unwanted kind.
It’s worth noting that the IRS is one of Washington’s least political agencies, at least in terms of staffing. It has only two political appointees. The top one, the commissioner at the time of the targeting, was appointed by Republican George W. Bush.
Obama told a news conference (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/13/remarks-president-obama-and-prime-minister-cameron-united-kingdom-joint-)that “if, in fact, IRS personnel engaged in the kind of practices that had been reported on and were intentionally targeting conservative groups, then that’s outrageous and there’s no place for it. And they have to be held fully accountable.”
On Friday, Lois Lerner, head of the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, called it “absolutely inappropriate and not the way we ought to do things.”
Her role in all of this could prove to be complex. She’s a career employee who was vigilant about not playing politics with IRS business, according to reporting by my colleague David A. Fahrenthold. Yet when she found out about and objected to the targeting in June 2011, it took almost a year before more general standards for auditing organizations were implemented.
Since Friday, the IRS has been like a turtle, withdrawing into a silent shell. The agency has not said whether anyone has been held accountable. The union representing IRS employees has been uncharacteristically quiet.
Obama and Lerner are right to call IRS targeting outrageous and inappropriate, but the deeds also could be sinful, at least under the commandments (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-105publ206/html/PLAW-105publ206.htm)that govern the IRS.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/irs-union-mum-on-employees-held-accountable-in-sin-of-political-targeting/2013/05/13/aa33060a-bbfe-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story.html