ALG calls for special counsel to be appointed to prosecute case

May 14, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) in a 2010 letter requested that then-Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Douglas Shulman deeply investigate 501(c) non-profit political organizations.

The letter called on Shulman to “survey major 501(c)(4), (c)(5) and (c)(6) organizations involved in political campaign activity to examine whether they are operated for the organization’s intended tax exempt purpose and to ensure that political campaign activity is not the organization’s primary activity” and to “to determine whether they are acting as conduits for major donors advancing their own private interests regarding legislation or political campaigns, or are providing major donors with excess benefits.”

In his own letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens noted, “Considering the invasive questions the IRS was asking the targeted organizations, it appears that Sen. Baucus got exactly what he asked for, which was a witch-hunt.”

Baucus’ letter also instructed Shulman that “Possible violation of tax laws should be identified as you conduct this study. Please report back to the Finance Committee as soon as possible with your findings and recommended actions regarding this matter.”

Baucus specifically referenced a Sept. 16, 2010 Time article, “The New GOP Money Stampede” reporting that “Democrats fear [what] could be a $300 million Republican spending blitz this year.” The story detailed allegations that local tea party groups were actually “shadow Republican groups formed by longtime party officials.” The article referenced the tea party, but also American Crossroads, American Action Network, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as forming a wider campaign front for the 2010 Republican election campaign effort, financed “in the form of secret undisclosed contributions.”

Baucus also referenced “a group transforming itself into a non-profit under 501(c)(4) of the tax code,” ensuring, as the Time article put it, that the group would “not have to publicly disclose any information about its donors.” That “group” Baucus referenced was actually Crossroads GPS.

“The Time article Baucus so prominently referenced was all about the financing of Republican election efforts and right of center political and advocacy organizations,” Mehrens noted in his letter, adding, “It did not scrutinize any left-wing groups. Nor did Baucus include in his letter to Shulman any footnotes to articles that detailed Democrat campaign activities or left of center groups. The implicit task was to investigate the political right from start to finish. And that’s exactly what the IRS did.”

Yesterday, Baucus issued a statement suggesting “Targeting groups based on their political views is not only inappropriate but it is intolerable, promising a “full investigation into this matter by the Senate Finance Committee.”

But that is not possible, Mehrens said, considering Baucus’ letter to Shulman. “Senate Democrats were complicit in the IRS scandal targeting the tea party and other groups, per Baucus’ explicit letter to Shulman. The Senate majority must therefore recuse itself from any ensuing investigation in order to ensure that the public’s trust in the inquiry’s findings is not tainted.”

The only good option, Mehrens wrote, was for Senate leaders to call on Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special counsel to prosecute the case. “Just as the Senate majority cannot be trusted to investigate its own complicity in this affair, neither can the Obama Administration.”

He concluded, “These targeted attacks by the IRS were not about restoring ‘transparency’ to our political process, they were a part of a brazen partisan assault using the instrumentalities of the state to harass political opponents and stifle dissent to achieve a partisan end. It is beyond Nixonian in its flagrant disregard for the rule of law. Only a special counsel can get to the bottom of this.”

Mehrens joined others, including the Republican Governors Association, who today also demanded a special prosecutor be appointed.

Attachments:

Americans for Limited Government letter to Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, May 14, 2013 at http://getliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IRSScandalLetter-5-14-13.pdf

Letter from Sen. Max Baucus to then-IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, Sept. 28, 2010 at http://www.politico.com/static/PPM176_100929_irs.html

“The New GOP Money Stampede,” by Michael Crowley, Time Magazine, Sept. 16, 2010 at http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,2019611,00.html

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 103 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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May 13, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement urging Congress to investigate the Internal Revenue Service’s admission that it was targeting groups for audits on the basis of their tea party affiliation:

“The use of the nation’s tax agency to target groups for audit and review on the basis of political leanings is an egregious abuse of power. This is beyond Nixonian in its flagrant disregard for the rule of law as it was intended to stifle dissent, and now there must be accountability. We know the Democrat-controlled Senate will not be bothered to inquire what happened, but the House of Representatives can and should use its power to subpoena witnesses to get to the bottom of this scandal. Our laws either apply equally to all citizens and citizen groups regardless of political leanings, or we have become nothing more than a banana republic.”

Attachments:

“IRS Admits to Targeting Conservative Groups Like the Richmond Tea Party,” By Willie Deutsch, May 11, 2013 at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/05/irs-admits-to-targeting-conservative-groups-like-the-richmond-tea-party/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 103 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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May 13, 2013, Fairfax,VA—Americans for Limited Government introduced Nathan Mehrens as the new president of the government watchdog group.

Mehrens who served as ALG’s General Counsel overseeing an extensive government oversight operation succeeds Bill Wilson who will maintain a strategic role in the organization as a member of the Board of Directors.

“Bill has left some big shoes to fill, and I look forward to meeting the challenges posed by an Obama Administration determined to expand the size and scope of government using regulation, executive orders, failing to defend existing law against legal attacks by the left, and legislative actions at all levels of government.

“Americans for Limited Government is needed more today than at any time in history.”

Mehrens has led the investigatory team that received international attention with the revelation that EPA Administrator nominee had approved the use of an automobile air conditioning coolant that has been called a “killer refrigerant” by Green Party leaders in Germany.

Additionally, the government accountability project that he has led broke the story that the Veteran’s Administration currently employs more than 250 full time employees who do not work for the government, instead spending all of their time working for various public employee unions.

Mehrens has previously served in management, legal, and policy positions with several advocacy organizations and the federal government.

Wilson enthusiastically endorsed Mehrens’ selection stating, “Nathan is an extraordinary individual who will take Americans for Limited Government to the next level as a leader in exposing the damage being done to our nation by the ever-expanding government monolith.”

The change takes effect today.

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 103 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Nathan Mehrens.

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May 10, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government General Counsel Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement in response to a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcement that “the agency will investigate the safety of caffeine in food products, particularly its effects on children and adolescents”:

“The federal government has absolutely no role, none, in governing age restrictions on purchasing products. Everything from drinking ages, smoking ages, to voting ages and drivers’ licenses are all handled at the state level. Why suddenly investigate caffeine’s effects now after more than fifty years of inclusion in American food and beverage products? We suppose the agency has already made up its mind on this issue, so in the not so distant future, we should all be prepared to be carded at Starbucks.

“The FDA is the perfect example of an agency that is ever encroaching on the choices — the liberty — of consumers in the market place to determine what they wish to consume. It’s a mindset. When it’s not caffeine, it’s sugar, it’s sugar substitutes, it’s the size of beverages, it’s menthol in cigarettes, it’s harm reduction in cigarettes. It never ends with the nanny state.

“These unelected bureaucrats operate with no consent of the governed, yet they believe they can make us better. That if choices are restricted, better outcomes will be produced. It is a self-appointed mandate to ‘improve’ upon the human condition by restricting choices such that the only ones that remain available are highly confined, government-approved choices. In this ever-expanding mandate, agencies like the FDA will eventually come to regulate every aspect of life.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG General Counsel Nathan Mehrens, also a former Labor Department appointee.

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Obama nominee approved the use of a dangerous, combustible refrigerant to “save” the environment.

May 9, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government General Counsel Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement praising eight Republican members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Senators David Vitter, James Inhofe, John Barrasso, Jeff Sessions, Mike Crapo, Roger Wicker, John Boozman, and Deb Fischer for boycotting a confirmation hearing on Obama nominee Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):

“Gina McCarthy in her capacity at the EPA the Office of Air and Radiation approved the use of DuPont’s R1234yf air conditioning refrigerant in U.S. vehicles, ignoring a massive European recall by Daimler Benz when the product caught fire in testing scenarios.

“Supposedly, this new refrigerant would cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, but even if that were true, the cost should not be endangering the lives of American families. Serving a questionable, radical environmentalist agenda should never come before protecting the health and safety of American citizens, including our children.

“We urge these eight members not only to boycott committee confirmation votes on McCarthy, but to wage a full filibuster and ensure she is never confirmed. Further, given Obama’s State of the Union threat to continue to pursue unilateral executive actions in lieu of climate change legislation — including regulating carbon dioxide and water as pollutants under the Clean Air and Water Acts — no nominee to the EPA should be confirmed until this rogue agency is reined in.”

Attachments:

Video of R1234yf exploding in Daimler Benz test, AutoBild.TV at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-PvUouMrH4&feature=youtu.be

“EPA nominee to get tough questions about why she approved new car air-conditioning refrigerant that caused ENGINE FIRES in Mercedes-Benz tests,” UK Daily Mail, April 10, 2013 at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2307265/EPA-nominee-tough-questions-approved-new-car-air-conditioner-refrigerant-caused-ENGINE-FIRES-Mercedes-Benz-tests.html

“McCarthy EPA Administrator nomination rejection urged,” Americans for Limited Government, March 4, 2013 at http://getliberty.org/mccarthy-epa-administrator-nomination-rejection-urged/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG General Counsel Nathan Mehrens, also a former Labor Department appointee.

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May 8, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government General Counsel Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement urging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to wage a filibuster against Obama’s choice to head the Labor Department, Thomas Perez:

“It is encouraging that Senator McConnell has weighed in so heavily in opposition to Mr. Perez’ nomination saying in a release today that Perez is a ‘committed ideologue who appears willing, quite frankly, to say or do anything to achieve his ideological ends. His willingness, time and again, to bend or ignore the law and to misstate the facts in order to advance his far-left ideology lead me and others to conclude that he’d continue to do so if he were confirmed to another, and much more consequential, position of public trust.’ We agree.

“There is simply no place in any Administration for a Cabinet official who has demonstrated total disregard for both the law and the Congress.  Americans for Limited Government thanks Senator McConnell for his strong statement and urges him to use all the powers of his office including the filibuster, if necessary, to lead the Senate in rejecting Thomas Perez as the next Secretary of Labor.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG General Counsel Nathan Mehrens, also a former Labor Department appointee.

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May 8, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government Vice President of Communications and Public Policy Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the House of Representatives to amend prior to acting on H.R. 807, the “Full Faith and Credit Act”:

“The Full Faith and Credit Act is based on very good intentions, which is to avert default and meet essential obligations should the statutory debt limit be reached. This in turn will insulate Congress from coercive political pressure from the White House to increase the debt ceiling under duress when there was enough revenue to cover the bulk of obligations. To be clear, that is a great idea that we wholly support.

“Unfortunately, even if Congress preferred that the White House handle payments prioritization beyond debt payments as they are constitutionally empowered to do, the bill does not even minimally bother to explicitly authorize and commit the President to doing so. Just look at how sequestration was implemented with air traffic control when specific guidance was not provided on how to manage the FAA’s accounts. Assuming good faith from this White House should the debt ceiling be reached to properly handle payments prioritization based on a broad reading of current law is not a sound financial decision. We already know what Obama will do.

“The current proposal will not stop Obama’s political fear mongering. It covers debt held by the public and debt held Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and Disability Insurance Trust Fund that finance Social Security benefits. It says nothing about the $325 billion of treasuries in the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and the Supplemental Insurance Trust Fund that helps pay for Medicare. Why not?

“Nor does it instruct the President on how to prioritize existing revenue. To insulate Congress from the accusation it is ditching Grandma and the troops, this legislation must provide a wider range of prioritization, expanding on the Toomey proposal in the Senate that also encompasses Social Security and active duty military payments, but going even further to also include Medicare and veterans’ benefits.

“Out of the $2.7 trillion of annual revenue the White House expects in 2013, only about $420 billion, or $35 billion monthly, will go to paying gross interest on the debt. In addition, there would also be enough revenue to pay out Social Security ($812 billion), Medicare ($504 billion), defense ($652 billion), and veterans’ benefits ($80.8 billion), with nearly $250 billion left over to pay for other essential items. We urge the House to amend the proposal to provide these protections.

“If the House GOP leaves the option of prioritization to the White House, Obama will easily claim, even if it is untrue, that he lacks the authority to prioritize other payments. Then, he will make payments on debt service to the stated trust funds and to the public, but deny payments to the other trust funds and essential services. Congress will get blamed for not providing more explicit instructions.”

Attachments:

“What is the GOP’s debt ceiling strategy?” by Robert Romano, ALG Senior Editor, May 8, 2013 at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/05/what-is-the-gops-debt-ceiling-strategy/

“Republicans taking default off the table” by Robert Romano, ALG Senior Editor, April 24, 2013 at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/04/republicans-taking-default-off-the-table/

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May 8, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government General Counsel Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement praising a ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for overturning a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that had compelled employers to hang a Board-mandated poster not explicitly provided for under law:

“The court made the right decision here, finding the Board cannot make the failure to post a Board-mandated poster an unfair labor practice because, among other reasons, the Board could not make an employer’s speech advising employees that they do not have to join a union an unfair labor practice.  Also, because the poster requirement had no basis in the statute itself, the court ruled the Board cannot just make up what it deems to be an unfair labor practice and then compel employers to abide by their arbitrary definition.

“The court also tossed the tolling provision in the rule and held that because the Board wouldn’t have promulgated the rule without those provisions that the rest falls also.  Two judges would have gone even further to hold that the Board lacks the statutory jurisdiction to promulgate the rule in the first place.

“Interestingly, the court in dicta called into question whether the recess appointment of Craig Becker to the Board was legitimate, assuming without deciding it was constitutionally invalid. But since even without Becker, there was still a Senate-confirmed quorum of Board members, his recess appointment was not at issue in this case. For other cases, however, that likely will not be so.

“All of which underscores the foolishness and arrogance of the White House in making these so-called recess appointments to the Board in the first place — as well as to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — when Congress was not even in recess. We expect more rulings will come down in this direction and never again will a president be able to imagine a congressional recess into existence.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG General Counsel Nathan Mehrens, also a former Labor Department attorney.

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May 3, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the latest job numbers:

“There is little that can be learned about the direction of the economy from the tepid April unemployment report.  The modest job growth combined with the lowest labor participation rate since 1981 may be the new normal under Obama policies that punish job creation.  The good news is that in spite of these government headwinds exemplified by Obamacare’s costly penalties on hiring, the number of private sector jobs increased by 176,000 while economic growth sucking government jobs decreased by11,000.  The significant increase in temporary services hiring in the private sector shows that demand for labor is increasing, but employer uncertainty about the long term prospects of the economy are impinging a commitment to growth.

“With bi-partisan agreement in Congress that the upcoming Obamacare law is likely to be a ‘train wreck’ at a minimum, they should delay it’s  implementation for a two year period to provide more certainty for job creators that will allow them to move forward with plans for additional full time hiring.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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May 1, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today issued the following statement on the pending nomination of Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC) to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, highlighting his past support of mortgage principal reductions for as many as 10.4 million borrowers who are $628 billion underwater on their mortgages, owing more on their homes than they are worth:

“Mel Watts’ ill-conceived support of mortgage principal reduction creates a giant red flag about his potential leadership of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It is time for the Senate to reject appointees who would so cavalierly give away other people’s money.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at (703) 383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@algnews.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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