IRS smoking gun uncovered by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp

February 6, 2014

Feb. 6, 2014, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement calling attention to documents uncovered by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Dave Camp proving that the proposed IRS regulations against 501(c)(4)s were planned while the targeting of the tea party was ongoing, and not in response to that scandal in 2013 as the Obama administration has contended:

“President Obama can no longer hide behind his seemingly perpetual state of confusion over what is happening in his administration, as records now clearly show. The 2012 email released by Chairman Camp proves that the new IRS regulation restricting 501(c)(4) organizations’ political speech was not in response to the scandal targeting the tea party or any confusion about what (c)(4) regulations mean, but was devised well in advance.

“The IRS had a long-term plan to use its power to intimidate and stop small conservative groups from participating in the political process using the same tax-exempt status as groups like Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters that publish voter guides.

“Congress can no longer stand idly assuming good will from this administration and it must use its power of the purse including any extension of the debt ceiling to expressly prohibit the implementation of these new IRS rules designed to squelch First Amendment rights of Obama’s political opponents.”

Attachments:

“Camp Blasts Treasury & Lois Lerner for Developing 501(c)(4) Rules ‘Off-Plan’” Feb. 5, 2014 at http://waysandmeans.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=369014

“Obama’s state of confusion on IRS underscores cover-up,” By ALG Senior Editor Robert Romano, Feb. 5, 2014 at http://netrightdaily.com/2014/02/obamas-state-confusion-irs-underscores-cover/

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

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Testimony: IRS D.C. office, not Cincinnati, ordered tea party targeting

June 3, 2013

Special Counsel must be appointed by Attorney General Eric Holder

June 3, 2013, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today issued the following statement in response to new testimony by IRS employees stating “Washington, D.C., wanted some cases” on the tea party and calling the two “rogue” agents explanation “impossible… the chance of two agents being rogue and doing things like that could never happen” and affirmed that the purpose of the targeting was to go after conservative groups:

“The original story given to the American people that the IRS scandal originated with two ‘rogue’ employees in Cincinnati is unraveling rapidly. Now that testimony from IRS employees has revealed that it was the Washington, D.C., and not the Cincinnati office that requested tea party applications be flagged, it is becoming increasingly clear that a special counsel must be appointed by Attorney General Eric Holder to the bottom of this of this gross misconduct.

“This is an extraordinary case of political viewpoint discrimination by the agency. To assure the American people that politics will not interfere with the outcome of the investigation, an independent, special prosecutor is required.”

Attachments:

“IRS rules required D.C. office, not Cincinnati, to deal with special cases,” By Robert Romano, May 30, 2013 at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/05/irs-rules-required-d-c-office-not-cincinnati-to-deal-with-special-cases/

“IRS rules already clear on 501(c)(4) political activity,” By Robert Romano, May 17, 2013 at http://netrightdaily.com/2013/05/irs-rules-already-clear-on-501c4-political-activity/

Criteria for Attorney General appointing a special counsel at http://law.justia.com/cfr/title28/28-2.0.4.5.1.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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IRS rules already clear on 501(c)(4) political activity

May 17, 2013

May 17, 2013, Fairfax, VA—In testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, outgoing Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Steven Miller suggested that the targeting of tea party and other groups was in part caused by Congress’ failure to provide “clear rules” on what constitutes political activity.

“With respect to political activity, it would be a wonderful thing to get better rules,” Miller said, stating the rules needed to be “more clear.”

But those rules are already clear, Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens noted.

“IRS rules already stipulate that political activity is electioneering, that is, express advocacy for or against a candidate standing for public office and direct contributions to candidates or candidate committees. And it is already clear based on IRS rules that 501(c)(4) organizations are allowed to engage in a limited amount of political activity provided it does not constitute a majority of its activity, plus an unlimited amount of lobbying and issues advocacy, that is, advocacy in favor or against legislation or regulations or court rulings, provided that it furthers its tax-exempt function,” Mehrens stated.

“Miller may not agree with those rules, but to suggest they are not clear is incorrect,” Mehrens explained.

Miller explained the targeting: “What happened here was someone saw some tea party cases come through. They were acknowledging that they were going to be engaged in politics. This was the timeframe in 2010 when Citizens United was out. There was a lot of discussion in the system about the use of [501](c)(4)s.”

Except, Citizens United clarified that organizations are allowed to engage in politics, Mehrens explained. “If anything, Citizens United made things more clear, not less. The Supreme Court simplified the rules and stated that organizations have a First Amendment right to engage in political activity, period.”

Miller continued in his testimony, explaining the process for centralizing these cases: “People in Cincinnati decided let’s start grouping these cases, let’s centralize these cases.” This meant quarantining the applications and sending them to Exempt Organizations (EO) Technical, based in Washington, D.C. for special scrutiny.

“The way they centralized it, troublesome. The concept of centralization, not,” Miller said, suggesting that targeting political activity of groups was permissible. Elsewhere in testimony, he agreed that the agency was targeting political activity: “the litmus test if anything was political activity.”

Mehrens blasted the practice, “The IRS processes thousands of tax-exempt applications a year that engage in issues advocacy, lobbying, and yes, political activity without any hassle or special scrutiny. They are allowed by law to engage in these activities. Yet, these tea party cases were selected for special scrutiny. This created inconsistency in the processing of applications, when the revenue procedures state that centralization is supposed to establish uniformity. Liberal groups doing the same thing as tea party groups were not centralized.”

But, even if liberal groups had been targeted too would not have helped, Mehrens added, “Targeting organizations for special scrutiny on the belief that they might exercise their First Amendment protected rights to engage in political activity in is an egregious violation of the freedom of speech. If it had been done consistently for groups of all stripes would not have made it better.”

Miller suggested the practice was “not illegal,” but Mehrens said, “Of course it was illegal. These actions violated the First Amendment to the Constitution which is the ‘supreme Law of the Land’.”

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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Senate Democrats ordered IRS in 2010 to investigate 501(c) groups, letter shows

May 14, 2013

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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