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Investigation reveals Tea Party applications sent to Obama appointee

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Letter raises new questions about IRS corruption.

A letter sent by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Ways and Means reveals that Tea-Party tax-exempt applications were sent to Obama's only political appointee in the IRS, William Wilkins. The revelation raises more questions about Obama's knowledge and role in the entire affair.

Highlights

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
7/18/2013 (1 decade ago)

Published in Politics & Policy

Keywords: Obama, IRS, letter, scandal

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - A nine-page letter released by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform says that the IRS Chief Counsel's office in Washington D.C. was involved in the processing of some Tea Party tax exempt applications, which caused delays.

At the head of that that department was William Wilkins, the IRS Chief Counsel, and an Obama appointee.

The involvement of the Chief Counsel matters. The Tea Party applications were delayed by that office at a critical time, when the Tea Party was coalescing to provide support to conservative political candidates. However, by blocking or delaying tax exempt status for many organizations the IRS was able to keep many of them off the books, and unable to raise money or meaningfully participate in the 2012 elections.

Investigators want to know if Obama was aware that Tea Party applications were being systematically targeted and to which degree applicants and their associates were being, quite literally, harassed.

It has already been established that top officials within the IRS knew about the behavior and that Obama's Chief of Staff Denis McDonough also knew about the scandal before it was exposed in the media.

However, the presence of an Obama political appointee at the top of the IRS receiving these applications for his own perusal, casts more doubt on Obama's plausible ignorance of the entire scandal.

If Obama knew such a thing was happening and did nothing to stop it, then it would make him culpable in a major scandal which had no less an impact than to deny people their First Amendment rights.

Meanwhile, there appears the be underway an effort to suggest that other non-profit, non, Tea- Party groups were also subjected to similar scrutiny. Although this is doubtful, for why would they open by apologizing for doing nothing wrong, but even if true it only magnifies the problem rather than minimizing it.

The nature of the harassment and ridiculousness perpetrated by the IRS is so outrageous that we should be angry no matter who suffered their behavior, even if their political leanings were opposite that of the Tea Party.

No IRS official should be drunk with power to the point they abuse their authority and deprive citizens of their First Amendment rights.

The investigation continues.

Read the letter here.

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