Carnuccio: Hanging Together
Free Market Friday: Hanging together
By Michael C. Carnuccio, Guest Columnist
The Internal Revenue Service began targeting organizations with the terms tea party, patriot and 9-12 in their names on March 1, 2010. Thirteen months later, that agency’s director of exempt operations, Lois Lerner, was informed of the inappropriate activity, initiated an internal audit, yet continued the practice of targeting these groups.
Within nine months, the media began reporting that ideologically conservative groups were being harassed by the IRS. Having met earlier that March with top officials, Douglas Shulman, then the IRS commissioner, testified before Congress that there was no targeting.
That May, Deputy Director Steven Miller was informed that the targeting of conservatives had occurred, just as Lerner had been one year prior. One month later, the inspector general disclosed the IRS probe to senior officials at the Treasury Department. By the end of the year, Shulman had stepped down as commissioner and Miller assumed those duties as acting commissioner.
Three months ago, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was briefed about the IRS inquiry regarding the targeting of American citizen groups. One month later, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney postured that the White House Counsel had just learned of the investigation.