IRS WORKERS HARASS TEA PARTY GROUPS

Shock:  IRS admdits to targeting conservative groups during 2012 election, apologizes

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/10/shock-irs-formally-apologizes-for-inappropriately-flagging-conservative-group-in-the-2012-election/

The Blaze – Becket Adams – 5/10/2013

The Internal Revenue Service “inappropriately flagged” conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status, a top IRS official said Friday.

Organizations were singled out because they included the words “tea party” or “patriot” in their applications for tax-exempt status, said Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups.

In some cases, groups were asked for their list of donors, which violates IRS policy in most cases, she said.

“That was wrong. That was absolutely incorrect, it was insensitive and it was inappropriate. That’s not how we go about selecting cases for further review,” Lerner said at a conference sponsored by the American Bar Association.

“The IRS would like to apologize for that,” she added.

However, it’s certainly worth noting that IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman — a Bush appointee whose 6-year term ended in November — told Congress in March 2012 that the IRS was not targeting groups based on their political views.

“There’s absolutely no targeting. This is the kind of back and forth that happens to people” who apply for tax-exempt status, Shulman told a House Ways and Means subcommittee.

Lerner said the practice was initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati and was not motivated by political bias. After her talk, she told The AP that no high level IRS officials knew about the practice. She did not say when they found out.