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ScottWalker, Bobby Jindal: IRS case needs a special prosecutor
Hotair ^ | 05/14/2013 | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 05/14/2013 11:44:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

It may not be the only case, or even the most pressing case, in need of an independent investigation, but there’s little doubt the targeting of White House opponents by the IRS needs a lot more sunlight than the Obama administration has thus far provided. Republican Governors Association chair Bobby Jindal and vice-chair Scott Walker demanded a special prosecutor to start an investigation of the expanding scandal:

Two Republican governors are urging President Barack Obama to appoint aspecial prosecutor to investigate the Internal Revenue Service’s admission that it targetedconservative political groups.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker call the allegations “Big Brother come to life.”

They want a special prosecutor to find out if any laws were broken and say Obama should fire any IRS employees responsible for the situation.

Under normal circumstances, I’d recoil at the suggestion. Special prosecutors are a great idea in theory, but usually terrible in practice. Theoretically, the investigation owes nothing to anyone and can probe everywhere without fear of retribution — and that’s pretty much been true. However, it also means that special prosecutors can turn into loose cannons that lose sight of their original portfolio and start looking for any reason to justify their existence … and that’s also pretty much been true of special prosecutors in high-profile cases.

If the Department of Justice operates normally, any investigations into corruption should take place there, where accountability in both legal and political terms apply. Unfortunately, the DoJ under Eric Holder isn’t operating normally. It just conducted a broad raid on the records of more than 100 Associated Press reporters in an attempt to identify sources and intimidate the nation’s largest wire service. That secret raid should also be investigated, and probably needs a special prosecutor even more urgently than the IRS scandal.

Meanwhile, ABC News provides a list of the most outrageous and weird demands made by the IRS of conservative groups seeking legitimate tax exemption for their work. The whole list should be reviewed, but a few really deserve special mention:

First, can anyone imagine an IRS agent actually reading through all of the requested material? It’s absurd. (How can anyone provide with any certainty all of the “stories and articles that have been published about you”?) This was clearly an obstructionist demand designed to frustrate and block conservatives from organizing effectively and legally.

Here’s another in the same vein:

Do conservative political positions correspond to the positions of conservative candidates? Not as often as we’d like perhaps, but, er …. duh. Is the IRS position that only those organizations whose positions aren’t taken by any candidates at all are eligible for tax exemption? If so, maybe they’d like to explain the exemption for Organizing for America.

There’s also this ambiguity, emphasis mine:

Define “implicitly.” Does this again mean having mainstream political positions is a disqualifier for tax-exempt status? On the other hand, sometimes the questions got uncomfortably specific:

Subtext: Justin Binik-Thomas is an unperson, and we’re watching both him and you.

This may be many things, but liberty it ain’t. We may need a whole passel of prosecutors when this is over.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: irs; jindal; specialprosecutor; walker

1 posted on 05/14/2013 11:44:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

2 posted on 05/14/2013 11:44:58 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Don’t take your eye off the Benghazi deal, guys...

of course, the IRS scandal probably will have more legs because people understand it,
and because the left has spent a lot of effort in making people absolutely terrified of the IRS.


3 posted on 05/14/2013 11:46:42 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: SeekAndFind

The IRS case, the DOJ case, and the Benghazi case all need Special Prosecutors.


4 posted on 05/14/2013 11:47:25 AM PDT by RoosterRedux (Obama's Chechens are coming home...to roost.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Asking Obama to appoint a special prosecutor is akin to asking a wolf to appoint a fox to guard the hens.

Hell, I’ll even go full-tinfoil for a second: perhaps the point of all of this is to FORCE a special prosecutor who could then go full-bore into private lives without fear of retribution. I wouldn’t put anything so insidious past these feckless turds.


5 posted on 05/14/2013 11:49:00 AM PDT by rarestia (It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
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To: SeekAndFind

The IRS case must be pursued and the Guns for Cartels case must be ramped up but iti s the Benghazi case that really needs the efforts of the Republicans.It was put out there for a reason.Our guys didn’t turn it up. It was handed to them to take the heat off Benghazi. Why? Well Mrs. Clinton doesn’t get tainted by IRS. O’Lenin is used goods now. On paper, at least. he cannot run again. Who is to replace him?Why Hillary, of course! So the press will get behind IRS with a bit more enthusiasm, I think, than Benghazi. Hillary is the Designated Stalin to Obama’s Lenin.


6 posted on 05/14/2013 11:52:00 AM PDT by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINE www.fee.org/library/books/economics-in-one-lesson)
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To: SeekAndFind

So let’s say Justin Binik-Thomas is your cousin.

What difference does that make?


7 posted on 05/14/2013 11:53:24 AM PDT by RummyChick
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To: RoosterRedux

I know the Watergate-era law on special prosecutors has expired. What are the current mechanics of getting one?


8 posted on 05/14/2013 11:54:34 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: All


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9 posted on 05/14/2013 11:55:08 AM PDT by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
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To: SeekAndFind; Hunton Peck; Diana in Wisconsin; P from Sheb; Shady; DonkeyBonker; Wisconsinlady; ...

Scott Walker IRS ping

FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this WI interest ping list.

I’m back from knee replacement surgery.


10 posted on 05/14/2013 11:58:24 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: Buckeye McFrog

I have no idea...but we’ll need at least a 6-pack.


11 posted on 05/14/2013 12:02:14 PM PDT by RoosterRedux (Obama's Chechens are coming home...to roost.)
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To: SeekAndFind

A Special Prosecutor was appointed back in 1994 to investigate a small time crooked land deal that had occurred back in 1970’s. No one was killed then.

Now? Now we have scandals involving the IRS, and the White House is accused of covering up murder and abetting terrorists.

OF COURSE WE NEED A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR!!!


12 posted on 05/14/2013 12:04:34 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
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To: SeekAndFind

13 posted on 05/14/2013 12:21:01 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Mandatory BB Guns for 10 Year Old Boys would solve most of America's problems.)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

Welcome back! Hope your recovery is going well!


14 posted on 05/14/2013 12:40:48 PM PDT by knittnmom (Save the earth! It's the only planet with chocolate!)
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To: knittnmom

As well as can be expected. I tire easily, but making progress every day.


15 posted on 05/14/2013 1:14:44 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: SeekAndFind

I vote for Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald!!


16 posted on 05/14/2013 1:22:10 PM PDT by chicagolady (Mexican Elite say: EXPORT Poverty Let the American Taxpayer foot the bill !)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

Hey...... welcome back. Hope your knee is good as new.
I have a friend who is doing the very same thing, as I type and she’s had some setbacks and overall is glad she did it, getting better all the time.

Tough stuff to go through. I can relate!


17 posted on 05/15/2013 9:09:51 AM PDT by WaterWeWaitinFor (Would Winston Churchill stand still for all this nonsense?)
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To: WaterWeWaitinFor

They say I’m doing well, but it’s been almost 6 weeks and I still have a long way to go to be back to normal. But then, I wasn’t normal for at least a year before surgery.

I equate this knee surgery business to childbirth. We would all be “only” children, if our mothers could actually remember the experience. LOL.


18 posted on 05/15/2013 10:41:49 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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