Remember what Al says......."You don't have to get snippy about it."
Posted on 04/22/2002 10:00:48 PM PDT by Kay Soze
IRS Official to Judicial Watch: Clinton Enemies Were Audited Carl Limbacher, NewsMax.com
Tuesday, April 23, 2002
An official with the Internal Revenue Service has admitted that legal opponents of former President Bill Clinton were singled out for tax audits, according to court documents made public this week. "What do you expect when you sue the president?" senior IRS official Paul Breslan told Judicial Watch, the Washington-based legal watchdog group that had filed 50-plus legal actions against the Clinton administration and subsequently found itself in the IRS's cross hairs.
Breslan's quote is cited in Judicial Watch's complaint against the tax agency, based on a host of what look to be politically inspired audits that make the worst abuses of the Nixon administration appear puny by comparison.
"There were literally six witnesses in the room when Breslan told us we should have expected an audit," Judicial Watch Chairman Larry Klayman revealed to NewsMax.com. "Four of them were lawyers."
The legal group became the target of an IRS audit in 1998, just four days after it filed an independent impeachment report against Clinton, based on years of investigation into everything from Chinagate to the Paula Jones case.
But Judicial Watch wasn't alone. Witnesses bearing damaging testimony against the president were a favorite target of the Clinton IRS. Those singled out for audits include:
Leak
The Jones case, which would eventually lead to Clinton's impeachment, was of particular interest to the IRS, which apparently leaked her confidential tax returns to the late New York Daily News reporter Lars Erik Nelson.
In a September 1997 column Nelson revealed details from Jones' filing to bolster claims that she was profiting from her sexual harassment lawsuit against Clinton.
In a subsequent interview with NewsMax.com's Carl Limbacher (then with the Washington Weekly), Nelson insisted somewhat implausibly that a "friend" of Jones had come across her tax return during a visit to her home and decided to go public with the secrets.
Quite an Enemies List
As the Judicial Watch complaint notes, the Clinton IRS also went after organizations and even media companies it perceived as politically hostile, including:
The National Rifle Association, The Heritage Foundation, The National Review, The American Spectator, Freedom Alliance, National Center for Public Policy Research, American Policy Center, American Cause, Citizens Against Government Waste, Citizens for Honest Government, Progress and Freedom Foundation, Concerned Women for America and the San Diego Chapter of Christian Coalition.
Fox News Channel analyst Bill O'Reilly, a frequent critic of Bill and Hillary Clinton, has also pointed out how the IRS has repeatedly audited him.
The political nature of the Judicial Watch's audit seems particularly blatant.
"The IRS asked for our political affiliations in the first notice of audit," Klayman told NewsMax.
When he questioned why auditors wanted to know about the group's political ties, an IRS district director said the information had been deemed "relevant."
Worse still, each time Judicial Watch seemed to make legal headway against the White House, the IRS ratcheted up the pressure.
"When we would accomplish something big, like the criminal finding by Judge Royce Lamberth against Clinton in the Kathleen Willey Privacy Act case, our lawyers would get a call saying, 'We just want you to know that Judicial Watch is still on the IRS's radar screen,'" Klayman said.
"The same thing happened when we revealed the White House e-mail scandal," he added.
Shockingly, the IRS's intimidation tactics continue into the Bush administration, which has failed to sack Clinton's IRS Commissioner Charles Rosotti.
After Judicial Watch won the release of thousands of pages of documents from Vice President Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force last month, a badge-wearing IRS agent showed up at the group's offices.
A personal meeting between Klayman and Bush Justice Department Criminal Division chief Michael Chertoff, who led the Senate investigation into the Clintons' Whitewater abuses, failed to yield any interest in pursuing IRS abuses, which now threaten to tarnish the Bush administration.
When noted columnist Robert Novak inquired of the Justice Department about Judicial Watch's IRS complaint, he was told by a department official, "I don't know what we are going to do with this Klayman."
"When we were told that we were being audited because we sued Bill Clinton, we had no choice but to stand up and fight in court," Klayman said. "By leaving Charles Rossotti as IRS commissioner, Bush obviously is sending a signal that political audits are fine with him."
Is that thousands of dollars?
Well maybe that's why you ought to leave all this internet gab to us oldsters and get out there and MAKE IT HAPPEN !!!!!!!
Isn't that minions..... Oh no, it's MILLIONS, gosh so much money to manage. It's a wonder the filing of suits are down.
Well, maybe that's why it's taking so long. Is that why they quit asking for money?
*Sigh* And who says that I am not right now? I run my own student hobby horse organization right now. But that is not the subject we are discussing at hand.
Screw the IRS and the horse they stole from you.
Did they quit asking for money? Heck you'd never guess it from looking at the web site and his latest "Dear Friend and Supporter" screed....
{snip}But, as importantly, a Judicial Watch victory will put an end – once and for all – to politically-motivated criminal audits and other IRS abuses!
Will you help me win this important fight? Will you support our legal actions to clean up the most criminally corrupt government agency in American history, the IRS – whose officials truly believe they are above the law?
Protecting our privacy, independence and constitutional rights will cost millions of dollars. The extra legal and accounting work, which must begin immediately, will cost over $150,000 in time and expense per month for the near future.
We’ve already spent over $400,000 in legal time and expenses fighting the IRS attempts to illegally audit us. (Needless to say, this was not a planned budget expense.)
Will you send us a generous contribution to fund this battle? Will you please send us a gift of $250, $500 or even $1000? I realize this is a great deal of money, but we have never been in a more serious and important fight with a corrupt government agency. And we now need your extra support to fight this battle to a successful conclusion, for the good of you, Judicial Watch and all Americans!
If you can only afford to send $100 or $50, then of course, that would help too. But we are up against powerful forces.
But, with your help, we can and will win. Please, help us help you.
Thank you. Because no one is above the law!
Sincerely,
Larry Klayman
Chairman and General Counsel
(Click Here to Contribute)
P.S. – Judicial Watch has no objection to an IRS audit at the proper time and place. But when IRS officials admit that they’re trying to audit us just because we sued President Clinton, and now Commissioner Rossotti, we will fight this illegal and criminal act. Indeed, the IRS’ criminal behavior will give us a golden opportunity to clean up corruption at this most corrupt government agency in American history!
P.P.S. – Once again, you have my word that I will legally “fight to the death” to keep the IRS at bay and keep them from getting your name from us. (SEE ATTACHMENT). And we aim to stop them once and for all from hurting people who challenge government abuse and corruption! We will not let Clinton appointee Charles Rossotti use the power of the IRS to harass us for suing the Clintons, and himself, as well as calling for his firing by the Bush administration. Please let me know you are behind us with a gift for as much as you can afford today. Thank you again.
{end}
In fact, the Democrat who wrote the article of impeachment against Nixon concerning his abuse of the IRS said, after Clinton's impeachment, that Clinton abused the IRS and FBI worse than Nixon ever did and should be impeached again because of it.
Isn't this illegal? If it is, why isn't someone in jail?
Yes, it's my understanding it's a felony ! I know one fellow who was imvestigated within one month after he signed an NRA postcard mailed to Slick Willie ! Proving it be another thing ! He had committed a minor infraction continueing some years back so those "wackos" representing us in Congress would jump on that as makin it proper, dis-regarding the "political" implications invovled! But that is why the Slick Willie Admn did it- to put a "chill" on political opposition !
No, I believe that is something that you need to do, being that you are perpetually confused about Judicial Watch and believe that they actually need to be audited by a politically motivated IRS.
Oh ... is that how she came to the conclusion that Ron Brown wasn't murdered? LOL!
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