EMAIL: IRS planned secret new rules to justify targeting tea party groups two years ago

Daily Mail ^ | February 5, 2014 | By David Martosko

[Brad from Tennessee]

Republicans clashed with the Internal Revenue Service's new commissioner Wednesday in a Capitol Hill hearing that featured the unveiling a document indicating that the agency planned as early as 2012 to change its rules in a way that justified singling out tea party groups for special scrutiny.

The document, an email from Treasury Department tax policy attorney Ruth Madrigal to a group of IRS officials including the disgraced Lois Lerner.

'Don’t know who in your organizations is keeping tabs on c4s,' Madrigal wrote, quoting an election law blog and referring to the 501(c)(4) tax-exempt groups that were the subject of the tea party targeting scandal, 'but since we mentioned potentially addressing them (off plan) in 2013, I’ve got my radar up and this seemed interesting.'

House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Dave Camp insisted Wednesday that Madrigal's note indicated that new regulations were planned as a 'remedy to the target[ing]' back in 2011 and 2012. 'I’m pretty sure [off-plan] means "hidden from the public",' he said.

The revelation that the IRS planned two years ago to change the way it approached approving those groups for tax-exempt status is raising eyebrows because it indicates the agency was aware early on that its practice of singling out conservative groups was out of sync with existing regulations. . .

[Brad from Tennessee]

Original document at link.

[anoldafvet]

Another phony scandal.

[SandRat]

Not the IRS; Obama using the IRS for supposed cover.

[Windflier]

The UK Daily Mail has millions of readers and they’re not afraid to spill the beans on Bozo’s administration. Glad to see this being covered on their site.

[Mother Mary]

not a smidgeon of scandal

[stanne]

I don’t think that’s a smidgen. Is that a smidgeon?

If people would read Shakespeare they would see we are being led by lady Macbeth

But I’m told people hate Shakespeare.
They’re on Facebook gaining no wisdom about our place in history. People don’t change, and this is a Shakespearean political frame

And of we get out of it, and that will only be if we stop killing babies, our kids are going to be pissed and they’re going to say we are the stupidest generation

[TurboZamboni]

“Most transparent administration ever”!

[Count of Monte Fisto]

If the House Republicans had any balls they would cite these people with Contempt of Congress and send the Sergeant at Arms to arrest and jail them.

[Iron Munro]

[informavoracious]

And what will be the result of this investigation? Nothing.

[Delta Dawn]

People should be getting dragged out of their million dollar homes and being sent directly to jail for this outrage.

[TurboZamboni]

Sternly worded letters and an effeminate speech about ‘rule of law’ from Speaker Boehner.

[Ken522]

... starting with Lois Lerner!

[Travis McGee]

[william clark]

Double Secret Probation

[lowbridge]

Bump

[livius]

What I don’t understand is why.

It’s true that perhaps the Tea Party groups would have been more effective if the IRS hadn’t intervened, so we have to bear that in mind. But from what I have seen of “Tea Party” groups, they’re fractious, they don’t get along with each other, they tend to splinter internally over various issues of conservative purity, and they never really back a serious candidate.

So what was Obama so afraid of?

In my opinion, it was that one big gathering in DC a few years ago. Most of the people there really weren’t members of any group, Tea Party or no, but had found out about it from miscellaneous groups, blogs, mailings, etc., some of which may have used the title “Tea Party.” I think Obama and the Dems were much more scared by that than they wished to admit, and this is the reason for the targeting of the dysfunctional, circular firing squad Tea Party groups who represented no threat and surely would have killed each other off in any case.

[originalbuckeye]

They need a Boogie Man. They talk of the Tea Party like it is an expansive, massively funded behemoth. And their minions believe it. Remember when the Gov of Connecticut (or was it another blue state?) went to California to fund raise and he was criticized for it? He said ‘well we have to counter the millions that the Tea Party raises’. yeah, right. AS IF the Tea party had millions to use for negative campaigning. AS IF the Tea Party is ONE GROUP across the country.

[Mad Dawgg]

On a related note Infowars is claiming the US Postal Service is announcing a giant ammo purchase...

I used to always see infowars stories as the tippie top of the tinfoil hat internet news networks.

Now I worry those nutbags are just ahead of the curve because they are always looking for the conspiracy.

[Menehune56]

Sternly worded letters and an effeminate speech about ‘rule of law’ from Speaker Boehner.

Problem for us is Boehner et al. want the Tea Party to be suppressed as much as Obama does. That's why nothing is being done about this outrage - Nixon was impeached for less.