Another week has gone by, and some Democrats want the world to believe that the IRS scandal is resolved. It’s not. Here’s the news I’ve seen over the last week.
Peggy Noonan has an excellent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. An excerpt:
Some sophisticated Democrats who’ve worked in executive agencies have suggested to me that the story is simpler than it seems—that the targeting wasn’t a political operation, an expression of political preference enforced by an increasingly partisan agency, its union and assorted higher-ups. A former senior White House official, and a very bright man, said this week he didn’t believe it was mischief but incompetence. But why did all the incompetent workers misunderstand their jobs and their mission in exactly the same way? Wouldn’t general incompetence suggest both liberal and conservative groups would be abused more or less equally, or in proportion to the number of their applications? Wouldn’t a lot of left-wing groups have been caught in the incompetence net? Wouldn’t we now be hearing honest and aggrieved statements from indignant progressives who expected better from their government?
She’s right, of course. To date, no progressive organizations have come forward. None. Incompetence doesn’t pass the smell test.
Carter Hull, an IRS attorney in Washington, allegedly oversaw some of the targeting of conservative groups. Mr. Hull is retiring from the IRS. More on this in an interview on FoxNews with Eliana Johnson of the National Review Online:
So where does that leave us? I think we’re weeks (at best) and months (more likely) from finding the answer to the question: Who in Washington ordered this scrutiny. There is no doubt in my mind that this is the primary question that must be answered in this scandal.
There is a secondary question: Who at the IRS violated federal law and disclosed confidential information from conservative groups’ 501(c)(4) applications to progressive groups (such as Pro Publica)? It clearly was done–Pro Publica has admitted it. I expect individuals from Pro Publica to face a subpoena and be required to disclose that information.
Meanwhile, the Administration appears to wish that this scandal would just vanish. That definitely isn’t going to happen. Sooner or later the answers will come out. And it’s clear to any reasonable observer that the answers lie in Washington, not Cincinnati.
Tags: IRS.Scandal