By Luke Wachob
Apologists for the Internal Revenue Service claim that there is no “smoking gun” linking the targeting of conservative groups applying for tax-exemptions to political bias. It would be more accurate to say that there’s too much smoke and too many guns to single out just one shooter.
The IRS was under tremendous pressure from members of Congress, including Rhode Island’s Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, President Obama and groups favoring greater regulation of political speech, to scrutinize conservative groups. As Lois Lerner, the disgraced IRS exempt-organization head, said in 2010: “Everyone is up in arms … [and] they want the IRS to fix the problem.” Is it really a surprise that the IRS targeted these groups unfairly?
Just weeks before the IRS targeting scandal came to light, Senator Whitehouse said the IRS was “toothless” and letting social welfare advocacy groups make a “mockery” of campaign finance law.
