U.S. Sen. Carl Levin involved in Pressuring the IRS to target conservative groups

[Jroc]

IRS used for political purposes should outrage everyone

Michigan Democratic Senator Carl Levin wrote to the IRS repeatedly in the months preceding the 2012 presidential election, trying to muscle the agency into tightening its leash on conservative nonprofit advocacy groups

Bombshell emails indicate handling of scheme targeting conservative nonprofit groups was quarterbacked at the IRS's D.C. office
Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, applied pressure in 2012 to the IRS to slow down mostly right-leaning groups he thought were too 'political'
Former IRS official Lois Lerner emailed IRS managers about how to tell if a 'Be On the Lookout' targeting list applied to specific tea party groups
Judicial Watch got emails in a Freedom Of Information Act lawsuit, casting new doubt on claims that the plot involved 'rogue employees' in Ohio

The Internal Revenue Service managed a wide-ranging program that singled out tea party groups for special scrutiny from its headquarters in Washington, D.C., according to bombshell documents released Wednesday by a watchdog organization.

Judicial Watch, a center-right group that specializes in Freedom Of Information Act document requests and lawsuits, said it received a cache of papers from the IRS showing the depth of the Obama administration's involvement in what officials have previously called the work of a few 'rogue agents' in Cincinnati, Ohio.

And letters from U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, show his involvement in pressing the IRS to target mostly conservative organizations with cumbersome questionnaires seemingly calculated to slow down their applications for tax-exempt status in the middle of an election year.

In one July 2010 email among IRS managers, a lawyer with the Exempt Organizations Technical unit in Washington wrote that his office was 'working the Tea party applications in coordination with Cincy.'

IRS's tea-party noose tightens: Documents show partisan targeting campaign was directed from headquarters in Washington | Mail Online

 

[dilloduck]

One would think that everyone would be pissed but I think Americans have thrown in the towel. We bitch for awhile and move on.

 

[Jroc]

One would think that everyone would be pissed but I think Americans have thrown in the towel. We bitch for awhile and move on.

is this a new precedent? Liberals should be outraged by this as well.

 

[Rozman]

One would think that everyone would be pissed but I think Americans have thrown in the towel. We bitch for awhile and move on.

True...but when we get riled up about how government has screwed the people over
another story about how the government has screwed us over comes to light.
And when people who lean right voice their concerns the media and Democrat party
shouts us down with accusations of racism.

 

[bripat9643]

One would think that everyone would be pissed but I think Americans have thrown in the towel. We bitch for awhile and move on.

Let's see how long it takes the useful idiots in this forum to start making excuses for Levin and the rest of the Democrat criminals.

 

[The Rabbi]

They're all guilty. All the Dems are guilty of trying to use the regulatory power of gov't to hamstring their enemies. That's why they've stonewalled. That's why they've bombed the press and social media with the "The GOP is inventing stuff" memes.
It is the biggest conspiracy ever in this government. They should all be in fucking prison getting ass raped by LaMahn.

 

[Jroc]

imagine the mainstream media if this were the Bush administration using the IRS against liberal groups.

 

[Mr. H.]

One would think that everyone would be pissed but I think Americans have thrown in the towel. We bitch for awhile and move on.

Let's see how long it takes the useful idiots in this forum to start making excuses for Levin and the rest of the Democrat criminals.

Five hours and counting. Is that a record?

 

[blackhawk]

One would think that everyone would be pissed but I think Americans have thrown in the towel. We bitch for awhile and move on.

is this a new precedent? Liberals should be outraged by this as well.

As soon as there is a republican administration letting the I.R.S. do the same to them they will be until then they will parrot the Obama line about there not being a smidgen corruption in this.

 

[Jroc]

Special prosecutor anyone?

 

[The Rabbi]

Special prosecutor anyone?

Nah, they'll just refer this t Justice and let Eric Holder investigate. That'll produce results, right?

 

[gipper]

Levin is the poster gramps for putting party before country and the extreme need for term limit legislation.

The old fool has been one of my senators for as long as I can remember. Though I never voter for the disgusting opportunist. He fooled the voters of Michigan for decades with his Ben Franklin like appearance and over the top radical leftism.

I am a so grateful he is finally leaving the senate....to a grandiose retirement on the taxpayers dime. The fat fool will probably live to 100.

 

[boedicca]

One would think that everyone would be pissed but I think Americans have thrown in the towel. We bitch for awhile and move on.

Let's see how long it takes the useful idiots in this forum to start making excuses for Levin and the rest of the Democrat criminals.

Boooooooossssshhhhhhh!!!!!!!

 

[thanatos144]

More proof that all democrats are corrupt be those from Michigan and Illinois are arrogant about it.

 

[FJO]

And his brother in the House is just as bad.

 

[Care4all]

Gordon Trowbridge, a spokesman for Sen. Levin, told MailOnline that he 'believes the problem here is that the IRS has apparently failed to enforce the law, involving both liberal and conservative groups.'


Trowbridge said the senator's office had already published much of his correspondence that Judicial Watch released Wednesday, some of it back in 2012.



'In a July 2012 letter he made public later that year, he cited two television ads, one targeting a Democratic candidate and one targeting a Republican candidate,' Trowbridge told MailOnline.


Levin has focused in his letter to the IRS on an apparent contradiction in two separate Treasury Department regulations.



-One specifies that 501(c)(4) status, one of several tax-exempt designations the IRS can award, is reserved for groups that operate 'exclusively' for social welfare and don't engage in partisan politics.


-But another federal government guideline specifies that groups can be considered 'exclusively' focused on public welfare if they are 'primarily engaged' in promoting a community's general welfare.


That conflict – between regulators who take the word 'exclusively' literally and those who rely instead on the word 'primarily' – has vexed lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

​

from the op's link

 

[thanatos144]

And his brother in the House is just as bad.

yes he is. And yet they have been in power almost my entire life if not more

 

[Jroc]

Gordon Trowbridge, a spokesman for Sen. Levin, told MailOnline that he 'believes the problem here is that the IRS has apparently failed to enforce the law, involving both liberal and conservative groups.'


Trowbridge said the senator's office had already published much of his correspondence that Judicial Watch released Wednesday, some of it back in 2012.



'In a July 2012 letter he made public later that year, he cited two television ads, one targeting a Democratic candidate and one targeting a Republican candidate,' Trowbridge told MailOnline.


Levin has focused in his letter to the IRS on an apparent contradiction in two separate Treasury Department regulations.



-One specifies that 501(c)(4) status, one of several tax-exempt designations the IRS can award, is reserved for groups that operate 'exclusively' for social welfare and don't engage in partisan politics.


-But another federal government guideline specifies that groups can be considered 'exclusively' focused on public welfare if they are 'primarily engaged' in promoting a community's general welfare.


That conflict – between regulators who take the word 'exclusively' literally and those who rely instead on the word 'primarily' – has vexed lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

​

from the op's link

it's not his job to get personally involved in pressuring the IRS do anything..You do understand that right? but you don't "care for all" do you

 

[Care4all]

Gordon Trowbridge, a spokesman for Sen. Levin, told MailOnline that he 'believes the problem here is that the IRS has apparently failed to enforce the law, involving both liberal and conservative groups.'

Trowbridge said the senator's office had already published much of his correspondence that Judicial Watch released Wednesday, some of it back in 2012.



'In a July 2012 letter he made public later that year, he cited two television ads, one targeting a Democratic candidate and one targeting a Republican candidate,' Trowbridge told MailOnline.


Levin has focused in his letter to the IRS on an apparent contradiction in two separate Treasury Department regulations.



-One specifies that 501(c)(4) status, one of several tax-exempt designations the IRS can award, is reserved for groups that operate 'exclusively' for social welfare and don't engage in partisan politics.


-But another federal government guideline specifies that groups can be considered 'exclusively' focused on public welfare if they are 'primarily engaged' in promoting a community's general welfare.


That conflict – between regulators who take the word 'exclusively' literally and those who rely instead on the word 'primarily' – has vexed lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

​

from the op's link

it's not his job to get personally involved in pressuring the IRS do anything..You do understand that right? but you don't "care for all" do you

I don't think it is his job to personally get involved! But I also don't think that he did so, solely against one party or the other...he complained of several groups that he felt were NOT following the LAW...both right and left wing.

Regardless, he should have just kept his nose out of it!

BTW, who is responsible for making certain the IRS follows THE LAW regarding 501c's?

 

[Jroc]

from the op's link

it's not his job to get personally involved in pressuring the IRS do anything..You do understand that right? but you don't "care for all" do you

I don't think it is his job to personally get involved! But I also don't think that he did so, solely against one party or the other...he complained of several groups that he felt were NOT following the LAW...both right and left wing.

Regardless, he should have just kept his nose out of it!

BTW, who is responsible for making certain the IRS follows THE LAW regarding 501c's?

Good, our first agreement on anything. a special prosecutor is warranted on this issue