The Other McCain

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Boom! IRS Admits Guilt

Posted on | June 28, 2014 | 9 Comments

This news is relatively huge:

Two years after activists for same-sex marriage obtained the confidential tax return and donor list of a national group opposed to redefining marriage, the Internal Revenue Service has admitted wrongdoing and agreed to settle the resulting lawsuit.
The Daily Signal has learned that, under a consent judgment [Tuesday], the IRS agreed to pay $50,000 in damages to the National Organization for Marriage as a result of the unlawful release of the confidential information to a gay rights group, the Human Rights Campaign, that is NOM’s chief political rival.
“Congress made the disclosure of confidential tax return information a serious matter for a reason,” NOM Chairman John D. Eastman told The Daily Signal. “We’re delighted that the IRS has now been held accountable for the illegal disclosure of our list of major donors from our tax return.” . . . .
Eastman said an investigation in the civil lawsuit determined that someone gave NOM’s tax return and list of major donors to Boston-based gay rights activist Matthew Meisel.

Bruce Carroll at Legal Insurrection points out that there was so much news in the IRS scandal this past week that news of the NOM settlement got very little coverage. He also points out that this was related to the bitter 2008 battle over Prop 8 in California, which I wrote about at the time: “Gay Rights, Gay Rage.” Also, remember when it was disclosed that Barbara Bosserman, the Justice Department attorney investigating the IRS scandal, had donated money to the Obama campaign?

Did you ever wonder why Bosserman was chosen for that job? “Civil rights,” IYKWIMAITYD.

And why wouldn’t the DOJ let Bosserman testify?

 

Category: Scandal, Taxes

Comments

9 Responses to “Boom! IRS Admits Guilt”

  1. Political Rift » Boom! IRS Admits Guilt
    June 28th, 2014 @ 8:15 pm

    […] Read more here: Boom! IRS Admits Guilt […]

  2. Pablo
    June 28th, 2014 @ 8:22 pm

    Important points: A $50K settlement means jack shit. That’s our money and that’s all it cost them. No accountability whatsoever is attached to this.

    Next, the Lerner/TEA party targeting story is missing an extremely important element: The Joooos.

    The sleeper case that could bust open the IRS scandals

    The absence of any official judicial inquiry into the inner workings of the IRS processes is why it is so important to note that yesterday saw the beginning of the discovery phase in the lawsuit by Z-Street a pro-Israel organization that was told its application for tax exempt status was being delayed because:

    …these cases are being sent to a special unit in the DC office to determine whether the organization’s activities contradict the Administration’s public policies.

    That’s just the tease.

    What makes the Z-Street case unique and potentially extremely damaging is that its lawsuit was filed in August 2010. That filing placed the IRS under legal obligation to preserve records. The Wall Street Journal’s Review and Outlook column explains:

    Under
    the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and legal precedent, once the suit was filed the IRS was required to preserve all evidence relevant to the viewpoint-discrimination charge. That means that no matter what dog ate Lois Lerner’s hard drive or what the IRS habit was of recycling the tapes used to back up its email records of taxpayer information, it had a legal duty not to destroy the evidence in ongoing litigation.

  3. jamesbbkk
    June 28th, 2014 @ 8:30 pm

    The IRS should be abolished – just like Arthur Andersen. Cannot ever be trusted with it’s core responsibility.

  4. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    June 28th, 2014 @ 8:55 pm

    I agree with Pablo, a $50K settlement is nothing, other than a very small step in the right direction. And here is the most important part:

    The $50,000 to be paid by the IRS represents actual damages NOM incurred responding to the illegal disclosure, not punitive damages, since the marriage group was unable to prove disclosure of the confidential records was deliberate after Meisel took the Fifth.

    An admission of intent would be huge. Obviously this was all not one big cosmic cluster funk of bad luck, bad intent by individuals (and likely leadership in the IRS and higher ups) was there, but nothing has been proven yet.

    But I agree every small step matters. Like a small crack in a dam…it can eventually burst forth rather quickly.

  5. ndmike12
    June 28th, 2014 @ 9:28 pm

    Yeah, $50,000 is low enough that it could plausibly be characterized as a “just make this go away” payment. Especially when you remember that it’s the government and the money is taxpayers’ money.

  6. Zohydro
    June 28th, 2014 @ 9:43 pm

    NOM isn’t even going to break even… The Gaystapo in Maine wreaks its tit for tat…

    http://www.pressherald.com/2014/06/25/maine-ethics-panel-ratifies-fine-against-anti-gay-marriage-group-grants-temporary-stay-in-disclosing-donors/

  7. Confutus
    June 28th, 2014 @ 9:59 pm

    If the IRS cannot administer the law in a non-partisan fashion, the law will be seen as a tool of oppression by the dominant party, and the moral obligation of a just society will become resistance to it instead of compliance with it. The fools are actively undermining the legitimacy of the whole Federal government.

  8. The Daley Gator | Saturday Evening/Sunday Morning Links
    June 28th, 2014 @ 10:04 pm

    […] The Other McCain: IRS admits guilt […]

  9. Hillary Re: Obama: ‘Can’t Trust the Mother****er’ | Regular Right Guy
    June 29th, 2014 @ 1:56 pm

    […] Boom! IRS Admits Guilt […]