The investigation into allegations that the IRS illegally targeted conservative political groups subpoenaed e-mails from key officials. Now the IRS is saying those e-mails are gone. And that the back-up tapes have been erased. And that the key hard-drive has unaccountably been destroyed. Also the main IRS official involved has plead the 5th and has been held in contempt. But surely nothing inappropriate was going on.
From Michael Gersoon, An arrogant and lawless IRS – The Washington Post:
Noted management expert and Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen was apparently called out of retirement — like the Ted Williams of evasive, unapologetic bureaucrats — to destroy what is left of his agency’s credibility.
At immediate issue is two years of subpoenaed e-mails from former IRS official Lois Lerner to outside agencies, lost in a convenient computer crash. The possible involvement of other agencies is one focus of a congressional investigation into the heightened IRS scrutiny of conservative nonprofit groups before the 2012 election.
In recent congressional testimony, Koskinen admitted that the e-mails were irretrievably gone; that the “backup tapes” had been erased; and that Lerner’s hard drive was apparently destroyed in an aggressive act of recycling. With that settled, Koskinen expressed his “hope that the investigations can be concluded in the very near future.”
It is a mix of arrogance and delusion that seems designed to incense Republicans. Koskinen had delayed informing Congress of the lost e-mails for months, even while assuring members they would be provided. “It was my decision that we complete the investigation,” he said, “so we could fully advise you as to what the situation was.” Translation from management-speak: We wanted to get our story straight before we advised you of anything. Koskinen complained about the breadth of subpoenas and the “piecemealing out” of information. Translation: We will provide you what we want when we want. “Every e-mail,” Koskinen assured the House Ways and Means Committee, “has been preserved that we have.” Except the ones they don’t have — and somehow snuffed out, tied to an anvil and thrown into the ocean.
To review: After President Obama blamed “two Dilberts in Cincinnati,” an inspector general’s report found that high-level IRS officials in Washington were involved in directing additional scrutiny toward tea party groups seeking tax exemptions. Lerner admitted as much, before taking the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying before the House oversight committee. The House of Representatives held her in contempt. And now the evidence of possible communications between Lerner and other agencies (including the White House) has gone missing under suspicious circumstances. It could be a regrettable series of rogue operations, IRS management failures and technical glitches. Or they could be taking us for fools.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In