House Democrats are not backing away from their claim that the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of groups applying for tax exemption was politically neutral. Representatives Elijah Cummings and Sander Levin on Tuesday hauled forth another tranche of documents that they say highlight “IRS scrutiny of progressive groups.” It is the duo’s sixth such effort, but this one, Cummings says, “should put a nail in the coffin” of the GOP’s claims that the agency’s actions were politically motivated or aimed exclusively at conservative organizations. That’s because, according to Levin, the latest papers show that IRS scrutiny “covered a broad spectrum of political ideology.” In fact, the documents show just the opposite.
Cummings and Levin, the ranking Democrats on the congressional committees investigating the IRS scandal, make claims that contradict the testimony of key witnesses, who have told investigators that progressive groups were not targeted. The latest is Cindy Thomas, the 35-year IRS veteran who ran the agency’s Cincinnati office during the two-year period when tea-party applications were thrown under the microscope. She had the following exchange with investigators:
Q: Okay. And were [the progressive] cases sent to Washington?Via: Natinal Review Online
A: I’m not — I don’t know.
Q: Not that you are aware?
A: I’m not aware of that.
Q: As the head of the Cincinnati office you were never aware that these cases were sent to Washington?
A: There could be cases that are transferred to the Washington office according to, like, our [Internal Revenue Manual] section. I mean, there’s a lot of cases that are processed, and I don’t know what happens to every one of them.
Q: Sure. But these cases identified as progressive as a whole were never sent to Washington?
A: Not as a whole.
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