Althouse: "For months, the Tea Party cases sat on the desk of a lone specialist, who used 'political sounding' criteria — words like 'patriots,' 'we the people'

May 18, 2013

"For months, the Tea Party cases sat on the desk of a lone specialist, who used 'political sounding' criteria — words like 'patriots,' 'we the people' — as a way to search efficiently..."

"... through the flood of applications for groups that might not quality for exemptions, according to the I.R.S. inspector general. 'Triage,' the agency’s acting chief described it."

The NYT looks into the "understaffed Cincinnati outpost" of the IRS based on "interviews with current and former employees and with lawyers who dealt with them, along with a review of I.R.S. documents" and portrays them as confused and "alienated from the broader I.R.S. culture."

102 comments:

Dante said...: To improve efficiency in processing 60,000 applications, take all the tea party ones, ask for huge amounts of information due right away, then put file on a shelf and do nothing.

Meanwhile, make sure to process all the liberal ones, except the ones that look really strange, and process those right away.; 5/18/13, 7:24 PM
LilyBart said...: Oh, sure, the IRS is just a bunch of crazy, mixed up kids who need more supervision - and more money, of course.

- That's why they asked the pro-life group about the content of their prayers? Because they were understaffed?

- That's why one group, after not hearing about their application for 15 months reapplied under the name 'Greenhouse Solutions' and was approved under that name in about a month? Because there was a bottleneck of applications?; 5/18/13, 7:25 PM
khesanh0802 said...: Let's see; 400 cases less two dozen liberal-left ones and a few clearly non-political cases leaves well over three hundred possibly conservative applications hanging in the wind. There was no collusion, however!

Love the NYT objective news gathering.; 5/18/13, 7:25 PM
George M. Spencer said...: The article is perfect evidence for abolishing the IRS....incompetent, understaffed, confused, tardy, dysfunctional, leaderless, and corrupt.

It has about 100,000 employees who would be happier and more productive doing other things outside of government.; 5/18/13, 7:27 PM
Renee said...: What about individuals, not organizations, who were audited and claim they were put under scrutiny?; 5/18/13, 7:27 PM
PT said...: Here's an academic exercise.

Replace IRS with ATF. Replace applications with guns. Replace Cincinnati with Phoenix. Replace tea party with Mexican cartels.

Standard NYT article running cover for the President.; 5/18/13, 7:27 PM
Sorun said...: But put "Obama" in your name and you get on the fast track for approval because it's obviously not political.; 5/18/13, 7:28 PM
Dante said...: Because there was a bottleneck of application [processing]?

How long have these people had to figure out their story? All they need is to give enough "I'm incompetent, Not enough money, It wasn't our fault," to the NYTs and the rest of the media to make it partisan.

It takes Big Media to cover up a stink like this.

Hey, it's not inconceivable this is isolated to a few people with encouragement, but it's really unlikely. And given the work they already have, and that only Tea Party and other conservative groups were denied is a smoking gun, in my view.; 5/18/13, 7:29 PM
Unknown said...: Nice try, NYT.

Good to get the DNC talking points out there I guess. The house organ of the party is good for that much still.; 5/18/13, 7:29 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: ...for groups that might not quality for exemptions...

1.The standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something: "quality of life".
2.General excellence of standard or level: "quality beers".

Exactly.; 5/18/13, 7:33 PM
Rabel said...: The penultimate paragraph in the article seems to be in conflict with the rest of the narrative.

Cover? In case things blow up?; 5/18/13, 7:36 PM
edutcher said...: Somebody refresh my memory.

Isn't this the same IRS that received just billions and billions (Carl Sagan voice) of taxpayer dollars to hire 40,000 new agents to run ObamaTax?; 5/18/13, 7:37 PM
Renee said...: Is CBS turning into FoxNews??

"Evidence emerges that Obama administration official knew of IRS targeting during 2012 campaign"; 5/18/13, 7:41 PM
Big Mike said...: The IRS is incompetent, so we can trust them to handle our healthcare starting next year?

Perhaps the NYT wants to rethink its cover story?; 5/18/13, 7:44 PM
Big Mike said...: The IRS is incompetent, so we can trust them to handle our healthcare starting next year?

Perhaps the NYT wants to rethink its cover story?; 5/18/13, 7:45 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: The article is in a section called Politics... it couldn't have been criminal.

That settles it.; 5/18/13, 7:45 PM
edutcher said...: PS Love the Gray Lady's use of the word, outpost.

Makes them sound as if they're the last bastion of civilization in a savage land. Keeping those barbaric patriots (ever think you'd live to see that word used as an epithet?) in their place.

Fort Apache, Fort Zin de Neuf, Canton Meerut...

Fort West Covington (which, as a former IRS Service Center, could pick and choose its personnel).; 5/18/13, 7:49 PM
Michael K said...: And the Benghazi attack was caused by a You Tube video and the AP phone taps were because of SHUT UP !; 5/18/13, 7:54 PM
Palladian said...: Talk about covering a pudendum with an umbrella...; 5/18/13, 7:59 PM
Dante said...: I've figured it out. Leftists and the NYTs are Worse than my kids when it comes to:

Being responsible
Giving a balanced presentation of what actually happened
Cleaning up after themselves (aka, make it right).; 5/18/13, 8:17 PM
Michael said...: This will be easy to sort out. Round up these confused, overworked sad sacks and let them hear the number of years they will be in the slammer for breaking the law. Oh, they didnt know what they were doing was illegal? Tough shit, tell that to the IRS and see them guffaw. Not knowing is no defense.

So give them time to hire some lawyers (not a deduction, sorry) to fill them in on how it works. Soon, I believe we would learn how they came to pursue these particular groups. And why.; 5/18/13, 8:17 PM
kcom said...: the IRS is "just a bunch of crazy, mixed up kids"

That's a punch line I remember from a third grade joke book.

What did the hen say when she saw a plate of scrambled eggs?; 5/18/13, 8:18 PM
Dante said...: Big Mike:

The IRS is incompetent, so we can trust them to handle our healthcare starting next year?

No, no, you see it is a backwater of the IRS that no one wants to work for. And they were understaffed. And they were confused. And, Gosh Darn it, they had 400 Tea Party and other conservative applications of 60,000, and they simply didn't know what to do with them.; 5/18/13, 8:19 PM
bagoh20 said...: So, what's up with this graphic?; 5/18/13, 8:19 PM
Hagar said...: There are several things to keep separate.

The IRS did not go after the large 501-(c)(4)'s, like Karl Rove's "Crossroads GPS", since here they would meet up with real money and major league law firms, though these are what the Democrats (and the MSM) are most obsessed with. ("Citizens United," etc.)

The IRS actions that caused this fuss we hear most about was generally directed at small grassroots 501-(c)(3)'s without the skills and resources to defend themselves.
This may indicate that this practice was due to the personal political orientation of the employees in the Cincinnati IRS office, without direction from other entities. At a minimum, some remedial education on proper IRS procedures is required.
Whatever, but these people have caused severe damage to the Government's (and not just this Administration's) reputation among the citzens.

Then there were Harry Reid's statements about Mitt Romney's tax returns, the case in Utah where 8 (or 9?) wealthy donors to the Republican party got targeted for IRS and NLRB audits and ballyhooed in the media as shady characters with dubious business practices, etc., presumably as a warning to others who might be thinking of donating to the Republicans, and there may be more cases like that around the country.
This was criminal activity that should be investigated and prosecuted.; 5/18/13, 8:24 PM
Unknown said...: What no lone gunman!?; 5/18/13, 8:36 PM
edutcher said...: Some documentation on Hagar's point.; 5/18/13, 8:39 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: IANAL, let alone a tax lawyer, but if the statutory definition of a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organization has remained unchanged since the 1950s(!), you'd think the IRS would have a handle on it by now.

Megan McArdle had a couple of good posts on this in the last couple of days. Notable: Applications actually declined from 2009 to 2010, so the targeted scrutiny was entirely pre-emptive. Also notable: you'd think that with all that "Tea Party," "Patriot," "We the People," &c. cherry-picking they could've turned up at least one application on that side of the political spectrum to, you know, deny, but they couldn't. But they sure put them on ice for two-plus years, and must have added quite the bump to the revenues of a number of Kinko's branches.; 5/18/13, 8:47 PM
Bob Ellison said...: Most folks have not had to deal much with the federal government. It's a hellish place. Anyone who willingly works there has given up on life and career. Twenty months on a shelf is pretty good.; 5/18/13, 8:53 PM
Hagar said...: Ignorance, stupidity, foolishness, and general incompetence on that scale in the Federal Government may be hard to believe for those who have had little contact with Federal officials, but it is certainly not inconceivable for those of us who have had to work with them.; 5/18/13, 8:58 PM
Oso Negro said...: Defy, deny, and crucify them!; 5/18/13, 9:01 PM
Anonymous said...: They can reject or delay an application but can never justify asking for the contents of someone's prayers, or the names of friends and donors.; 5/18/13, 9:04 PM
KCFleming said...: This is how health care and the death panels will work.
The very personal is political.

Expect significant preference falsification, as in the USSR.
Everybody will be in favor of Democratic socialism.

Until it collapses, which it must, as every socialist entity has done.; 5/18/13, 9:05 PM
Cody Jarrett said...: LOL. A lone specialist.

Whatever.; 5/18/13, 9:08 PM
rhhardin said...: The NYT is understaffed the same way.; 5/18/13, 9:09 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Talk about covering a pudendum with an umbrella...

This is the kind of coverage you will find nowhere else.; 5/18/13, 9:12 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: The NYT is understaffed the same way.

lol.; 5/18/13, 9:13 PM
Henry said...: From the article: Specialists throughout the Determinations Unit had been issued a “Be on the Lookout” notice for Tea Party applications...

Party game. Drink a beer for every passive verb.; 5/18/13, 9:19 PM
Anonymous said...: a few random thoughts before bed.

Lois Lerner opened this can of worms by planting the question with a friendly source. Then lied about that when questioned. That doesn't build a lot of confidence.

She also said, 2 low level Ohio employees, the NYT says, a revolving set of employees and supervisors, presumably, all in on the BOLO process as well as numerous interactions with the hired gun lawyers in the Technical Unit in DC. I don't know about the IRS, but in most organizations, when you have to go outside your org and ask HQ's for a consult, you cc your management chain. If nothing else, so that the resulting determination changes are made consistent across the org. So Lois never new that her people in Ohio, were seeking and getting guidance from the DC lawyers?

BTW: though the NYT says clerks and accountants, Lois Lerner is a Lawyer, as is everybody named thus far above her. And of course those Tech Unit Pros. I thought you lawyers had a clue about the 1st Amendment. Bar Ethics ring a bell?

BTW2: 501(c)(4) rules didn't change, and donor lists aren't something the IRS has ever been able to ask for...Communications of your group with Legislators? Why not confessions to Priests?

BTW3, Lois Lerner signed out some of those letters to Tea Party groups demanding intrusive data...; 5/18/13, 9:20 PM
Fred Drinkwater said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/18/13, 9:20 PM
The Godfather said...: A competent Government would identify the people who put unreasonable and unlawful impediments in the way of applications from organizations that "sounded wrong". It doesn't matter whether they were acting through malevolence or incompetence: In either case they should be fired. The same applies to their supervisors, who should have trained them properly and reviewed their work. The head of the office during the period these wrong actions were being done would also be fired, for the same reasons -- and to warn other office heads to be really careful in the future.

(I leave aside for another day the question of criminal prosecution. That would require a showing of intentional or at least reckless wrongdoing; incompetence is enough for firing.)

But if that's not what our Government does, then we have to conclude that our Government is NOT competent. In that case, we really better reconsider whether we want this Government making myriad decisions that importantly affect our lives, our jobs, our children, our health, our safety, etc.; 5/18/13, 9:25 PM
Anonymous said...: PS: Somebody needs to get an court order and keep the IRS from dumping email back-up tapes in the burn bag...

What we need is Mr Brimley:

James A. Wells, Assistant U.S. Attorney General: Tell you what we're gonna do. We're gonna sit right here and talk about it. Now if you get tired of talking here, Mr. Marshal Elving Patrick there will hand you one of them subpoenas he's got stuck down in his pocket and we'll go downstairs and talk in front of the grand jury... Elliot? Jim?... Fine. All right, Elving, hand whichever one of these fellas you like a subpoena and we'll go on downstairs and talk in front of the grand jury.

James A. Wells, Assistant U.S. Attorney General: Now we'll talk all day if you want to. But, come sundown, there's gonna be two things true that ain't true now. One is that the United States Department of Justice is goin' to know what in the good Christ - e'scuse me, Angie - is goin' on around here. And the other's I'm gonna have somebody's ass in muh briefcase.; 5/18/13, 9:26 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: This was criminal activity that should be investigated and prosecuted.

Ah.. lets wait until the republicans try it... that is they ever get pass the new and improved IRS, with its White House gate keeping duties.; 5/18/13, 9:27 PM
Henry said...: “There’s a buzz in the office about this Tea Party situation,” said Neal Juarez, a case advocate in the Taxpayer Advocate Service. Like several other I.R.S. workers, Mr. Juarez was skeptical that employees in Cincinnati would have acted as they had without some direction from leadership in Washington.

So if you're a low-level staffer working on a shitty detail with potential blowback and no direction, what do you do?

You cover your ass.

How do you cover your ass?

You make sure you don't do anything that could get you in trouble.

Such as what?

Approving the wrong group. You make sure you don't do that.; 5/18/13, 9:28 PM
Matt Sablan said...: I thought that, during the start of the targeted view point discrimination, the IRS was receiving -fewer- applications?; 5/18/13, 9:32 PM
sakredkow said...: These were two nonpolitical hipster guys at the heart of this scandal. It started out as a joke mocking all these political people, and especially the Tea Party. It went further and further and the more demands they put on the group just made it funnier and funnier. They wrote down "Send us a copy of your daily prayers" and laughed their asses off.

Just a theory of mine. That or they were Mobys.; 5/18/13, 9:34 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/18/13, 9:35 PM
Anonymous said...: Lem said...
This was criminal activity that should be investigated and prosecuted.

Doesn't really matter. Just get the FBI involved and somebody will go to jail.

The FBI has no institutional sense of humor.
These IRS weenies can't seem to get their stories straight from one day to the next.
5 Days of FBI interviews and you'll have enough for 5 convictions. Ask Scooter.
And given the awful politics of this already, Eric Holder would not dare tamper with that.; 5/18/13, 9:37 PM
Cody Jarrett said...: phx said...

These were two nonpolitical hipster guys at the heart of this scandal. It started out as a joke mocking all these political people, and especially the Tea Party. It went further and further and the more demands they put on the group just made it funnier and funnier. They wrote down "Send us a copy of your daily prayers" and laughed their asses off.

Just a theory of mine. That or they were Mobys. "

Except all the dem groups were rushed on through.

Kinda puts the brakes on your mocking all the political people.

Flesh it out a bit more, I'm interested.; 5/18/13, 9:41 PM
Michael K said...: "James A. Wells, Assistant U.S. Attorney General: Now we'll talk all day if you want to. But, come sundown, there's gonna be two things true that ain't true now. One is that the United States Department of Justice is goin' to know what in the good Christ - e'scuse me, Angie - is goin' on around here. And the other's I'm gonna have somebody's ass in muh briefcase.
"

Sadly civil servants like James J Wells are fictional. Of course that was under Reagan.

Paul Newman pushed to make that movie because of a case in which the NY Post refused to mention him in the paper, even in ads for his movies. This followed a complaint of his to the paper. He, a lefty, could trust the Justice Department under Reagan to deal fairly with him.

This scandal will have terrible consequences for this country. Read Theodore Dalrymple on The Uses of COrruption.; 5/18/13, 9:43 PM
Hagar said...: The FBI is subordinate to the Attorney General.
In theory, at least.; 5/18/13, 9:44 PM
edutcher said...: phx said...

These were two nonpolitical hipster guys at the heart of this scandal. It started out as a joke mocking all these political people, and especially the Tea Party. It went further and further and the more demands they put on the group just made it funnier and funnier. They wrote down "Send us a copy of your daily prayers" and laughed their asses off.

Riiiight.

And Eichmann was just a traffic manager following orders.; 5/18/13, 9:46 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I was going to say 'if we were in a movie maybe I would trust the FBI to Investigate the IRS... but I don't want to insult your intelligence.

So I'm just going to say I don't trust Holder's FBI.

He still the head of that agency precisely because he runs interference of the type necessary to keep Obama from being touched by any of this.; 5/18/13, 9:48 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Holder didn't survive Fast & Furious just so he could stay on longer than any other department head that was there from the beginning.; 5/18/13, 9:53 PM
poppa india said...: I look forward to my declining years, when the IRS group handling Obamacare asks me the content of my prayers....; 5/18/13, 9:58 PM
poppa india said...: I look forward to my declining years, when the IRS group handling Obamacare asks me the content of my prayers....; 5/18/13, 9:59 PM
avwh said...: Even the CBS story is full of ass-covering:

"I think there was miscommunication," said Owens. "I think there was careless attention to some details, but I would not call it incompetence."

WTF?? "Miscommunication"? "Careless attention to detail"? But not "incompetence"?

I'd say they had PLENTY of attention to detail, if you had Patriot in your name, or wanted to defend the Constitution.

And I want one of those guaranteed jobs with plush pensions, free healthcare, no risk of ever getting fired, where you can completely fuck up, discriminate against half the country, subvert the political process, and still not be called "incompetent".

We are so screwed if even THIS is shrugged off like the NYT and the left wants.; 5/18/13, 10:00 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I look forward to my declining years, when the IRS group handling Obamacare asks me the content of my prayers....

You may no believe in it... but you can't say its not 'change'.; 5/18/13, 10:01 PM
sakredkow said...: Except all the dem groups were rushed on through.

Kinda puts the brakes on your mocking all the political people.

Flesh it out a bit more, I'm interested.

Yeah hipsters in general are friendlier to libs but mocking of anyone who takes politics seriously. Obviously someone like the TP is going to draw their mockery.

Their pretty self-involved with their own feelings, they don't notice when things go too far and people get hurt. Suddenly their like "WTF, we're in the paper?"

They just permeate the workplace these days, obviously they're a part of the government.; 5/18/13, 10:07 PM
Beorn said...: I also heard that Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia were understaffed.; 5/18/13, 10:08 PM
sakredkow said...: This is Kcom and some other guy yesterday:

"Can't you just see the IRS employees laughing as they get together and write those questions?

Because that's what I see when I hear and read what questions were asked of those conservative groups."

That's exactly what I was thinking. It sounds like they were getting more and more comfortable asking increasingly intrusive and obnoxious questions and that one day they were sitting around bullshitting the stupidest, most outrageous questions they could think of. Then, almost for a laugh, they went ahead and included them because they'd gotten away with so much already. Their intention was to drag things out as long as possible and that was a fun way to do it. They didn't have to worry since their victims couldn't touch them and no one above their pay grade seemed interested in touching them. Of course, this scenario lends support to the idea that they were rogue employees because it's hard to imagine that even if their bosses wanted them to put the brakes on all these applications they would want them to do it this way. (But I guess it's not impossible to imagine it.)

As soon as I read this I thought, "Hipsters." Not even political, just for the lulz.; 5/18/13, 10:13 PM
n.n said...: Well, at least we know government agents read The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution. It is odd that they would perceive them to pose a threat to their wealth and welfare.; 5/18/13, 10:24 PM
Chip S. said...: Yeah, nothing says "hipster" like "tax auditor".

Except in Cincinnati, where they call themselves hep-cats.; 5/18/13, 10:26 PM
yashu said...: Speaking of David Foster Wallace (subject of the "Pay Attention" post above), I gather his unfinished novel, The Pale King (which I haven't read), is about a handful of IRS employees in an office in Peoria who experience profound boredom, loneliness, ennui.

Sounds very like the NYT's portrayal of lone, confused, isolated, alienated IRS employees in an "understaffed Cincinnati outpost."

How novelistic. Maybe I should read the NYT more often, for the fiction.; 5/18/13, 10:26 PM
Bender said...: Just some low-level employees vs. orders from the top --

Why can't it be both?

The federal government is infested, top to bottom, with left-leaning activist types. They don't need anyone to give them marching orders - they are perfectly capable of doing it on their own. That's what got them hired in the first place.

But at the same time, the Obama Administration has reeked since before taking office with the stench of a culture of corruption. They all believe themselves to be beyond the law. The law is for suckers and for bashing their opponents over the head.; 5/18/13, 10:27 PM
sakredkow said...: Yeah, nothing says "hipster" like "tax auditor".

There's definitely hipsters in accounting.; 5/18/13, 10:27 PM
William said...: They say the cover up is worse than the crime, but does it have to be more enfuriating.; 5/18/13, 10:28 PM
Chip S. said...: How much longer before this whole thing is referred to as a "third-rate inquiry"?; 5/18/13, 10:29 PM
Chip S. said...: If I don't see people wearing trucker caps at my next IRS audit, I'm gonna start suspecting that phx is just making shit up to excuse the inexcusable.; 5/18/13, 10:32 PM
sakredkow said...: They probably got the two guys already but they don't want to come forward with these guys. They don't know what to make of hipsters. They haven't been able to understand it?

"What do you mean you did it for the lulz? What's that?"; 5/18/13, 10:36 PM
sakredkow said...: Sorry for the typos. You get the idea.; 5/18/13, 10:37 PM
Chip S. said...: What to wear to a tax audit.

Share a few ironic laughs over espresso w/ the hipster across the desk.; 5/18/13, 10:45 PM
Anonymous said...: lmao. And you "rightwingers" still think the left should be granted "civility."

Enjoy the decline, fools!; 5/18/13, 10:47 PM
sakredkow said...: So they're scared to bring these two guys forward because they don't understand what they've got. They don't know how bad they will look when it's discovered the IRS hired two guys who basically don't give a shit any of this and just think of it as a joke. How will the country react to that?; 5/18/13, 10:47 PM
Known Unknown said...: Sorry for the typos. You get the idea.

Yeah, but it's kind of dumb.; 5/18/13, 10:49 PM
sakredkow said...: Yeah, but it's kind of dumb.

Aiiight. I'll put you down as "undecided".; 5/18/13, 10:51 PM
yashu said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/18/13, 10:59 PM
yashu said...: What to wear to a tax audit.

LOL, OMG.

Well done, sir.; 5/18/13, 11:14 PM
Chip S. said...: yashu, w/ a nod to your avatar, what would make the cap a total hommage to today's blog theme would be to add the, um, caption...Ceci n'est pas un pénis; 5/18/13, 11:19 PM
Chip S. said...: Or should that be parapluie instead of péhis?

Commentary on imagery is doubly treacherous.; 5/18/13, 11:21 PM
Chip S. said...: Good night, yashu.; 5/19/13, 12:24 AM
Anonymous said...: phx said...
"So they're scared to bring these two guys forward because they don't understand what they've got. They don't know how bad they will look when it's discovered the IRS hired two guys who basically don't give a shit any of this and just think of it as a joke. How will the country react to that?"

Your wishful thinking won't change the facts. No amount of narrative construction will help "your team" in this case. There's no meme that you can push that will allow this to pass.

This was a criminal conspiracy ordered, known by, and permitted by Dem leadership in Washington. The IRS was oerating under the direction and for the benefit of Obama's political operatives. This wasn't a couple of low-level employees joking around, or even just a bit overzealous. This was political corruption of what is supposed to be a nonpolitical arm of the United States government.; 5/19/13, 12:37 AM
yashu said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/19/13, 1:13 AM
yashu said...: Sweet dreams, Chip.; 5/19/13, 1:19 AM
MayBee said...: I suspect the NYTs sees all of Ohio, and even moreso Kentucky, as a lonely, isolated outpost.; 5/19/13, 2:47 AM
MayBee said...: It surely can't make anybody feel better, the idea that one or two people low level people can ruin the lives of thousands of people.

They should rethink that excuse.; 5/19/13, 2:49 AM
Hyphenated American said...: Apparently someone told those jokers who they can they can (or maybe should) mock, and whose asses they were supposed to kiss. Now, if those hipsters sent some funny stuff to liberal groups or obama's cousin, then I would agree that there were some silly low level folks making jokes on their own accord.
B as it may, don't be surprised if one day American armed forces will also acquire a strange sense of humor, and then suddenly American liberals will wake up and realize that it's chile 1973 all over again. After all, accountants and soldiers have different criteria on what is funny.; 5/19/13, 3:20 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: If it's just a couple low level guys, that's an excellent argument for tiny government. Why should should so many low level bureacrats wield so much power over their fellow citizens?; 5/19/13, 4:28 AM
lonetown said...: If this is the kind of spin we're getting from the NYT now they must be on the third generation of degenerate offspring as editors.

Its getting so dumb its hard to understand how even NYers read it.; 5/19/13, 5:29 AM
stlcdr said...: If it's just a couple low level guys, that's an excellent argument for tiny government. Why should should so many low level bureacrats wield so much power over their fellow citizens?

This is exactly the point. The reality is that government is a bureaucracy - people follow orders; they are just doing their job. There is little to no leeway in how their job is done. It is quite disturbing that such (political) issues filter down to the people who are actually doing the job.

It is simply not possible for low level workers to make these kind of decisions and take (in)action.; 5/19/13, 5:39 AM
Bob_R said...: To improve my efficiency I will not click through to anything written in the NYT about an Obama scandal. Triage.; 5/19/13, 6:05 AM
Anonymous said...: Freeman Hunt said...
"If it's just a couple low level guys, that's an excellent argument for tiny government. "

And if it turns out to be a lot of bureaucrats from low level to high level, that is also an excellent argument for small government.

How ironic that the government mob, in suppressing the tea parties, made the best case for tea party philosophy and distrust of big government.; 5/19/13, 6:10 AM
Aridog said...: A phrase that should never again be incorporated in any legislation passed by Congress: at the discretion of the secretary [or Director or Commissioner]

Laws that incorporate such language now should be amended by omnibus legislation removing the phrasing where ever it is found in U S Code.

Use of the phrase is a classic example of my favorite cliché': Vast projects based on half vast ideas.

If the Congress, with all of its resources cannot clearly define the objectives then they should not be allowed to pass it off to unelected senior appointed bureaucrats. Doing so defeats the very concept of representative government.; 5/19/13, 7:12 AM
Rusty said...: . How will the country react to that?

The same way they are now.; 5/19/13, 7:37 AM
Rusty said...: MayBee said...
It surely can't make anybody feel better, the idea that one or two people low level people can ruin the lives of thousands of people.

They should rethink that excuse

No shit, darlin'. Them boys were busy all over the country.
Thank god we have the NYT to objectively cover for the administration.; 5/19/13, 7:39 AM
sakredkow said...: It surely can't make anybody feel better, the idea that one or two people low level people can ruin the lives of thousands of people.

They should rethink that excuse.

That's not an excuse Maybe. It's a book deal.; 5/19/13, 7:51 AM
Brian Brown said...: From the NYT:

Administering the nearly four-million-word federal tax code involves so many arcane legalities, and is so fraught with potential to ignite Washington’s partisan skirmishes or infuriate taxpayers, that much of the I.R.S. is run by lawyers.

Isn't that encouraging?; 5/19/13, 7:54 AM
Aridog said...: The flying BS in all this chatter about a backlog is hysterical and intended to fog the malfeasance. *Backlogs* impact all applications, not just selected ones. The IRS, via various senior executives, such as Lois Lerner, et al, have already admitted this fact. Steve Miller sneered at all of us as he purported that the specific law on 501(c)certifications did NOT specifically prohibit questions regarding religious prayers or speech freedom....as if the US Constitution didn't exist.

Barack Obama's campaign website, barackobama dot com, is now a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization that acquired its certification in three weeks from application to certification. In short...Organizing for America [political advocacy organization founded in 2009] ,morphed in to Obama for America [2012 campaign organization], which filed for non-profit status as Organizing for Action in January 2013, and was certified 3 weeks later. If you click on the official Obama 2012 campaign website you will get Organizing for Action which still has the promotion piece directly linking President Obama to the organization and website.

Now I realize, from personal experience, that the federal government has an affection for text scanning software searching out key words...and that it is used by departments that actually have no real world experience in their assigned areas...e.g., no expertise. You want to see it in action just apply for a federal job and fail to include obvious key words from the job description provided and see how far you get?

Hint: you get nowhere...you must repeat the key words in your resume or forget it. The first person evaluating you has no job experience or expertise in the field applied for, so they must rely on key words. If it doesn't get by that first person, it is never even seen by any true experts....thus it is a major bug in the federal hiring review process.

With the *backlog* delaying so many applications for years, how does the January 2013 application get through the morass so quickly? I know, again from personal experience, that military and federal agencies track start and finish times for actions and applications, because it is a personnel rating metric applied annually. In short, after a set period of time a more senior person reviews the performance of the junior person, and that evaluation is again reviewed by an even more senior person. Deviations and anomalies must be explained and approved by two levels higher than the operator. Nothing happens in a solitary rogue fashion.; 5/19/13, 7:56 AM
Aridog said...: Correction of bad link:

RE: "... Organizing for Action which still has the promotion piece directly linking President Obama to the organization and website"; 5/19/13, 8:05 AM
Jason said...: Phx's pathetic attempt at garagian diversion to the "hipsters" explanation is A.) utterly devoid of supporting evidence? B.) stupid on its face and C.) utterly fucking vile.

This is a textbook example of abuse of power of the most insidious and destructive sort. These people drove a shiv through the ribs of the republic. Under the noses of their supervisors. And Phx wants to explain it away as a prank.

Disgraceful.; 5/19/13, 12:20 PM
RecChief said...: hmm, they always ask for more money; 5/19/13, 5:53 PM
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