From: ABC News
Welcome to Cincinnati – Ground zero of the exploding IRS scandal.
Things started brewing earlier this month when Internal Revenue Service officials in Washington first admitted conservative groups were targeted for extra scrutiny by tax bureaucrats in Ohio's Queen City.
By May 14 – three days into the mess -- IRS staffers in Cincinnati were hard to find as reporters descended on the city. At the home of IRS staffer Elizabeth Hofacre, who was caught up in the blossoming controversy, mail below the slot in her front door was noticeably piling up when an ABC News reporter stopped by last week.
A few miles away, IRS analyst Mitchell Steele, answered the door of his home in a bath robe though the work day was just about to begin downtown. He seemed genuinely beaten down and told ABC News "this isn't fair to me."
Yet another staffer – Stephen Seok, one of the supervisors in the Determinations Unit at the heart of the scandal – would not answer his phone or front door even though he and his family could be seen coming and going. His windows were covered by taped-up sheets of white paper.
Back at the John Weld Peck Federal Building where ousted acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller said "rogue" agents did their work, it was fairly calm for the first couple of days. There was a heightened security presence outside, some workers said, but nothing too extreme.
At the IRS office on the fourth floor, a woman who answered the buzzer referred reporters to officials in Washington, though they were not returning very many calls. That staffer also said she was not allowed to speak to anyone – a line that was repeated by agency personnel during the week.
IRS headquarters in Washington denied that a no-talk rule was official policy because, after all, agency staffers still have a constitutional right to talk to whomever they want.
"Our policy is that press inbounds (queries) are referred to the press office," a spokesman said. "But people have First Amendment rights, they are entitled to speak."
Asked whether employees were reminded of the official media policy this week, the spokesman said "no."
Not so, said IRS folks in Ohio.
One of them, who asked not be named, told ABC News that security guards did remind employees of the official policy not to talk with the press – a warning cemented by the punch line "or risk losing our jobs."
Even leaders of the local union that represents the IRS workers under fire took the admonition to heart, hanging up on reporters who wanted to ask questions about the scandal. One longtime IRS worker and union member called the response by the National Treasury Employees Union "dazzling."
On Thursday morning, after news that Miller was sacked, two ABC News journalists walked into the Peck Federal Building in Cincinnati looking for answers. The newsmen were screened at the door by security. They emptied their pockets as instructed, removed their belts, then went through the metal detectors.
We wanted to ask who about made the decisions in the unit and when the profiling started. And whether those decision makers been identified yet.
But the answers – like the people involved – remained elusive.
As we traveled the public hallways of the building – watched over by security cameras – an armed uniformed police officer with the Federal Protective Service followed us. We were looking for a particular office—of someone who would not want to be seen talking to reporters--but chose to bypass it because of our official babysitter.
Asked why we were being escorted in a public building, the officer identified himself as Insp. Mike Finkelstein and said he was only trying to make sure that the newsmen were not a "nuisance." He brushed aside further questions. The cop said a supervisor would call to explain.
One of the reporters wanted to know if the act of following the journalists was an effort intended to scare off any federal employee who might have considered speaking to the press. That's sure what it looked like; and, even if that wasn't the goal, it was the effect.
As of Friday night, no supervisor had called back.
After ABC News phoned and e-mailed the spokespeople in Washington repeatedly for more than 24 hours, a low-level staffer with Homeland Security finally responded. "After review by a supervisor, it was determined that the inspector acted according to proper security procedures and that no improper conduct occurred," the spokesman said.
Whether improper conduct occurred at the IRS—and who was responsible for targeting the president's enemies, as some members of Congress have argued – will be subject to much more review.
Showing posts with label ABC NEWS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ABC NEWS. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
IRS Was Targeting Conservatives In 2010
From: ABC NEWS
The targeting of conservatives by the IRS started earlier and was more extensive than the IRS acknowledged last week, according to a draft IRS inspector general report obtained by ABC News.
As we reported on “Good Morning America” this morning, the IRS began targeting “Tea Party or similar organizations” in March 2010. That was when the Cincinnati-based IRS unit responsible for overseeing the applications for tax exempt status starting using the phrases “Tea Party,” “patriots” and “9/12″ to search for applications warranting greater scrutiny.
During this first phase, 10 Tea Party cases were identified. By April of 2010, 18 Tea Party organizations were targeted, including three that had already been approved for tax-exempt status.
By June 2011, the unit had flagged over 100 Tea Party-related applications and the criteria used to scrutinize organizations had grown considerably, flagging not just “Tea Party” or “Patriot” in group names, but also groups that were working on issues like “government debt,” “taxes” and even organizations making statements that “criticize how the country is being run.”
The report, done by the Inspector General for the IRS, also shows that senior IRS officials in Washington was aware of what was going on as early as August 4, 2011 when, according to the report, the IRS chief counsel held a meeting with the IRS’s Rulings and Agreements unit “so that everyone would have the latest information on the issue.”
The targeting of conservatives by the IRS started earlier and was more extensive than the IRS acknowledged last week, according to a draft IRS inspector general report obtained by ABC News.
As we reported on “Good Morning America” this morning, the IRS began targeting “Tea Party or similar organizations” in March 2010. That was when the Cincinnati-based IRS unit responsible for overseeing the applications for tax exempt status starting using the phrases “Tea Party,” “patriots” and “9/12″ to search for applications warranting greater scrutiny.
During this first phase, 10 Tea Party cases were identified. By April of 2010, 18 Tea Party organizations were targeted, including three that had already been approved for tax-exempt status.
By June 2011, the unit had flagged over 100 Tea Party-related applications and the criteria used to scrutinize organizations had grown considerably, flagging not just “Tea Party” or “Patriot” in group names, but also groups that were working on issues like “government debt,” “taxes” and even organizations making statements that “criticize how the country is being run.”
The report, done by the Inspector General for the IRS, also shows that senior IRS officials in Washington was aware of what was going on as early as August 4, 2011 when, according to the report, the IRS chief counsel held a meeting with the IRS’s Rulings and Agreements unit “so that everyone would have the latest information on the issue.”
Monday, April 01, 2013
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
ABC: The 'Anyone But Catholics' Network
From: Media Research Center
According to an analysis by the Media Research Center, the three broadcast networks are using the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI to advance their left-wing social agenda and attack the Catholic Church’s centuries-old doctrine on the priesthood, abortion, and gay marriage. While NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News predictably dwelled on scandals and the Pope’s “conservatism,” their anti-Catholic coverage paled in comparison to the disgraceful onslaught on ABC World News.
During last night’s ABC World News broadcast:
Media Research Center President Brent Bozell reacts:
“The liberal media’s snarling, bigoted anti-Catholicism is on full display, and ABC World News has won the race to the bottom. Instead of reporting the historic news of Pope Benedict’s resignation, Diane Sawyer – who calls herself a Catholic – and Disney-owned ABC News used the opportunity to bludgeon the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict with every left-wing grievance imaginable. It was a disgusting and deeply offensive assault on the Church.
“It is indefensible that on the same day this major story broke, ABC World News refused to mention a single accomplishment during Pope Benedict’s tenure, even on lefty-approved environmental issues. It demonstrates the contempt that ABC News and Sawyer have for the Pope and for the Church. Sawyer’s stunning editorializing that, “There has to be fundamental change,” is disgraceful and unprofessional. Who is Diane Sawyer to demand changes to thousands of years of Catholic doctrine? She and The Walt Disney Company owe 1.2 billion Catholics an apology. And she should go to Confession.”
According to an analysis by the Media Research Center, the three broadcast networks are using the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI to advance their left-wing social agenda and attack the Catholic Church’s centuries-old doctrine on the priesthood, abortion, and gay marriage. While NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News predictably dwelled on scandals and the Pope’s “conservatism,” their anti-Catholic coverage paled in comparison to the disgraceful onslaught on ABC World News.
During last night’s ABC World News broadcast:
- In an interview with New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Diane Sawyer asked if the, “burden of what the Church has been through with the scandals” caused the Pope’s resignation – with absolutely no basis in fact.
- During the same interview, “reporter” Sawyer brazenly editorialized saying, “There has to be fundamental change” to the Church’s positions on social issues.
- Posing as a papal historian, Jeffrey Kofman declared that the Pope’s, “papacy will be remembered for its scandals.” This supposed authority on the Catholic Church then said that Benedict had, “tried to hold back the forces of modernity.”
- ABC correspondent Cecilia Vega, according to Sawyer, “spent the day gathering American reaction from all over,” but then delivered reaction only from liberal Catholics who pushed ABC’s liberal narrative that the Church must “modernize.”
- ABC didn’t name a single accomplishment of Benedict XVI.
Media Research Center President Brent Bozell reacts:
“The liberal media’s snarling, bigoted anti-Catholicism is on full display, and ABC World News has won the race to the bottom. Instead of reporting the historic news of Pope Benedict’s resignation, Diane Sawyer – who calls herself a Catholic – and Disney-owned ABC News used the opportunity to bludgeon the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict with every left-wing grievance imaginable. It was a disgusting and deeply offensive assault on the Church.
“It is indefensible that on the same day this major story broke, ABC World News refused to mention a single accomplishment during Pope Benedict’s tenure, even on lefty-approved environmental issues. It demonstrates the contempt that ABC News and Sawyer have for the Pope and for the Church. Sawyer’s stunning editorializing that, “There has to be fundamental change,” is disgraceful and unprofessional. Who is Diane Sawyer to demand changes to thousands of years of Catholic doctrine? She and The Walt Disney Company owe 1.2 billion Catholics an apology. And she should go to Confession.”
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