Lois Lerner, IRS official at heart of tea party scandal, retires

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Washington Times:

The Internal Revenue Service said Monday that Lois G. Lerner, the woman at the center of the tea party targeting scandal, has retired from the agency — though because of privacy rules it could say nothing more.

 

Ms. Lerner, who had been on paid administrative leave, was the director of the division that reviewed the applications for tax-exempt status from political groups over the past few years and that, according to an internal audit, gave extra scrutiny to tea party and other conservative groups.

 

She remains subject to congressional investigation.

 

Her actions put her at the center of the controversy, and several congressional committees had been looking into her behavior and into emails that seemed to suggest she was looking for reasons to deny political groups approval for tax-exempt status.

 

Last week, acting IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said he had asked both a review board and the agency’s inspector general to look at the emails.

 

Republicans said Ms. Lerner’s resignation, while a first step, isn’t the end of the scandal.

 

“Just because Lois Lerner is retiring from the IRS does not mean the investigation is over. Far from it,” said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. “In fact, there are many serious, unanswered questions that must be addressed so we can get to the truth.”

________

 

Tossed under the scandal bus.

[Valin]

IRS scandal means bad news for Obama

Come 2014, the government's damaged brand will reflect poorly on president and his party.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds

September 30, 2013

 

 

So last week, while most of the country was talking about football or fears of a government shutdown, Rasmussen released a poll that should worry everyone -- but especially incumbent Democrats in Congress. According to Rasmussen's survey, most Americans think the IRS broke the law by targeting Tea Party groups for harassment, but few expect it to be punished. Fifty-three percent think the IRS broke the law by targeting the Tea Party and other conservative groups like the voter-integrity outfit True The Vote; only 24% disagreed. But only 17% think it is even somewhat likely that anyone will be charged, while 74% think that criminal charges are unlikely.

 

So a majority of Americans think that government officials who exercise an important trust broke the law, but only a very small number think anything will be done to punish them.

 

There are a couple of lessons to draw from this. One is bad for the country in general, but the other is bad for congressional Democrats.

 

(Snip)

[NCTexan]

Lois

 

And here's a little retirement memento that represents how much we appreciate your service to our country.

 

[Casino67]

Hopefully she will be spending her pension payments at the prison commissary.