Under every administration there are examples of individuals or tax exempt groups (associated with the opposing party) getting audited by the IRS. It always, or usually, looks a bit fishy. But there’s seldom any concrete evidence of politicized decision-making at the IRS to point to. So partisans on one side or another make their judgments in the absence of hard proof. And that’s pretty much where it ends.
There’s a astounding piece on page A3 of the Post today about one of these instances — only in this case there appears to be more or less conclusive evidence that it was a political hit.
The group is question is Texans for Public Justice — a outfit which had a lot to do with turning up the information about illegal fundraising and money distributions that eventually ended Tom DeLay’s reign as Majority Leader.
They got audited by the IRS. And after what was no doubt a lengthy process, they’ve been cleared.
But why were they audited?
Apparently the IRS audited TPJ because the IRS commissioner got a request for an audit from Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX.), a DeLay ally. And who put him up to it? Apparently, a DC lawyer named Barnaby W. Zall, whom the Post identifies as “close to DeLay and his fundraising apparatus.”
The whole episode got going when Johnson wrote to then-IRS commissioner Mark W. Everson and told him he had “uncovered some disturbing information” about TPJ and asked Everson to “to report back your findings of each of these investigations directly to me.”
Other material referenced in the Post piece shows that Zall was quite clear when he contacted Johnson that he was trying to protect DeLay.
Anyway, just so we’re all on the same page here. DeLay fundraising lawyer is worried that TPJ might end up deep-sixing the boss. DeLay fundraising lawyer contacts DeLay-lackey congressman and asks him to sic the IRS on TPJ. DeLay-lackey congressman does as he’s told. And so does the IRS. TPJ gets put the wringer for uncovering information about DeLay’s crimes.
With all the shenanigans we’ve seen from these characters in recent years, I can’t say I’m surprised. But I am astounded by how much evidence there appears to be as to just how this happened. Why isn’t Rep. Johnson in more hot water?
