WND EXCLUSIVE
GOP ‘WANTS TO SIC IRS ON TEA PARTY’
Republican establishment wants grassroots movement in federal crosshairs
Longtime political observer and commentator Pat Caddell said it, and it’s now out in the open: Some key leaders in the GOP actually want the Internal Revenue Service to go after tea-party groups because they represent a threat to the established power structure of the political party.
Former Rep. John LeBoutillier, R-N.Y., appeared with Caddell recently on Fox News, and said, “I’ve been sickened that Nixon went down the toilet in part for talking about using the IRS to go after his enemies. Here Obama is doing it, the Obama administration.”
But he noted the absence of a high-level investigation by Republicans to get to the bottom of the issue.
Caddell chimed in, “The reason is, establishment Republicans want the IRS to go after the tea parties. Got it? They want [the IRS] to go after the tea parties because the tea parties are an outside threat to their power hold.
“And I’m telling you, the lobbying-consulting class of the Republican Party, the Republican leadership who’s been attacking the tea parties … they want the IRS [to attack].”
See the video at http://www.wnd.com/2014/02/gop-wants-to-sic-irs-on-tea-party/#boJfmLpWxtWpxJER.99
It probably wouldn’t surprise some tea-party leaders.
True the Vote President Catherine Englebrecht, whose group repeatedly has been attacked by the Obama administration, said she is not convinced any investigation into IRS abuse is taking place.
“It is smoke and mirrors. There is no intent to actually get to the bottom of who knew what when and why it all happened like it did. In fact, quite the opposite, as we now see the IRS suggesting that it’s going to impose new regulations on (501 (c)4 nonprofits), shutting down their ability to educate and reach voters and fundamentally changing the landscape of pro-liberty nonprofits in this country,” she said.
“That’s where we’re headed is the codification, the legalization of the type of targeting that this administration is all too keen to just gloss over.”
Rush Limbaugh joined in the outrage over the lack of GOP grilling of the IRS.
He noted the GOP “wants” the IRS to pursue its attacks on the tea party.
He suggested the party might even be “willing to lose a couple of elections, if it meant getting rid of the tea party.”
WND has reported on the scandal of the IRS, and just days ago broke the news that the IRS essentially subcontracted its responsibility to collect tax documentation to the Urban Institute, a leftist organization that receives major federal funding but also gets significant financial backing from liberal billionaire George Soros. Specifically, online applicants are directed to the Urban Institute’s website if they take in less than $50,000 in annual receipts.
Englebrecht called the strategy “weaponizing government against private individuals and nonprofit organizations that oppose current policy or the performance of this administration. They want them silenced. It doesn’t shock me in the least.”
Listen to Rush Limbaugh:
See the video at http://www.wnd.com/2014/02/gop-wants-to-sic-irs-on-tea-party/#boJfmLpWxtWpxJER.99
Englebrecht said she can’t think of any legitimate reason for the IRS and a group like the Urban Institute to be working together on matters involving that kind of sensitive information the government requires from tax-exempt applicants.
Urban Institute spokesman Stu Kantor told WND, “IRS funding of approximately $1.14 million has been provided to the Urban Institute for this work since 2007. This amount represents less than a quarter of one percent (.24 percent) of our revenues during this period.” Kantor also noted that no confidential information is located on the 990-N e-Postcard the organization processes for the IRS.
He said, “The Urban Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization. For more than 45 years, we have been conducting social and economic policy research, including evaluating government programs and providing technical assistance for government at all levels and for foundations.”
However, WND’s investigation found the supposedly “nonpartisan” organization’s employees have a record of donating nearly 100 percent of their political contributions to Democrats, and officially, the Urban Institute advocates for totally socialized medicine, carbon taxes and amnesty for illegal aliens.
Listen to Radio America’s interview with Catherine Englebrecht:
See the video at http://www.wnd.com/2014/02/gop-wants-to-sic-irs-on-tea-party/#boJfmLpWxtWpxJER.99
And UI’s president, Sarah Rosen Wartell, is the co-founder of the Center for American Progress, widely considered ground zero for the development of many of the Obama administration’s progressive policies. In fact, WND found very strong ties between the organization’s leadership and the administrations of former President Bill Clinton and President Obama.
As for the IRS troubles, at least one conservative organization, the National Organization for Marriage, learned its donor list ended up in the hands of the Human Rights Campaign, its chief rival in the marriage debate. Englebrecht said True the Vote cannot be certain whether its confidential information was transmitted to opposing groups as well.
“That’s a tough question to answer because we’ve been attacked so soundly on so many fronts,” she said. “Whether or not information is being used, there’s so much out there about us, it’s entirely possible. And that is one of the things we’re asking to be addressed in our lawsuit when we sued the IRS, is the discovery of certain documents that we can’t get our hands on otherwise will be revealed in this lawsuit.
We should be able to figure out who was pointing the cannons in our direction.” In addition to submitting paperwork about the group’s voters, Englebrecht said the IRS made other demands that were clearly absurd.
“There were questions that still cause the hair on the back of my neck to stand up, questions like, ‘We want to know everywhere you’ve ever spoken since the inception of your organization and to whom you spoke and what you said.’ That particular question was asked in 2012, (and) they wanted to know everywhere I intended to speak through 2013. That goes so far beyond the pale. It is such a clear effort to chill political speech. On the basis of that question alone, I think we should have had an investigation,” she said.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/02/gop-wants-to-sic-irs-on-tea-party/#boJfmLpWxtWpxJER.99