According to Cleta Mitchell, who is an expert on campaign-finance and political tax law and who is representing conservative groups that were targeted by the IRS, those abuses are still happening, as recently as three weeks ago.In 2012, Ms. Mitchell worked to persuade members of Congress that reports of IRS harassment of conservative groups were credible. GOP lawmakers demanded information from the IRS and triggered the internal audit that finally forced the agency last month to acknowledge abuses it had previously denied. Now Ms. Mitchell is determined to end the abuse and identify the culprits.
Don't bet against her. A partner at elite international law firm Foley and Lardner, Ms. Mitchell is sketching out a road map to uncover the truth and force reform—whether or not the Obama administration cooperates.
So far it looks like the administration will not. Ms. Mitchell represents nine conservative organizations that, beginning around 2010, were subjected to unusual delays, in many cases unlawful demands for information, and in some cases unlawful releases of their confidential data. But she reports that despite filling out the paperwork required by law and regulation, only one of the nine has received the customary IRS approval letter to operate as a tax-exempt group. She says another client received a new letter from the IRS with "very bizarre questions" as recently as three weeks ago.
The Justice Department is allegedly conducting a criminal investigation of the IRS abuse. Has anyone from Justice contacted her or her clients to gather evidence? "Not about this. The FBI's contacted some tea party leaders about their meetings and who comes to their meetings," she says. "I guess they viewed the tea party as domestic terrorists." She is puzzled that the feds aren't asking about IRS targeting: "You'd think that they would, wouldn't you?"
Mitchell thinks the Securities and Exchange Commission ought to start a case file and investigate allegations of donor harassment as well.
Ms. Mitchell says she learned this week that the IRS even intervened in the business dealings of a donor to conservative causes. "There were two public companies that were in the process of trying to do a merger and somehow the IRS stepped in and demanded all this information and said, 'If you don't give it to us we'll stop this merger,' " she says. "But I cannot get [the donor] to come forward . . . 'Look I've been through this hassle with the IRS. I don't need any more.' People are really afraid and the donors are the most afraid."
She has heard "a number of reports" of conservative donors "having been audited or hassled," but she doesn't have a sense of how many cases there might be. "I hear about them all the time, but so far they've been the most reluctant of all to talk."
Read the rest, Mitchell is going after the IRS and she appears to be loaded for bear.
Full Wake up America coverage on the IRS scandal can be found here.
