Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, told Fox News that an apology from the IRS for targeting conservatives, specifically Tea Party, Patriot and 9/12, groups, "simply is not enough."
Video below-
In another appearance, Martin expands on that statement, reports The Hill:
“A simple apology on a conference call is not enough by a long shot,” Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, told Fox News. “Congress needs to investigate this and find out how many more lies the IRS is telling.”
Keli Carender, the group’s national coordinator, echoed that sentiment.
“This is chilling,” she told CNN. “This is what happens in other countries when government agencies target and harass particular groups based on their ideology. That is deserving of so much more than just a mere apology.”
On Friday, the IRS apologized for singling out conservative groups, including those with the words “Tea Party” and “patriot” in their names, for extra scrutiny when determining whether they were eligible for tax-exempt status.
Martin said the Tea Party Patriots were one of the groups targeted by the IRS.
“We applied for our 501(c)(4) and a 501(c)(3) tax exempt status, and we still have not heard back,” she said. “The IRS has asked questions of us, like they wanted to know every single post on Facebook, every comment that any person who is a fan of ours on Facebook had ever made, all the congressmen and Senators that our supporters ever spoke to, very intrusive questions.”
Martin said her group was meeting with lawyers about potentially recouping the money they spent in the application process.
Should they decide to sue, they will not be the only ones, as another group, Z-STREET, already has a lawsuit pending in regards to being targeted by the IRS in 2010. (Complaint here)
B. Z STREET brings this case because, through its corporate counsel, Z STREET was informed explicitly by an IRS Agent on July 19, 2010, that approval of Z STREET’s application for tax-exempt status has been at least delayed, and may be denied, because of a special IRS policy in place regarding organizations in any way connected with Israel, and further that the applications of many such Israel-related organizations have been assigned to “a special unit in the D.C. office to determine whether the organization's activities contradict the Administration's public policies.” These statements by an IRS official that the IRS maintains special policies (hereinafter the “Israel Special Policy”) governing applications for tax-exempt status by organizations which deal with Israel, and which requires particularly intense scrutiny of such applications and an enhanced risk of denial if made by organizations which espouse or support positions inconsistent with the Obama administration’s Israel policies, constitute an explicit admission of the crudest form of viewpoint discrimination, and one which is both totally un-American and flatly unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
Z STREET v IRS was recently scheduled for the afternoon of Tuesday, July 2, in the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia.
Related:
IRS Targeting Timeline Goes Back To March-April 2010
IRS Knew Tea Party Was Targeted In 2011- What About Romney Donors, Pro-Israel Groups?
More WH Spin: IRS Also Targeted Pro-Israel Group To Determine If They Contradict Admin Policies
July 2012- IRS Really Is Obama's Gestapo Now - IRS Targets Romney Donor After Obama Publicly Targets Him