Hattip to commenter Art Deco who alerted me to this story. Doug Shulman, the head of the IRS while the IRS was effectively operating as an arm of the Obama reelection campaign, visited the White House at least 157 times during his tenure. His predecessor in the Bush administration visited the White House once, and compared the IRS to Siberia in reference to its lack of connection with the Bush administration. Shulman was appointed by Bush in 2008 in spite of Shulman’s history of making political donations to Democrats.
Go here to The Daily Caller to read the rest. When queried about his constant trips to the Obama White House here is Doug’s response:
Easter egg roll? The bozos involved in this scandal have complete contempt for those trying to get to the bottom of this and believe that they are above the law and possess an immunity denied to the rest of us. The question posed by the Roman poet Juvenal Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?, who watches the watchmen, is, as always, completely contemporary and completely relevant.
As an addendum, it should be emphasized that the administration has had no initiatives of note in the realm of tax policy other than raising some marginal rates. The manifest interest the domestic policy staff at the White House would have in the views of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (who could tell them about the technics of tax collection) would be nil.
Possible alternative explanation: assignations with the dame in the Manolo Blahniks
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/28/kathryn-ruemmler-white-house-counsel-shoes_n_3346607.html
or some other person in the employ of the White House. It would have to be someone with a private office with thick walls.
You have Congressional inquiries, the Inspector-General’s audit, and the Department of Justice ‘investigation’. Is Mrs. Shulman also investigating?
Then there’s interesting bit about the head of the union that represents IRS employees meeting with Obama:
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/did-obama-and-irs-union-boss-talk-tea-party-wh-won-t-say
I bet Obama’s cheerleader/rat-dog journalists don’t have 17 seconds to cover this.
John Eastman quoted at Instapundit, “The world is learning about the corruption of the IRS in targeting conservative groups, including various Tea Party organizations, for heightened scrutiny. But the corruption goes much deeper than harassing groups seeking first time non-profit designations, into actively sabotaging existing non-profit groups by releasing confidential information.”
“What difference does it make?”
The moral of the story is…DON’T VOTE FOR LEFTISTS…EVER.
The Republicans are the stupid party (unable to convey their proper message of a smaller government – and constantly giving in to media criticism)…
but the Democratic Party is the dangerous party. Wanting to destroy the American ideal in favor of “change”.
God help us.
OK, isn’t the IRS involved in the implementation of Obamacare? I’m not saying that accounts for 156 non-Easter-egg-related visits, but it’s something that a prior IRS head wouldn’t have had to deal with.
OK, the IRS will hire 10,000+ new agents to “collect” Obamacare taxes (thank you Chief Justice Whatzhizname) from healthy, young individuals that realize the penalty/tax is less than the insurance premiums.
The penalty will not be criminal, but civil.
The IRS can only withhold the penalty from tax refunds. So, anyone with a job (a declining number) and a brain (a vanishing breed) will have minimal withheld income tax from their pay.
Here are some projections. Obamacare will devastate the private sector (already the number of small businesses is sharply dropping). Health care costs will rise. There will be long waits and rationing/death panels. Jobs will be destroyed. Millions more will be impoverished. Inflation will rise and the 99%-ers’ living standards will fall.
Whose idea was it to raise taxes in the midst of the Great Recession?
They’ll still defend Obama and Big Brother.
It is strange Pinky that he didn’t bring that up, but most people aren’t especially facile liars.
The president’s Jobs Council, created in January of 2011, was quietly disbanded
this past January. At that point, it had been a year since it last met.
In 2009, Army General McChrystal was appointed to command our war in
Afghanistan. Six months later, it was revealed that in that time, the General
had never met with the president, and had only participated in one tele-
conference that included the president.
Yet Commissioner Shulman, who should be reporting to the Secretary of
the Treasury, has 157 meetings at the White House over a two year period.
Those with eyes to see can draw their conclusions as to how far this president’s
stated priorities differ from his actual ones.
Don – Well, that might be what he meant by “administrability of tax policy”. That is to say, “administrability of tax policy” means something, but since I don’t know what, maybe it means that.
Very sharp observation, Clinton.
No Pinky, I think if he been there in regard to the IRS role in ObamaCare he would have said that, but since he wasn’t he didn’t. Now he should be recalled and asked detailed questions about each of these meetings, including who he met with, the substance of the conversations, what people were in the room and whether there were follow up e-mails, phone calls, faxes, etc. Everyone he talked to at the White House should be supoenaed and hauled before the committee.
Pinky, the Executive Office of the President has a policy development staff, but this Obamacare mess is a finished piece of legislation from which are being derived administrative rules and regulations. I am fairly sure it would be the Department of Health and Human Services writing the rules.
In any case, the director of the National Economic Council is an attorney. The director of the Domestic Policy Council is an immigration maven hired from the staff of an ethnic lobby with a wretched reputation. It is doubtful either one has granular knowledge of the subject matter at hand. Dollars to doughnuts Mr. Sperling and Mme. Munoz and their staffs are pre-occupied with the President’s next public relations flourish.
Everyone he talked to at the White House should be supoenaed and hauled before the committee.
I think much of the White House staff consists of confidential employees who cannot be lawfully subpoenaed. The budget director I think testifies in front of Congress, but I suspect the White House counsel is off limits. (Presumably, the White House employs liaisons to the Democratic National Committee, the congressional campaign committees, the Obama network’s committees and foundations, and the Sorosphere. I would want to talk to these characters).
Anyone can be lawfully subpoenaed Art for anything. If they believe they have a privilege against testifying, for example separation of powers, make them assert it in court and have a judge decide. Such privileges tend to wilt if evidence of a criminal conspiracy can be brought forth. Additionally another key question should be if any of these conversations were recorded, to complete the growing Watergate feel of this scandal.
I was not referring to the courts, but Congress. IIRC, John Dean’s memoir of working in the White House, the President’s office staff was considered exempt from being summoned in front of congressional committees. Dean’s testimony in front of that Senate select committee in July 1973 occurred about 10 weeks after Nixon fired him. I do seem to recall that a number of Mr. Clinton’s staff ended up with six-figure legal bills, so federal investigators were hunting them…
(While we are at it, Dean reports in his memoirs that the core ‘enemies list’ drawn up by Charles Colson’s office – the people to be targeted for IRS audits and the like, not the people debarred from state dinners – had twenty names on it. So far we know the IRS put 75 organizations through the mangle over a two and a half year period).
Nixon knew the elite media was out to get him, even paranoids can have real enemies, hence his penchant for secrecy and circumspection. I believe Obama assumed that he could literally do anything and be immune from adverse coverage, hence I think he and his henchpersons have been sloppy. I think what we know currently about the IRS scandal is merely the tip of what this administration has been up to against those guilty of lese majesty against the lightworker.
FDR used the IRS against anyone who opposed him in the newspapers, as the newspapers and radio were the only source of news when FDR was dictator. I found that out in the book FDR Goes To War.
Anything Nixon was accused of, FDR did and was worse about it. As for what does on with Obumbler serving out his last 43 + months in Washington…I am trying to survive. I can’t change anything. I tried to at the ballot box but not enough people agreed with me. I hope that there is a country left when Obumbler leaves for Hawaii in January 2017.
when FDR was dictator.
You need to stop talking like this. It’s foolish.
FDR did set the example for using the IRS against political adversaries and he was not a dictator. His multiple presidencies however was not a healthy sign for the Republic and it was a good thing that his example term limited Presidents by constitutional amendment.