At Wednesday’s hearing, South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy wanted to find out why Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman didn’t intervene in the agency’s political targeting of conservative groups once he knew about it. The recalcitrant Shulman replied that he didn’t intervene because the Inspector General was looking into it.
And Gowdy, who actually appears to be serious about enforcing the law, responded incredulously:
“Is that what you’re telling me? You’re not going to step in and stop it? If there’s someone wielding a knife in the parking lot, are you going to call the inspector general? Are you going to wait until his or her investigation is over to stop it?”— Trey Gowdy, South Carolina Congressman
Obviously Gowdy thinks that using the IRS to target Obama’s political opponents is a crime. Plus he possesses some cojones to ask the pertinent questions of those who are keeping the American people in the dark about who ordered the deliberate targeting of political conservatives and tea party organizations.
Over the two-year time frame the IRS was targeting conservative groups about their tax exempt status, Shulman visited the White House 118 times, 132 different members of Congress contacted him about the targeting issue, and 42 major news stories were written about the IRS targeting conservative groups, yet Shulman mustarded the chutzpah to assure Congress last year that nothing was going on and that the agency was not targeting conservative groups.
Shulman must think that most Americans are too preoccupied to care or their heads screw on. Sad to say, he may be right on both counts.
I.M. Kane
See Shulman never looked into IRS targeting, though 132 congressmen contacted him and “Congressman Trey Gowdy checkmates Lois Lerner” for more on Congressman Gowdy.
Rep. Trey Gowdy Questions Fmr. IRS Commissioner Shulman 6:25 Video