BREAKING: Acting IRS Commissioner Steps Down, Obama Announces

[Hissyspit]

Source: CBS News

@CBSNews: BREAKING: President Obama says Secretary Lew has requested/accepted resignation of acting IRS commissioner http://t.co/XgrXBdswcX

Acting IRS commissioner steps down, Obama announces

May 15, 2013

President Obama on Wednesday announced that acting IRS commissioner Steve Miller is stepping down amid investigations into political discrimination carried out by the IRS against conservative groups.

Miller, a career bureaucrat at the IRS, was tapped to serve as acting commissioner after commissioner Doug Shulman, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, stepped down in November.

CBS News has confirmed that Miller was informed of the IRS's targeting policy in May 2012. On July 25, 2012, Miller testified before a House Ways and Means Oversight subcommittee, but he did not mention the agency's heightened scrutiny for the applications of conservative groups. After learning of the controversial IRS practice, he also wrote at least two letters to Congress explaining the process for reviewing tax-exempt status applications; in neither of those letters did he mention the targeting.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57584707/acting-irs-commissioner-steps-down-obama-announces

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Finally! A Shirley Sherroding at the IRS!

Long overdue.

I think that now, at last, the Republicans will understand they can trust us.

Regards,

Third-Way Manny

[RC]

3. RED'd this post!

All the wrong things are being done about this so-called IRS "scandal".

[Skittles]

4. so, war criminals get a pass

but the IRS investigating the tax exempt claim of a POLITICAL PARTY is "not acceptable"? Help me out here Manny - WHAT AM I MISSING???

[cyclezealot]

13. The Real scandal was spoken of last night

by David K Johnston on the Chris Hayes program.. The Republicans apply pressure on the IRS to not have the donor lists to Super Pac's for so called educational purposes , that are really a tax dodge to political Super Pac's. That is the real scandal. The IRS backs down to Republican pressure and as the GOP wants, the names of tax dodging political donors go unnamed. They really should be charged for tax evasion. Again, Obama backs down .



http://video.msnbc.msn.com/all-in-/51872140#51872140

[Buzz Clik]

25. Well, it isn't exactly the same.

The EO was sailing their own ship. The IRS corrected their course once (after much complaining), and a few months later, the EO took off on their own again. It took three months for anyone to figure out that they went rogue.

I don't think the firing is a lot like Sherrod at all.

I will grant you that Miller took over late in the game; so, he is being canned for a problem he inherited.

[Javaman]

31. +1

yup, some schlub taking the fall for someone elses fuck ups.

political theater.

[bigdarryl]

2. Not going to make a difference to the right wing nuts

[Tx4obama]

5. That is sad. It was Douglas Shulman that was the head of IRS when targeting occurred.

Shulman was a Bush appointee.

[MannyGoldstein]

9. But he can't fire Shulman anymore

And *someone* needs to be fired, for sure: Republicans need to know that we're responsive to their needs.

[Yo_Mama]

19. I think the issue is that this guy appears to have testified improperly to Congress

This makes Congress highly irritable. Congress does have the constitutional authority and responsibility for oversight, and if it asks questions and gets misleading answers, then its constitutional authority is being disregarded.

[Rebl]

23. Don't

You think Shulman should be questioned about this? Congress should call him in to be questioned about this and about all the groups that were targeted while Bush was in office.

[NewJeffCT]

24. He's a Republican, though

so, whatever happened on his watch is not his fault

[marshall]

32. Lew was scheduled to step down in a couple of weeks anyway

Don't worry about him, it's no skin off his nose. In fact I believe he will continue working in his position until one day before his previously scheduled retirement. So his "resignation" amounts to a one day censure.

[nolabear]

6. It's not enough! It's a coverup! It goes all the way to the top!

Just steeling myself for the hounds.

[DCBob]

16. No doubt Obama forced this poor slob to fall on the sword..

so he doesnt have to. Further proof Obama is guilty. MORE HEARINGS!!!

[montanacowboy]

7. OH, THAT'S THE TICKET OBAMA

ARE YOU SHITTING ME?

BEND OVER FURTHER - AGAIN AND AGAIN -

SO FUCKING WRONG HEADED IN SO MANY WAYS I JUST CANNOT BELIEVE IT

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Why? He wasn't in charge when the problems occurred.

Just a symbolic trophy head to mount on the GOP's wall?

[Yo_Mama]

20. Because it appears that he did not tell the whole truth to Congress!

Congress would inevitably have called him back in and put him through the wringer over it. Read the article.

[AtheistCrusader]

21. Because nobody wants him testifying in front of congress about it.

He'd just say 'I didn't think it was a big deal that this happened under the former director's watch'.

Because, nobody wants to hear the truth. (This is not a big deal)

[TygrBright]

10. Oh, good. Now let's see how fast Congress can confirm a permanent replacement.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

I crack me up sometimes...

ironically,
Bright

[OKNancy]

11. This guy isn't some innocent. He knew about it for a year and never said a thing

[madville]

17. They had him pretty much omitting his knowledge of the practice when he knew about it

Yes, the previous director was still in place then in a lame duck status, this acting director was testifying and writing statements about this very thing (or the absence of it) at the time though. Bureaucrats typically aren't very political and are thinking of their own careers and CYA, he got stuck without a seat when the music stopped. Now the question is what he will say when he is called to give testimony at the hearings that will drag out for months.

[Pterodactyl]

28. Excellent point.

[John1956PA]

12. Somehow I don't think any "aggrieved" 501(c)4 applicants are going to come forward.

It serves the right wing's interest to brand the IRS as a demon which is the puppet of the Dems.

Overlooked in all of this false hysteria is the fact that there are probably few, if any, Tea Party organizations or other politically conservative organizations which serve legitimate social welfare purposes and which were harassed or put on hold by the IRS in their quest for 501(c)4 recognition.

[Blandocyte]

14. I loved "Fly Like An Eagle" very sorry to hear Steve's stepping down

[DrToast]

18. Well maybe he shouldn't have been such a Joker...

[graham4anything]

15. Hey, maybe could get a job with David Sirota like Michael Heck of a Job Brown did.

[meanit]

22. Once again

Obama and the Dems grab their ankles for the lying, lunatic GOP.

I get so fucking sick of this shit....

[obama2terms]

26. If he did know about this

And we come to find out there is no specific reason they were being targeted, it's best he steps down because there's a good chance he knew this was going on and did nothing to stop it.

[John2]

27. I'm not worried about him stepping down,

but this is being spinned like everythingelse by the media and republican right. Miller was the acting commissioner but the alleged targeting began in 2010. The only groups they are alleged were targeted on the conservative side was the Tea Party and Patriot groups.

Those groups claimed they weren't affiliated to any political Party and all of the were cleared by the IRS. They claim some progressive groups were targeted also and all of them were cleared by the IRS but quicker. That is not the case though according to some reports. So far I only know of a Liberal Group that was not cleared by the IRS. And as far as those Tea Party Groups, the main Republican Party actively campaigned against the Tea Party candidates in the 2012 Election. In 2010, the Tea Party was actively going against mainstream Republicans also. So a Bush appointee had a motive to go after the Tea Party.

So why leave out the Bush appointee who actually misled Congress when he testified? The Press manipulates information more helpful to Republicans. That is why they need to be investigated also. I think the DOJ is the agency that needs to use their power and do it. I was very encourage to learn Holder is now growing a pair against Congress in this last Term. I suggest he start investigating the Hell out of the GOP. Forget about the Potheads. Make sure Lerner is clean. That is the person should have been dismissed. A Bush appointee. She knew about this long before she slipped out an apology to the media. I would also interview these low level employees, to see if they are not taking the fall for higher ups such as Lerner or the Former Commissioner before Miller. The DOJ's criminal investigation is all you need. You don't need Jack Lew or Congress. And if it goes all the way to the Republican Party instead of the Democratic Party, maybe some Republicans can be prosecuted because the only groups that I know of so far actually lost tax exempt status were Liberals. And what was done to the NAACP was unfair from the Bush Administration, which certain Republican Congress people used the IRS to go after. I think once the DOJ begans there investigation, they should widen it over more years, just like they did with the AP. Just widen the net for more fish. I want to see Chris Matthews whine some more too. He needs to calm down before he has a stroke defending the Republican Party.

[blkmusclmachine]

29. I'm sure Obama will be VERY cooperative in his impeachment trial.

Can't make the Teabaggers mad, can we ??

Nope.

Must. Be. Fair.

[Safetykitten]

30. And kids, play the new game, "Name That Obama Appointed Republican".

He will you know...a republican to head the IRS.