IRS Scandal Extends Beyond Cincinnati To Washington Headquarters & California

By Connor Adams Sheets, Ibtimes.com

The scope of the scandal at the Internal Revenue Service concerning its admitted targeting of conservative groups applying for federal tax-exempt status appears to be wider than originally thought, according to new documents obtained by the International Business Times.

Lois Lerner, director of the Exempt Organizations Division at the IRS, stated Friday that employees at the Cincinnati IRS office had targeted groups with “Tea Party” or “Patriot” in their names. But letters obtained by IBTimes suggest that employees of IRS offices in Washington, D.C., and two California cities -- El Monte and Laguna Niguel -- also engaged in such practices. These letters contain unusual requests for a wide variety of information and materials, ranging from the résumés of group board members to schedules of upcoming rallies.

“The idea that they’re going to blame this on some lower-level Cincinnati staffers….This was a strategy imposed by the IRS,” said Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, which is representing a wide range of conservative groups whose tax-exempt status applications have been in legal limbo for as long as two years. “This happened at the national level. We have groups here in 17 different states that received similar questions.” . . .

You can read the entire story here.