Washington Times - Emails Show IRS’ Lois Lerner Specifically Targeted Tea Party
By Stephen Dinan and Seth McLaughlin, WashingtonTimes.com
Lois G. Lerner, the woman at the center of the Internal Revenue Service scandal over special scrutiny of conservative groups, specifically targeted tea party applications and directed that they be held up in 2011 in order to come up with an agency policy, according to several of Ms. Lerner's emails released by a House committee Thursday.
In one 2011 email, Ms. Lerner specifically calls the tea party applications for tax-exempt status problematic, which seems to counter Democrats' arguments that tea party groups weren't targeted. . . .
Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, which represents 41 tea party and conservative organizations from 22 states in a federal lawsuit against the IRS, said the newly released emails are "damning."
"They clearly contradict the story line put out by the White House and the IRS that this scheme originated with a couple of rogue, low-level employees in a satellite office in Ohio," Mr. Sekulow said. "Secondly, it clearly shows the political motivation behind the targeting scheme — a motive that Obama administration officials continue to deny.". . .