From Libertarian Republican:
What’s most interesting out of this news report, Paz is identified as being a D.C. employee. Earlier reports had her working out of the now infamous Cincinnati office. Was that an attempt early on by the Obama administration to fit the “rogue agents in Cincy” narrative?
[Reporter] Bringing this closer to D.C. That’s what’s key here…
And this key point just coming out from hngn.com, “IRS Scandal News: High Ranking Official Scrutinized ‘Tea Party’ Cases”:
Paz’s testimony directly refutes that of Elizabeth Hofacre, the IRS emerging issues coordinator in Cincinnati, who told investigators that she removed any progressive groups from lists that she was given since she was told to target conservative groups.
“I was tasked to do Tea Parties, and I wasn’t – I wasn’t equipped or set up to do anything else,” Hofacre told congressional investigators….
Via Gateway Pundit:
Holly Paz, an IRS senior supervisor in Washington DC admitted to targeting Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status. She was personally involved in scrutinizing up to 30 Tea Party applications. For twenty-seven months the Obama IRS refused to approve any Tea Party applications for tax-exempt status starting in March 2010. Paz was put on administrative leave as director of the rulings and agreements division, according to a memo distributed to staffers last week.
Breitbart mentions:
An IRS supervisor who oversaw over 200 agents in the Cincinnati office admitted that she personally reviewed applications from conservative and Tea Party groups for tax-exempt status…
[….]
According to ABC affiliate WCPO, Paz worked at the Cincinnati office as a manager while the “systematic scrutiny of conservative groups” occurred but now serves as “the director of the office rulings and agreements for the IRS in Washington, D.C.” Paz is a registered Democrat who donated $4,000 to the Obama campaign in 2008 and is currently on administrative leave, according to her lawyer…
[….]
Paz reportedly told investigators last month that she thought “Tea Party” was shorthand for all political groups, since the first case she reviewed in D.C. in 2010 happened to be a Tea Party case. According to USA Today, Paz told investigators that she thought “Tea Party” could refer to a liberal or conservative organization, just like “‘Coke’ is used as a generic term for soda” and people “refer to tissues as ‘Kleenex.'”
Yet Hofacre, the paper notes, “told investigators that she kicked out any progressive groups that other agents tried to put in with the Tea Party cases” and “understood the term to mean conservative or Republican groups.”
“I was tasked to do Tea Parties, and I wasn’t — I wasn’t equipped or set up to do anything else,” she reportedly told investigators. USA Today also found that IRS data showed “dozens of liberal groups received tax-exempt approval in the 27 months that Tea Party groups sat in limbo, even though the liberal groups were engaging in similar kids of activity.”
From USA Today:
….As applications from conservative groups sat in limbo, groups with liberal-sounding names had their applications approved in as little as nine months. With names including words like “Progress” or “Progressive,” the liberal groups applied for the same tax status and were engaged in the same kinds of activities as the conservative groups. They included:
- Bus for Progress, a New Jersey non-profit that uses a red, white and blue bus to “drive the progressive change.” According to its website, its mission includes “support (for) progressive politicians with the courage to serve the people’s interests and make tough choices.” It got an IRS approval as a social welfare group in April 2011.
- Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment says it fights against corporate welfare and for increasing the minimum wage. “It would be fair to say we’re on the progressive end of the spectrum,” said executive director Jeff Ordower. He said the group got tax-exempt status in September 2011 in just nine months after “a pretty simple, straightforward process.”
- Progress Florida, granted tax-exempt status in January 2011, is lobbying the Florida Legislature to expand Medicaid under a provision of the Affordable Care Act, one of President Obama’s signature accomplishments. The group did not return phone calls. “We’re busy fighting to build a more progressive Florida and cannot take your call right now,” the group’s voice mail said.
Like the Tea Party groups, the liberal groups sought recognition as social welfare groups under Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code, based on activities like “citizen participation” or “voter education and registration.”
In a conference call with reporters last week, the IRS official responsible for granting tax-exempt status said that it was a mistake to subject Tea Party groups to additional scrutiny based solely on the organization’s name….