IRS attorney Carter Hull has told congressional investigators that the Agency’s chief counsel’s office had asked to review the applications of tea party and conservative organization targeted for heightened scrutiny. William Walkins, chief counsel of the IRS, is a political appointee of President Obama. Hull’s testimony provides the closest link between the IRS scandal and the White House.
Hull also stated that the chief counsel’s office suggested developing a “template” letter asking targeted groups about their activities. Creating a “template” letter suggests that the counsel’s office viewed the targeted organizations as components of a unified effort.
“My reviewer and I both said a template makes absolutely no difference because these organizations, all of them are different,” Hull told congressional investigators. “A template would not work.”
The IRS targeting of conservative organizations reveals that some layers inside the IRS assumed that groups with “tea party,” “patriot,” or “9/12” in their names would be engaging in inappropriate political activity. Considering the actions of non-profits like Media Matters, it could be that they simply assumed that all non-profits would engage in political activity.
In other words, the IRS may have simply assumed that Tea Party organizations would do what the left has done for decades. Perhaps that is the real scandal.