Sen. Carl Levin’s “unprincipled” pressure

By: American Decency Staff

Michigan’s Senator Carl Levin, speaking recently at the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy commencement, told the graduating class “issues change, principles do not.”

Perhaps Senator Levin should have followed his own advice.  Last week news broke that Carl Levin, a senior United States Democrat senator, was personally involved in pressuring the IRS to target conservative groups in the spring of 2012, leading up to the fall elections. 

For months Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, has sought to receive information from the IRS via Freedom of Information Requests – which the IRS ignored.  Finally after receiving a court order, Judicial Watch obtained emails from the IRS which show a series of communications between Carl Levin and the IRS starting in March of 2012 in which Levin demanded that the IRS exert greater scrutiny of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

Levin, chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, first wrote to then-IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman on March 30, 2012 stressing the “urgency” of possible political activity by nonprofit applicants.   What could be so “urgent,” as Levin wrote, of scrutinizing the possible political activity of conservative nonprofit organizations?   With the 2012 presidential election just months away, it seems clear what the urgency was to Levin and fellow democrats in shutting down conservative groups.

In addition, Judicial Watch Senior Attorney Ramona Cotca stated on Frank Beckmann’s WJR (Detroit) radio show, that Levin’s letters cited 10 organizations for special attention.  Nine of the ten were conservative groups.  Levin even supplied a sample IRS rejection letter that was sent to a conservative group back in 1997 of how the IRS should crack down on such groups.

As Frank Beckmann writes in The Detroit News: 

“… Levin’s intent is rather clear and he was joined by fellow Democratic Sens. Max Baucus and Dick Durbin in trying to pressure the tax agency.  …

“The IRS not only targeted tea party groups, by identifying terms such as “Patriot” and “Constitution” into searches of entities that were singled out for special scrutiny, but also stonewalled a congressional investigation, tried to mislead Congress about the entire scandal, and delayed for years the legitimate tax exempt status of right-leaning nonprofits.

Perhaps even worse, Judicial Watch says an estimated 10 percent of the individual donors to the tea party groups targeted saw their individual tax returns audited by the IRS.  …

The letters from influential senators like Levin, while certainly not responsible for the entire scandal, unquestionably brought added pressure to bear on IRS officials to use the government as a political arm of the Democratic Party, a blatant abuse of administrative power.

While the tax exemption issue, and pressure from Sen. Levin, are reason enough for alarm about government overreach, even more frightening are the actions of Lois Lerner, former head of taxpayer groups for the IRS and subject of congressional contempt charges.

Judicial Watch retrieved emails showing Lerner contacted the Justice Department about potential criminal prosecution of conservative groups, noting that putting one person from a conservative organization in jail would create an example and “shut the whole thing down.”

That’s the Orwellian world Levin helped facilitate.

It’s telling that Levin’s party has spent its time criticizing the congressional investigation rather than the actions of the tax agency itself.  …  http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140516/OPINION01/305160001#ixzz32HAMrNFD

The IRS emails also revealed that the IRS had developed a BOLO (“Be On the Look Out”) list of groups to target.  The BOLO list instructed IRS employees to especially investigate any groups applying for tax-exempt status which were involved in the following criteria:

1. 'Tea Party', 'Patriots' or '9/12 Project' …
2. Issues include government spending, government debt and taxes.
3. Educate the public through advocacy/legislative activities to make America a better place to live.
4. Statements in the case file that are critical of the how the country is being run."

As Gary Bauer points out, number four is particularly chilling – and smacks of fascism! 

Are American citizens no longer allowed to criticize ‘how the country is being run’?  Isn’t that what the First Amendment gives us the right to do – not only with our freedom of speech, but also the freedom to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.”  

What does this phrase from the First Amendment mean – to “petition the government for a redress of grievances”?   In essence, if the federal government exceeds the authority granted by the U.S. Constitution, we the people have a right to formally complain, protest, work for change.  It’s one of most basic principles of our republic and one which Carl Levin has obviously forgotten.

Issues do change, Senator Levin; principles – including constitutional principles – do not.

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