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House Oversight Committee releases State Dept docs on Libya

October 19, 2012 By Carol Greenberg

Oversight Committee Asks President About White House Role in Misguided Libya ‘Normalization’ Effort. From the website:

WASHINGTON –Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa and National Security Subcommittee Chairman Jason Chaffetz today sent President Obama a letter and 166 pages of documents related to security threats and the process of ‘normalization’ in Libya. The letter requests that the White House respond to questions about its role in the controversial decision to have the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya pursue a course of ‘normalization’ that was intended to help create the perception of success in Libya and contrast it to U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Issa Documents on Libya

Issa/ Chaffetz Letter to Obama on Libya

Now lots of people in the Obama Administration has lots of ‘plaining to do…

Crossposted at Unified Patriots

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Filed Under Benghazigate, Libya Tagged With Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Benghazi, Libya, Obama, Rep. Darrell Issa, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, U.S. House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform, U.S. State Dept.

#GSAgate just keeps getting better and better

April 17, 2012 By Carol Greenberg

Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform began Congressional hearings yesterday of the General Services Administration’s “screw-you taxpayer” $800,000+ junket to Vegas. Issa dubbed the mega-party as “The American Idle Follies” since the 300 attendees made videos for an *awards dinner* held there saying they didn’t do a lot of *work* and they vowed they wouldn’t get caught. Well guess again, guys.

GSA’s regional commissioner Jeff Neely, who organized the junket and was called to testify yesterday invoked the 5th and ran away from reporters and attempted to hide in an elevator with a FoxNews crew right behind:


Don’t you just love it when these people believe there are no consequences to their actions?

Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) also grilled employees, and EX-employees on the House floor yesterday. He lovingly picked up all the great “stuff” the attendees were given in honor of the event for show: a tuxedo, a $20 Coin in a velvet box to “commemorate the One-year anniversary of the stimulus,” a full-color brochure with all the attendees names, and a t-shirt. Rep. Turner in a polite but semi-sarcastic nature pointed out GSA was not “creating any jobs in the U.S. since all these items were made either in China or El Salvador”:

And today in true Dem style, Nevada Dem politicos are considering the hearings to be “an attack on Vegas.” Via the Daily Caller:

according to former Democratic Rep. Dina Titus, who is currently seeking a return to Congress, the hearings are not an attack on the GSA, but an attack on Las Vegas.

“President Obama acted swiftly to punish those responsible for this blatant misuse of tax dollars. However, these hearings are nothing more than an attack on Las Vegas,” Titus said. “Washington Republicans should stop using Las Vegas as a punching bag to score cheap political points and start working on putting Americans back to work.”

Another Nevada Dem chimes in:

“These hearings are nothing more than a cheap political stunt designed to embarrass Las Vegas,” echoed Nevada Assembly Commerce Committee Chair Kelvin Atkinson. “Washington Republicans are playing to the cameras and throwing Las Vegas under the bus in the process. President Obama was right to fire those who oversaw tax dollar abuse and should be commended for it, but Republicans are simply using Las Vegas as a prop to get headlines.”

Well Ms. Titus and Mr. Atkinson, you both apparently have a short memory since Obama told Americans in February of 2010 NOT to go to Vegas:

“You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save for college. You prioritise. You make tough choices.”

Mr. Obama was lambasted for his remarks by Nevada Sen. Harry Reid who told him to “lay off his remarks about Vegas.” Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman also had a few choice words for Obama who described him as:

“a real slow learner” who had a “psychological hang-up” about the city.

So far today I have seen several Conservative groups with petition drives to “abolish the GSA.” Yea GSA abusers, your taunt to the taxpayers that you are “idle” may soon turn out to be a reality: you’ll get your exercise by standing in the unemployment line.

GSA’s head Martha Johnson turned in her resignation several weeks ago.

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Filed Under General Services Administration, GSA Tagged With GSA, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Jeff Neely, Las Vegas, Martha Johnson, Rep. Darrell Issa, Rep. Dina Titus, Rep. Mike Turner, Sen. Harry Reid

Congressmen Issa & Jordan probe IRS scrutiny of Tea Parties

April 10, 2012 By Carol Greenberg

Well now we are getting somewhere. For those of you who may have not been following the sorry saga of the Tea Parties v. IRS please see my previous articles. The most recent is here and you can work backwards.

In the previous installment the U.S Senate Committee on Finance sent a letter to Commissioner Douglas Shulman asking him to provide answers to key questions about the perceived intrusion and irregular questions demanded of Tea Parties applying for tax exempt status. Following on the heels is a letter from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) Chair, of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to Ms. Lois Lerner, Director of Exempt Organizations Division of the IRS asking her to provide specific answers in detail of the IRS’ inordinate scrutiny of Tea Parties. The text of the letter is below:

Jordan/Issa Letter to IRS

Notice the date of the letter is March 27 and the Congressmen are giving Ms. Lerner until April 16 to comply, the same amount of time the IRS has given the Tea Parties to “comply” with answering their detailed, intrusive questions. Don’t you love sweet justice? And that isn’t the best part. Rep. Issa & Jordan also instruct Ms. Lerner:

In preparing your answers to these questions, please answer each question individually and include the text of each question with your response.

This again is the exact same manner the IRS has *demanded* the Tea Parties to respond. Hey, turn about is fair play IRS. :D

Tom Zawistowski, whose Ohio Liberty Council started the ball rolling with his *we will NOT comply* letter to the IRS released this presser today, excerpted below:

Columbus, Ohio – The Ohio Liberty Council welcomed the letter sent by Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan and California Congressman Darrell Issa, from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to Ms. Louis Lerner, Director, Exempt Organizations Division, of the Internal Revenue Service. The letter, which was made available to the Ohio Liberty Council last night, was mailed on March 27, 2012, and states that “the IRS must apply the same criteria for all organizations applying for tax exempt status”. It goes on to state that news reports suggest that the “IRS effort lacks balance, with conservative organizations being the target of the IRS’s heightened scrutiny.” The letter then requests that the IRS provide documentation and communications between the IRS and groups seeking tax-exempt status so that the committee can be assured that the IRS has the authority to ask the questions they are asking of conservative groups and that the same standards are being applied to all groups equally.

You can read the full presser here.

At last count there were over 50,000 signatures on the ACLJ website on their petition to investigate the IRS’s activities. This is a great lesson in how people and organizations in times of crisis can pull together and accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Thank you to all the Tea Parties, their courageous leaders, Congress and Jay Sekulow’s ACLJ for all your hard work.

Crossposted at Unified Patriots

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Filed Under Tea Parties v. IRS Tagged With ACLJ, Douglas Shulman, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, IRS, Jay Sekulow, Lois Lerner, Ohio Liberty Council, Rep. Darrell Issa, Rep. Jim Jordan, Tea Parties

From House Oversight: More “American Idle GSA Follies”

April 9, 2012 By Carol Greenberg

Last week Texas Galt at Unified Patriots did a great article introducing us to the lavish parties and raucous mocking of America their employees did in Vegas using videos. Today from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Chair, comes more information and it’s even worse than we initially thought.

More GSA “American Idle”: Convention Laughs Over Admission that Video Made During Taxpayers’ Time

Admission from Awards Ceremony was Edited Out from Administration’s Friday Night 59 Minute Huffington Post Dump

The video clip below is from the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) October 2010 Western Region Conference in Las Vegas, NV. It was played on Thursday, October 28, 2010 at the “Capstone Dinner Event.”

In one part of an awarded video submitted by GSA Region 7 employees, a roomful of participants holding a picture of President Barack Obama sings:

“POTUS wants a press event, a project he can show … Are you ready for a miracle? GSA’s going Green.”

After showing the video at the convention, the following exchange (which was edited out of footage released Friday night by an “administration official” to the Huffington Post) occurs:

GSA Convention Organizer Jeffrey Neely:

“That was amazing, was there anybody in Region 7 who wasn’t in that thing?”

GSA Region 7 Representative:

“If they didn’t work on Friday, then chances are they weren’t in the video.”

(Convention Laughs)

This is how our tax dollars are spent folks, over $800,000 in Vegas. Will any of these people get fired? I doubt it although GSA Chief Martha Johnson and two other of her advisers resigned last week.

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Filed Under GSA Follies Tagged With General Services Administration, GSA, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Martha Johnson, Rep. Darrell Issa, Vegas

Senate Finance Committee sends letter to IRS demanding answers to their assault on the Tea Party

March 14, 2012 By Carol Greenberg

Please see this article, this article and this article for background information.  Please also read Breitbart’s article on #OWS using the cover of SEIU to obtain their tax exempt status. H/t Civil_Truth.

Many have said in recent weeks that the Tea Party is on “life support.” Many have even gone as far as to say the Tea Party is “dead.” To the contrary the Tea Party is very much alive and within a period of only one month has asserted itself against the threats of the IRS to harass and intimidate them. What started out as a project with about a half a dozen people has now morphed  into a nationwide effort to push back the IRS and their demands.

The latest accomplishment has come as a letter from the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman asking him to provide answers to key questions about the perceived intrusion and irregular questions demanded of Tea Parties applying for tax exempt status. Excerpted below:

A number of our constituents have raised concerns that the recent IRS inquiries sent to civic organizations exceed the scope of the typical disclosures required under IRS Form 1024 and accompanying Schedule B—the forms that all 501(c)(4) organizations must submit. Understandably, this has prompted some concerns about selective enforcement and the duty to treat similarly situated taxpayers similarly. To address these concerns, we respectfully request that you provide answers to the following questions: [author's note, there are 8 questions asked of Shulman].

The letter is signed by Senators Hatch, Portman, McConnell, Paul, Grassley, Alexander, Corker, Cornyn, Roberts, Hutchison, Kyl and Thune. This letter comes on the heels of a letter to Rep. Darrell Issa, from Jamie Radtke, President Emeritus of the Richmond Tea Party asking for Issa’s Oversight Committee to begin investigations. Also sending a letter to Chairman Issa was Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX) calling for an investigation and another letter to IRS Chairman Shulman from Rep. Charles Boustany for the same request.

Tom Zawistowski, President of the Ohio Liberty Council released this presser today in which he stated, excerpted below:

“We welcome this support from Republican Senators in our efforts to protect and defend the Constitutional rights of our organization and of our member organizations. We are particularly appreciative of the request in their letter for the IRS to produce “any correspondence between the IRS employees, or between or among the IRS, the Department of Treasury, and the White House” concerning requests for donor information that conflicts with standing IRS Policy. They further asked the IRS to provide copies of all IRS inquires sent to, and responses received from, Priorities USA a left leaning 501(c)4 organization. These are prudent and important questions that needed to be asked and to be answered. We look forward to reading these documents.”

Jay Sekulow’s ACLJ will be offering pro bono representation for any Tea Party or liberty group which has received letters from the IRS demanding information which may be in violation of 1st Amendment rights. Any affected Tea Party may sign up for legal assistance on this contact page.

We now have both houses of Congress involved as well as a widely known legal justice organization. What can the rest of us do to assist? Spread the word and call the Congressmen involved to thank them for this effort. Congressional contact information can be found here. We would also ask each and everyone to go to the ACLJ website and sign the petition (upper right hand corner on home page) to “Stop the IRS from Silencing the Tea Party.”

Please be aware that a large Tea Party has been sending blast emails asking for donations for this “cause.” They have also been sending blast emails “offering legal assistance from their attorneys at a substantial discount.” The ACLJ is offering not only pro bono assistance but assistance with media and Congressional offices and contacts.

We still have a long road to haul, but we certainly have made a lot of progress in a short amount of time.

Long live the Tea Party!!

Crossposted at Unified Patriots

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Filed Under IRS, Tea Parties v. IRS Tagged With ACLJ, Douglas Shulman, IRS, Rep. Charles Boustany, Rep. Darrell Issa, tea party, U.S. Senate Committee on Finance