Startling new emails from the woman at the center of the IRS tea party-targeting scandal show that in 2012 she suggested referring Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley for a possible audit.
The email exchange — released by the Republican-controlled House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday — took place in December 2012, and shows that Lois Lerner, former director of the IRS' Exempt Organizations Unit, mistakenly received an invitation to speak at an event. Her invitation was meant for Grassley.
Lerner and Grassley were both invited to speak at a seminar, ABC News noted. The group mixed up their tickets and Grassley’s invitation indicated the group was also paying for Grassley's wife to travel and attend the seminar. Grassley's wife, Barbara, is a lobbyist.
The House Ways and Means Committee did not name the group hosting the seminar, but said instead of forwarding the invitation to Grassley's office, Lerner immediately suggested that the issue should be referred for examination.
Lerner commented in an email to a colleague that the organizers of the event "inappropriately offered to pay" for Grassley's wife, and suggested Grassley be referred for a possible audit.
The colleague, Matthew Giuliano, a legal counsel at the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division of the IRS, later shot the idea down, the exchange shows.
"I think the offer to pay for Grassley's wife is income to Grassley, and not prohibited on its face," he wrote, according to the email chain.
After hearing from Giuliano, Lerner dropped the idea, but not without the snarky observation that she wouldn't "want to be on stage with Grassley on this issue."
Grassley was stunned.
More @ Newsmax
Elected officials whose wives are also lobbyists = obvious path for bribery. Obviously the spouse is taking pay for lobbying primarily only one person... the spouse. And obviously, the elected person benefits from that income personally as community property.
ReplyDeleteA Den of Thieves.
ReplyDeleteJust another example of how politicians are bribed. The whole Washington mindset is one of corruption and incestuous relationships. I will argue that anyone no matter how honest after 10 or 12 years there is corrupt. However, they no longer see it as corrupt instead; it is just the way things are done in Washington.
ReplyDeleteTerm limits is the only solution. I would suggest two terms. After the second term, they are banned from becoming lobbyists or working for the federal government for the same amount of time, they served. Wives of setting politicians should also be banned from becoming lobbyists or working for the government. Sadly, I do not expect the politicians to kill their golden goose. The changes required will only come from revolution.
Badger
I would suggest two terms.
DeleteThe Confederate Constitution allowed one six year term for president, but maybe it should be four and two years for all Senators and Representatives. The least amount of time they spend there, the safer we will be. :)