Lois Lerner, IRS official at heart of tea party scandal, retires

[CaseyJones]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/sep/23/lois-lerner-irs-official-tea-party-scandal-retires/


Lois G. Lerner, the woman at the center of the IRS tea party targeting scandal, retired from the agency Monday morning after an internal investigation found she was guilty of “neglect of duties” and was going to call for her ouster, according to congressional staff.

Her departure marks the first person to pay a significant price in the scandal, though Republicans were quick to say her decision doesn’t put the matter to rest, and pointed out that she can still be called before Congress to testify.

The IRS confirmed Ms. Lerner’s retirement in a statement, but said it couldn’t release any more information because of privacy concerns.

But Rep. Sander Levin, ranking Democrat on the HouseWays and Means Committee, said an Accountability Review Board set up to investigate the people at the agency involved with the scandal, completed their review and were set to recommend her ouster. The review board, though, found no evidence of political bias, he said.

[tod evans]

Retirement means a 6 figure pension and SSI I'd imagine:mad:

[Henry Rogue]

The review board, though, found no evidence of political bias, he said.
Yeah, uh huh, that's believable.:rolleyes:

[angelatc]

Retirement means a 6 figure pension and SSI I'd imagine:mad:


Right? Again, the government defines "significant price" a little differently than I do. She gets to stay home with the grandkids, raking in a taxpayer funded salary. Oh, that poor poor woman.

[tod evans]

"Just-Us"

[Brian4Liberty]

They will probably give her credit for extra years or something so that she can get her full retirement. Maybe a bonus for retiring early.

[Dr.3D]

I thought she was done at the IRS months ago and had been told she had another even better government job now.

[Pericles]

Why the bankruptcy of the US fedgov can't come soon enough.

[kpitcher]

I'm still waiting for Obama to get around to that campaign promise of going through every government agency to find duplicate workers to save on costs...

[HOLLYWOOD]

my favorite

http://www.cristyli.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IRS-Official-Asserts-5th-Amendment.jpg (http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=drudge+lois+lerner+pleads+the+5th&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=RuZfx9iMphNmvM&tbnid=Do2zVDEHH9mSBM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cristyli.com%2F%3Fp%3D16949&ei=-QtBUtmeAeahiAKI04DgBg&bvm=bv.52434380,d.cGE&psig=AFQjCNFCB-e9K33wvSUuRzswXmYDovDb_g&ust=1380080938628771)

Publicly KNOWN Visits to the White House, there's probably plenty of proxy visits too... #1, IRS Shulman
http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Obama-admin-visitors.jpg

[tod evans]

Lois Lerner retires---courtesy of the American taxpayer


http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/09/23/lois-lerner-retires-courtesy-american-taxpayer/?intcmp=latestnews

Top IRS official Lois Lerner has now "retired."

Lerner, under fire since she confessed on May 10, 2013, that the IRS had singled out Tea Party and other conservative groups for extra scrutiny, had been on paid leave while revelation after revelation demonstrated that she was not only instrumental in targeting Tea Party groups, but she also misled the American public when the agency "confessed" to IRS wrongdoing.

In fact, nothing about her original story has proven true. In May, she claimed that low-level officials applied extra scrutiny to conservative groups, that this scrutiny was “wrong,” and that the IRS put a stop to it when it learned of the abuse.

All these assertions were wrong.

Leaked documents show that Lerner, former Director of IRS Exempt Organizations, saw the Tea Party applications as "extremely dangerous,"

The documents show she took the lead in yanking their applications for tax exempt status from Cincinnati to Washington, D.C. -- where they were ultimately scrutinized in the IRS Chief Counsel's office -- and she hoped that the Federal Election Commission would "save the day" from conservative electoral gains.

Yet no other federal agency had to "save the day," as the IRS conducted its systematic targeting of conservatives and then kept targeting them even after approving their applications for tax exemption, actions that had an undeniable impact on conservative advocacy.

In other words, rather than providing the solution, Lerner was a key part of the problem.

As the evidence of her wrongdoing quickly piled up, Lerner improperly pled the Fifth Amendment before a congressional panel, proclaiming her innocence before refusing to speak – a move that would never work in federal court.

Lerner has been on paid administrative leave, collecting a paycheck from taxpayers even as IRS officials kept signing her name to official correspondence. Now she's retired, and will still cash her checks from taxpayers.

This is intolerable. If Lerner worked in the private sector, she would have been fired long ago. But our federal bureaucracy protects its own, and few agencies are better at evading responsibility than the IRS.

According to an unnamed Democratic staffer, Lerner retired after the IRS found that Lerner was “neglectful of duty,” but the IRS still maintains there was “no evidence of political bias.”

The IRS needs to re-read the definition of “evidence.”

Lerner has retired, but her legal troubles are not over. The FBI is conducting a criminal investigation, Congress is continuing its own probes, and the ACLJ is pressing forward with its federal lawsuit -- brought on behalf of 41 conservative groups in 22 states -- to hold Lerner and other senior IRS officials accountable for their unconstitutional abuse of the First Amendment.

The IRS may have decided that Lerner was merely “neglectful,” but the IRS doesn’t have the last word. The FBI, Congress, and – ultimately – the federal courts will have their say.

And their judgment could be harsh indeed.

[Occam's Banana]

The IRS may have decided that Lerner was merely “neglectful,” but the IRS doesn’t have the last word. The FBI, Congress, and – ultimately – the federal courts will have their say.

So ... a bunch of fed-bureaucrat flunkies will "investigate" and "have their say about" some other fed-bureaucrat flunkie.

Whoop-dee-freakin'-do.



And their judgment could be harsh indeed.

Is this person serious? "Their judgement" will be about as "harsh" as empty & toothless rhetoric can be - maybe - and not one whit more.
There may be much public wailing, gnashing of teeth, rending of cloth, tearing of hair, etc. But that is about all to be expected.

The safely "retired" Lerner will (at worst) be fingered as the locus and source of the problem, some low-level flunkies may be sacrificed on the scapegoat altar, and the need for "reform" and "oversight" will be bruited about - but nothing of any significance will change and the system will go thrumming right along, as vigorous and unobstructed as ever.

The FBI? Congress? Federal courts? Judgement? What a goddam joke ...

[tod evans]

^^^^^^^^^^ Yup! ^^^^^^^^^^

You'd think they'd run out of rug...

https://sites.google.com/site/ingeniumetars1/img/Mel-Kadel_Sweep-it-under-the-rug.png