A Partisan Union at the IRS

National Review Online ^ | MAY 20, 2013 | Andrew Stiles

[neverdem]

Nearly two-thirds of campaign contributions from IRS employees go to Democrats.

NTEU president Colleen Kelley

The IRS may be “an independent enforcement agency with only two political appointees,” in the words of White House press secretary Jay Carney, but its employees are represented by a powerful, deeply partisan union whose boss has publicly disparaged the Tea Party and criticized the Republican party for having ties to it.

The White House continues to insist that profound incompetence, not partisan malice, led the IRS to single out conservative groups applying for nonprofit status. If the testimony of acting commissioner Steven Miller is true, incompetence was certainly a factor. But given all that has come to light about the agency and its employees in recent days, it would be hard to believe that its targeting of conservative groups wasn’t also politically motivated.

As the Washington Examiner’s Tim Carney and others have pointed out, the agency’s employees are heavily engaged in politics and lean considerably to the left. Records show that IRS employees in 2012 donated more than twice as much to the Obama as to the Romney campaign. Nearly two-thirds of all employee contributions over the last three elections cycles have gone to Democrats.

This individual activity is tame compared with that of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which represents 150,000 federal employees across 31 agencies, including the IRS. The union endorsed Obama in both of his presidential runs and operates a political-action committee (PAC) that has donated $1.63 million to federal candidates and committees since 2008, more than 96 percent of it to help elect Democrats. During that period, IRS employees have contributed more than $67,000 to the PAC.

This past cycle, the union spent heavily on competitive House and Senate races. (In light of the recent scandal, the National Republican Campaign Committee is calling on Democrats to return NTEU contributions.) The union’s members participated in other ways as well, by “educating and organizing various types of activities around the country including candidate nights and volunteering for campaigns.”

Colleen Kelley, the union’s president since 1999, worked as a revenue agent for the IRS for 14 years, and her political leanings are clear. She has given nearly $5,000 to the NTEU PAC since 2007, and she donated $500 to John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004. If her public statements are any indication, Kelley thinks none too highly of the Republican party, especially its more conservative elements such as the Tea Party.

In March 2011, when Congress was in talks over a continuing resolution to prevent a government shutdown, Kelley slammed the “extreme elements” of the GOP for insisting on meaningful reductions in federal spending. “For months, budget negotiations have stalled in Congress as House Republicans have succumbed to extreme Tea Party elements rather than coming to common sense compromises,” Kelley said in a statement. “You have to be from Wonderland to believe that you can make severe cuts in government spending without sending the economy into a tailspin and cutting critical services Americans depend upon.”

Kelley was highly critical of Paul Ryan’s (R., Wis.) most recent budget proposal, which called for a reduction in the federal work force as well as reforms to benefits and pension programs for federal employees. “The Ryan budget proposal would worsen our nation in so many ways,” she said in March 2013.

Kelley appears to wield considerable influence in Democratic circles and the Obama administration. Under her leadership, the NTEU has spent nearly $7.5 million lobbying the federal government. Since Obama took office, she has been to the White House at least eleven times to meet with high-ranking officials such as Jeffrey Zients, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, according to visitor logs. She has also met directly with the president and the first lady.

In November 2010, President Obama nominated Kelley to serve on the Federal Salary Council, an “obscure” panel that nonetheless “performs a vital role in recommending raises for most federal employees,” as described by the Washington Post.

The Hill in a May 2012 profile observed that Kelly “has had a hand in every major deficit negotiation” since Republicans retook the House in 2010; she “has tangled with the Tea Party and gone up against GOP standard-bearers Reps. Darrell Issa (Calif.) and Paul Ryan (Wis.).”

“There is no doubt that when we look at the implications of various budget proposals, we seek her input,” Representative Chris Van Hollen (Md.), the leading Democratic on the House Budget Committee, said of Kelley.

As lawmakers continue to investigate the IRS scandal — House and Senate committees will hold additional hearings this week — Republicans will be eager to learn more about Kelley’s knowledge of the IRS targeting of conservative groups and about the extent to which union members may have been involved. In a letter to IRS employees, Kelley said she believes “no one intentionally did anything wrong,” and promised to “work to ensure that front-line employees are not treated unfairly.”

She has already cast doubt on the Obama administration’s claims that the IRS targeting of conservative groups was carried out by a handful of “front-line” employees in the agency’s Cincinnati field office. “No processes or procedures or anything like that would ever be done just by front-line employees without any management involvement,” Kelley told the Associated Press last week. “That’s just not how it operates.”

— Andrew Stiles is a political reporter for National Review Online.

[Rome2000]

My point is called "History"

This is the reason we are where we are, because of Democrats in the SCOTUS and POTUS setting up Federal worker unions and allowing communists to run them.

Now they are using Stalinist tactics against their political enemies.

[Kevmo]

makes sense

[Newtoidaho]

Every one of these union scumbags needs to be in prison.

[Robert357]

In my line of work their are true conflicts of interest and things that to some might appear like a conflict of interest. Both will destroy a firm.

The IRS union being that political does not inspire confidence. The union should be either busted or forbidden by law from being political.

[Xcoastie]

Ping. An immensely serious issue.

[Conscience of a Conservative]

It is. But, a law requiring people to make political contributions in a certain proportion would be unconstitutional as well.

[EBH]

Said it from the beginning...

We cannot continue to have unions run our government. Is 0bama tyrannical...yeah...but take away his union thugs and the rule of law puts a ‘check’ on that power. The real tyrant here is the Union.

[EBH]

Exactly and that means we are no longer a Republic or at liberty.

Violations of our Free Speech
Violations of Freedom of Religion
Violation of unreasonable search
Voter intimidation

Does RICO apply here?
Fraud, failure of the union to act as a nonpartisan entity

Obstruction of Justice: failure to provide information regarding the targeting of political enemies.

Acts of terrorism: the chilling effect of terrorizing of key donors under color of law (see Rep. Kelly’s Rant he says it very well, no other agency scares the people more than the IRS)

Bribery: Woman who pulled this stunt off promoted to be in charge of 0bamacare? Gee...another count of potential terrorism of conservative lives over healthcare?

Extortion: Law. the crime of obtaining money or some other thing of value by the abuse of one’s office or authority. (mmmmm, the Presidency?)

[unixfox]

We can’t fix the IRS. We can only kill it.

You're right, we should kill it right after we have tortured them.

Tar, feathers, shoots up the nails, salt packing wounds, pliers to the teeth, electric shock, and so on. You know, the same treatment they put us through when we get audited.

[M Kehoe]

Good morning.

I know I've told you this before...

You're right, we should kill it right after we have tortured them.

I like the way you think.

5.56mm