Free Republic

Coburn: Constituents link IRS audits to Mitt Romney donations By Daniel Strauss - 05/23/13 09:33 AM ET Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said Thursday his constituents have suggested they were audited by the Internal Revenue Service because they donated to Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign. Coburn made the charge during an interview on MSNBC. [Watch video] "What I would tell you, is our whistleblower side is lit up," Coburn said Thursday on the news channel. "And I got a phone call yesterday and one of the things I want to know is, everybody that contributed to Romney, I want to know...

Husted: voter fraud exists, not an epidemic By Darrel Rowland The Columbus Dispatch Thursday May 23, 2013 10:54 AM Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted said this morning that voter fraud does exist in Ohio but it is not an epidemic. During a press briefing, Husted outlined 135 possible voter fraud cases during the 2012 presidential election that were referred to law enforcement for more investigation. Twenty of those cases included people who apparently voted in Ohio and another state — including 8 in Florida — and have been sent on to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. A total of...

The six Cincinnati workers we have identified, who sent scrutinizing letters to conservative groups with words including "patriot, liberty, tea party or 9-12" in their names are Mitchel Steele, Carly Young, Joseph Herr, Stephen Seok, Liz Hofacre and a woman identified only as Ms. Richards. But was all of this done at the hands of a small group of Cincinnati employees working together? During Friday's congressional hearing, that appeared to be the theme. Now, that explanation just became less likely. Mitchel Steele, Carly Young, Joseph Herr and Liz Hofacre are IRS agents. Stephen Seok is a supervisor IRS agent But...

Monday afternoon, ABC News released a chilling report that details what journalists have faced while trying to get some answers from the Cincinnati IRS office, which is where a majority of the Tea Party targeting took place. According to ABC, an "armed uniform police officer with the Federal Protective Service" "escorted" reporters through the public building. ABC says if the intent wasn't to "scare off" employees who might talk, "it was the effect."

According to Daryl Ruiter of 92.3 The Fan, former Cleveland Browns linebacker David McMillan was shot and killed on Saturday: I should note that as of this post, no local Atlanta newspapers or television stations seem to be reporting the news; the only source so far appears to be Ruiter, so there is a slight chance that the report could be erroneous. If it stands as true, may McMillan rest in piece. UPDATE: Ruiter responded to our question by tweeting to us, "sadly my report is 100% true." McMillan was a 5th round pick by the Browns in 2005 and...

During the summer of 2010, the dozen or so accountants and tax agents of Group 7822 of the Internal Revenue Service office in Cincinnati got a directive from their manager. A growing number of organizations identifying themselves as part of the Tea Party had begun applying for tax exemptions, the manager said, advising the workers to be on the lookout for them and other groups planning to get involved in elections. “I don’t believe there’s any such thing as rogue agents,” said Bonnie Esrig, a former senior manager in the I.R.S. office in Cincinnati. The specialists, hunched over laptops on...

Tense moments in the early morning hours, as a woman carrying a gun confronts a man trying to get into her home. The attempted home invasion happened on the 1900 block of Loxley near Upton, just before 5 a.m. Thursday. It proved Betty Collins is a woman who stands her ground - with a gun in her hand. "I said, 'Get on the ground.' and he got on his knees. I said, 'no, put your face in the dirt and you're gonna stay there.'," recounted Collins. The past two mornings, she says, someone has stolen items from her car. This...

Two members of Congress are asking if the Treasury Department disproportionately targeted more Republican or conservative owned auto dealerships during the government-lead restructuring of General Motors in 2009. Breitbart.com reported today that Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Jim Renacci (R-OH) released a letter asking Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to release documents regarding the process and methodology that determined which GM dealerships were closed.

Two members of Congress are asking if the Treasury Department disproportionately targeted more Republican or conservative owned auto dealerships during the government-lead restructuring of General Motors in 2009. Breitbart.com reported today that Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Jim Renacci (R-OH) released a letter asking Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to release documents regarding the process and methodology that determined which GM dealerships were closed. GM was loaned $50 million by Congress as part of the restructuring included consolidating dealerships and closing some of the under-performing GM dealerships. In 2009 and 2010 there were several reports in the press raising the question whether...

How long will the shale boom last? ODNR official sees ‘beginning of a historic era’ for oil and gas; other observers aren’t sure By Dan Gearino and Spencer Hunt Friday May 17, 2013 3:32 AM Oil and gas companies nearly doubled their production from Ohio’s Utica shale last year, part of an energy surge that is still in its early stages and whose potential is far from clear. The companies extracted 635,896 barrels of oil and 12.8 billion cubic feet of gas from the Utica in 2012, which is a year-over-year increase of 93 percent and 87 percent, respectively, according...

Inspired by ABC News, a drama in three acts. April 25, 2009: IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman has selected Sarah Hall Ingram to succeed Steven T. Miller (who will become Commissioner, LMSB, which oversees tax administrations for the largest corporations and partnerships in the U.S.) as the commissioner of the Tax Exempt/Government Entities Division of the IRS. From May 14, 2013: Joseph Grant, the acting commissioner of tax exempt and government entities, wrote in response to the report that the decisions were made in an attempt to increase efficiency, not to target groups with a particular political view. "The mistakes outlined...

Last night, Barack Obama tried to take control of the narrative on one of the scandals that have rocked his administration by announcing that IRS Commissioner Steve Miller had resigned by request of Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. As it turns out, Miller was leaving in a month anyway, but the outgoing IRS chief took the time to note that the wrongdoing was limited to two IRS employees in the Cincinnati office, who had already been “disciplined” — which directly contradicts the Inspector General’s report, which shows managerial involvement since March 2010 at least, and coordination between multiple offices and units....

Conservative Ohio groups more than a year ago raised the alarm that the Internal Revenue Service was holding up their applications for tax-exempt status, leading Ohio U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Urbana) to request the audit that led to the IRS's admission that it targeted Tea Party-related groups for close scrutiny. The scandal on Wednesday broadened enough to prompt President Obama's Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to request the resignation of acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller. Mr. Jordan, who chairs a Tea Party-leaning conservative caucus in the House of Representatives, sent a letter on March 27, 2012, to the IRS, seeking...

It's rigorous work keeping pace with all of these scandals, as House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer discovered earlier this week, but we're doing our best nonetheless. On the IRS targeting issue, we covered a lot of ground yesterday and earlier, but the "fun" never ceases. It will come as a surprise to no one that IRS employees lean heavily Democratic. Their livelihoods depend on the existence of big, complicated government, so of course they'd vote blue. In the 2012 cycle, during which their agency's abusive methods were in place, IRS employees donated to Barack Obama over Mitt Romney by more...

(CNN) -- Acting Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Steven Miller has said his agency has pinpointed two "rogue" employees in the agency's Cincinnati office as being principally responsible for "overly aggressive" handling of Tea Party requests for tax-exempt status over the past two years, a congressional source told CNN on Wednesday.

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) -FOX19 has exclusively learned that as many as four people may be the first Cincinnati Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees to face disciplinary action, and possibly even criminal charges, for allegedly targeting Tea Party and Liberty groups applying for non-profit status.

A 91-year-old man wants to stop his daughter from evicting him from the home he built 56 years ago in Zaleski, Ohio, a small community south of Columbus.

Are You Now or Have You Ever Been a Friend of Newt Gingrich? Yes, the Obama IRS actually demanded a California Tea Party group to provide details of a rally with Newt Gingrich. The group was seeking non-profit status. This question was asked of one to a Tea Party groups by the IRS: 29.) Provide details regarding the townhall(sp) planned on February –, 2012 with Newt Gingrich.Unreal. Here’s a copy of the questionnaire: For the record: I have more information on this group. But am holding back since they are afraid to come out with all of the details right...

The Liberty Township Tea Party was one of several Tea Party groups in Ohio who were harassed by the IRS in the lead-up to the 2012 elections. The group recently released the extensive list of the questions sent to them by the IRS. Ohio patriot Carol Greenberg sent in this information. As many of you know, the IRS issued an apology for targeting “tea party� and “patriot� groups. We within the Liberty Township Tea Party are painfully aware of these intrusive actions. Click this link and download a PDF to see the type of questions that were demanded of us...

LUCASVILLE, Ohio — One family wept loudly and another family cheered Wednesday as a man was executed for killing a 6-month-old as he raped her. Steve Smith, 46, was executed by lethal injection at the state prison in Lucasville in southern Ohio for the 1998 killing of his live-in girlfriend's daughter, Autumn Carter, in Mansfield. Smith had recently tried to get his sentence reduced to life in prison, arguing that he was too drunk to realize that his assault was killing Autumn and that he didn't mean to hurt her. The Ohio Parole Board and Gov. John Kasich turned him...

House Speaker John Boehner is facing mounting pressure to create a special or select committee to investigate the Benghazi terror attacks in which four Americans were killed. The House resolution to form a special committee now has at least 139 co-sponsors who are putting Boehner in the difficult position of leading efforts to get the White House to release emails on Benghazi-gate but not agreeing to the demands of many rank-and-file Republicans.

The Ohio attorney general said on Friday that DNA tests showed Cleveland kidnapping and rape suspect Ariel Castro is the father of the six-year-old born while he allegedly held the girl's mother and two other women captive for nearly a decade. Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a statement that "forensic scientists worked throughout the night to confirm that Castro is the father of the six-year-old girl born in captivity to one of the kidnapping victims."

"Helping to free three women from nearly a decade in captivity would seem to be enough. Neighbor Charles Ramsey has also become a star, offering moments of levity in an unspeakably horrible story, free publicity for a restaurant chain and unexpected lessons in race relations. Ramsey lived next door to where Ariel Castro is alleged to have kept the women in a makeshift prison until Monday afternoon. Or let him tell it: "I got the day off from work, so naturally you're doing nothing." Actually, he was "eating my McDonald's," a fact he trumpeted so frequently that the grateful food...

According to voter registration records, Ariel Castro, the Cleveland kidnapper, is a registered Democrat. He was also the alleged leader among the three Castro brothers, who were arrested this week, and the owner of the house at 2207 Seymour Ave., where the three abducted local women had been kept in captivity for over a decade. Why is this important? Whenever a crime or a scandal captures national attention, the pattern in the mainstream media is to either identify the culprit as a Republican or hold silence -- in which case we can rest assured that the culprit is a Democrat....

In last night’s Athletics-Indians game, the A’s trailed by one run with two outs in the ninth inning. Up came shortstop Adam Rosales to face Indians closer Chris Perez. On a 1-1 pitch, Rosales blasted a 93 mile per hour fastball to left center field for a game tying home run. Only the umps didn’t see it that way. They ruled the ball had hit the outfield wall, giving Rosales a double. After a brief protest from A’s manager Bob Melvin, the umpire crew headed for the replay room to make sure of their call. Replays definitively showed the ball...

The man who is being hailed as a hero for rescuing the lives of three women kidnapped for a decade says that he would like any reward money to be turned over to the victims. Charles Ramsey became an instant Internet sensation on Monday when he helped free Amanda Berry, Georgina DeJesus and Michele Knight from the house next to his where they had been trapped for around 10 years. “Bro, I knew something was wrong when a little, pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms,” he told WEWS following the rescue. “Something is wrong here. Dead giveaway.”...

NEW YORK — Helping to free three women from nearly a decade in captivity would seem to be enough. Neighbor Charles Ramsey has also become a star, offering moments of levity in an unspeakably horrible story, free publicity for a restaurant chain and unexpected lessons in race relations. Ramsey lived next door to where Ariel Castro is alleged to have kept the women in a makeshift prison until Monday afternoon, when Ramsey happened to be home and heard Amanda Berry's scream.

"Superficial" "A source close to the Senate negotiations [says] that two senators who voted against the background check bill would vote for it after minor, superficial changes." - Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC, May 6, 2013ACTION: Senators who voted pro-gun last month are under intense pressure - by Senate Democrats and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s hit ads - to switch their votes.  We need to keep applying the heat and let them know that gun owners are ready to help in any Senate campaign, no matter which state, to defeat ANY SENATOR who votes for gun control.LEGISLATIVE UPDATE FROM WASHINGTON, DC. It’s...

The nasty taunts of fellow inmates didn’t stop the Castro brothers from sleeping like babies. The notorious siblings suspected of holding three young women hostage for a decade in a Cleveland home were housed Wednesday in separate cells — where they brushed off jailhouse insults. “They seem relaxed,” said a guard at the Central Prison Unit at the Cleveland Police Headquarters. “Mostly they’ve just been sleeping with their heads under the pillows like they don’t want to be bothered.” A fellow inmate said Ariel Castro, 52, owner of the house where the women were held in chains and ropes, was...

(Newser) – A chilling possibility in the Cleveland kidnapping case: Fox 8 spoke to law enforcement sources, and one of them says Michelle Knight told police that there was a fourth woman in Ariel Castro's house when she was first taken there, but that the woman vanished one day. Written on a basement wall is a female name and the words, "Rest in Peace," but police don't know if that's related to the case yet. However, Cleveland's safety director announced this morning that no human remains have been found at Castro's home after a thorough search, NewsNet 5 reports. Meanwhile,...

Buckeye Firearms Foundation Ohio --(Ammoland.com)- WHIO (CBS Dayton) is reporting that “churches across the country and here in the Miami Valley are responding to violence by putting their trust in God and taking security into their own hands.”From the article: At Phillips Temple in Trotwood, armed security guards routinely patrol the church grounds and stand watch inside during services and events. It is a visible presence that Pastor James Washington considers a necessary deterrent from evil.“The Bible calls it lawlessness. It’s just a complete disregard for what’s right and wrong and what’s legal and what’s not,” said Washington.Police cruisers surrounded...

Complete Headline: Three naked women on all fours were spotted being led around on leashes in backyard of Cleveland kidnap house TWO years ago - but police didn't take the neighbor who called it in seriously Neighbors of accused kidnapper Ariel Castro have revealed they saw three naked young girls crawling in the backyard of his house on all fours with dog leashes around their necks and three men controlling them, but amazingly police never responded to their call. The shocking revelation is one of a number of stories to have emerged from neighbors who say they reported unusual...

CLEVELAND (CBS Cleveland/AP) — Cleveland officials say they have no records of anyone calling about criminal activity at the house where three kidnapped women were kept for years before being found.

CLEVELAND (AP) — The woman's voice was frantic and breathless, and she was choking back tears. "Help me. I'm Amanda Berry," she told a 911 dispatcher. "I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now." Those words led police to a house near downtown Cleveland where Berry and two other women who vanished a decade ago were found Monday, elating family members and friends who had longed to see them again. Authorities later arrested three brothers. They released no names and gave no information about them or what charges they might face....

“I don’t pretend to have all the answers,” President Obama told Ohio State students at their commencement on Sunday. “I’m not going to offer some grand theory on a beautiful day like this—you guys all have celebrating to do. I’m not going to get partisan, either, because that’s not what citizenship is about.” President Obama, stressing the theme of “citizenship,” said he would ask two things from the class of 2013—“to participate and to persevere. After all, your democracy does not function without your active participation. At a bare minimum, that means voting, eagerly and often.” … “Unfortunately, you’ve grown...

CLEVELAND– Years after Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus disappeared, FOX 8 News has learned that both girls have been found alive. Cleveland police said both missing teenagers were found Monday at a home on Seymour Ave.; along with a third girl, Michele Knight. Berry, DeJesus and Knight are reportedly being checked out at MetroHealth Medical Center. A press conference is set to be held at Metro later this evening. A 52-year-old is reportedly in custody. On April 21, 2003, 16-year-old Berry called her sister to tell her she was getting a ride home from work at the Burger King on...

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Long-missing Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus have been found alive, a police source confirms. WOIO Channel 19 had reported that a woman claiming to be Berry called police Monday afternoon and told a dispatcher that she was in a house on Seymour Avenue on the city's West Side. The woman said DeJesus was with her. "We've confirmed it's them," a detective said. "They are alive and safe." Berry, now 27, and DeJesus, 23, were taken to MetroHealth Medical Center. The FBI and police will interview the women when they are discharged, the detective said. Police arrested the...

Mr. Right: Urbana’s Rep. Jim Jordan Conservative lawmaker and ex-wrestler sticks to his word — and principles WASHINGTON — To understand Jim Jordan the politician, you need to understand Jim Jordan and scorecards. As a wrestler at Graham High School near Urbana and then the University of Wisconsin, Jordan’s fate often was sealed by the scorecard that determined which wrestler had won, either through quick pins or arduously wearing down his competition. As an underdog politician running for the Ohio legislature, Jordan’s scorecard was Election Night — finding out if his hard work and the endless hours spent knocking on...

On May 4, 1970, four Kent State University students were killed and nine injured when members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire during a demonstration protesting the Vietnam War. In 2010, the site of the Kent State University shootings was placed on the National Register of Historic places by the Department of Interior with support of the Ohio Preservation Office. Carole Barbuto, a communication studies professor at Kent State University who was a junior there in 1970, spoke to Behold about some of the more than 4,000 images (many from student photographers) the university has in its archive related...

Middlefield Police have released the dash cam footage of the deadly March 10 officer-involved shooting in which a Mentor-on-the-Lake man was killed and two officers were injured. The nearly 2 1/2 minute video begins by showing Officers Brandon Savage and Erin Thomas driving southbound at about 5:55 p.m. on Route 608, when a green Saturn failed to stop at the intersection of 608 and East High Street. The officers enacted the traffic stop a short distance north of the intersection. As the officers prepared to approach the vehicle, the video appears to show the officers discussing movement in the Saturn....

Number issued in 1st 3 months is half of total issued in 2012 Attorney General Mike DeWine says county sheriffs issued more than 37,000 licenses for carrying concealed weapons in the first quarter of 2013. More than 31,000 of those were new licenses. That's up from a little under 17,000 new licenses in the first quarter of 2012.

Critics of the firing of a gay Catholic-school teacher have threatened to withhold donations from a fundraiser that kicks off this weekend and pulls in millions each year for Diocese of Columbus programs. The Bishop’s Annual Appeal aims to raise $6 million in pledges from parishes across the 23-county diocese. Last year, the appeal received pledges from more than 24,000 households, raising $6.7 million to exceed the 2012 goal by nearly 15 percent. But some backers of Carla Hale, the physical-education teacher who was fired from Bishop Watterson High School in March, say they won’t be tossing money into Bishop...

Thomas Lucente: American liberty died in Boston where it was born By THOMAS J. LUCENTE Jr. tlucente@limanews.com 419-993-2095 The American liberty movement, with little argument, was pretty much born and nurtured in the environs of Boston. And that is apparently where it died. In what can only be called the Siege of Watertown, the government essentially declared martial law in the Massachusetts town, put thousands of law-abiding Americans under house arrest and went from house to house frisking and searching homes while pointing automatic weapons at Americans. All to arrest a single teenager. In the end, the terrorists won. America...

News of the (failed) push to pass gun control legislation in the U.S. Senate, as well as the terror attack on Boston, dominated the media last week for good reason. But here in Ohio, a series of events that might otherwise have received wider news coverage went virtually unnoticed. Saturday, April 13 Toledo Police say a homeowner shot and killed a man who was attempting to break into his home.

OBERLIN — Four young men were wounded and the man suspected of shooting them is in custody after an argument around 11:30 p.m. Thursday in a parking lot on West College Street, according to police and witnesses. Police Lt. Kevin Scalli described the victims’ wounds as non-life threatening and said the suspected shooter was arrested without incident. Sean M. Woodings, 24, of Oberlin has been charged with four counts of felonious assault, Lt. Mike McCloskey said Friday afternoon. ------------------------------cut--------------------------------- According to the prosecutor, each of the alleged victims has a significant criminal history, including crimes of violence. The Oberlin Municipal...

the Obama administration’s political appointees at the Justice and Agriculture Departments engineered a stunning turnabout: they committed $1.33 billion to compensate... The deal... was fashioned in White House meetings... the $50,000 payouts to black farmers had proved a magnet for fraud. the claims process prompted allegations of widespread fraud and criticism that its very design encouraged people to lie... Agriculture Department reviewers found reams of suspicious claims, from nursery-school-age children and pockets of urban dwellers, sometimes in the same handwriting with nearly identical accounts of discrimination. As a senator, Barack Obama supported expanding compensation for black farmers, and then as...

So much for the argument that you can never defend yourself because the criminal will always have the advantage.DAYTON — Dayton Police are planning to charge a 17-year-old with felony attempted aggravated robbery after he allegedly pulled a gun on two men at a home on West Norman Avenue and was subsequently shot in the back. According to a police incident report, a man who was working at the house was taking a break at about 1:45 p.m. Sunday when two young men approached and asked to use his phone and then asked for a cigarette. The man’s boss came...

HAMILTON — A store owner shot and killed a man attempting to rob his Main Street business Saturday. Hamilton police officers responded to Mazagan Urban Ware, 201 Main St., at 8:34 p.m. on a report of a robbery attempt that ended when the owner shot the suspect, according to a news release from the Hamilton Police Department. When police and fire units arrived at the clothing store, they found the robbery suspect lying outside the store with an apparent gunshot wound, the news release said. The suspect, Jeremy Scott Irvin, 26, of Fairfield, was transported to Fort Hamilton Hospital, where...

TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) - A botched burglary early Saturday morning at a West Toledo home has left one man dead. It's not the homeowner, rather the intruder. Toledo police say it happened in the 4500 Block of Douglas Road. The homeowner, Brian Loyer, woke to the sound of his side door being kicked in. He grabbed a gun and announced he was armed, but the suspect, 24-year-old Lucas Hassen, continued his attempt to get inside, according to police. Loyer fired, hitting Hassen, who fled and collapsed in the backyard of Joan Rutherford.

COLUMBUS, OH, April 22, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – The firing of a teacher at Bishop Watterson Catholic High School after it was learned she was involved in a long-term homosexual relationship may pit the Catholic diocese against a Columbus city ordinance barring employers from discriminating based on sexuality. Gym instructor Carla Hale, 57, was fired last week after an anonymous parent wrote the Diocese of Columbus to complain because in an obituary for Hale’s mother, Hale was listed as a survivor alongside her longtime lesbian partner, Julie. Hale signed a morality clause as part of her contract, affirming that “Catholic school...