Conservative Blogger
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Keystone supporters push for swift Senate vote
Pipeline advocates in the Senate, who include several Democrats on the ballot next fall as well as Republicans, hold a clear majority. They also may command more than the 60 votes needed to overcome blocking tactics by opponents, but they appear to be short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override any veto by President Barack Obama.
“This bill will allow us to move ahead with construction on the pipeline so we can expand access to North American energy, create jobs and promote economic growth, all while providing a safer and more environmentally friendly method of transporting oil,” Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said in a statement Tuesday.
"I will press hard for a vote in the coming weeks to build this pipeline," Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., the chair of the Senate Energy Committee, said this week in a statement as lawmakers returned from a two-week break. Landrieu and Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, another pipeline supporter, stand accused by Republicans of being powerless to mandate the project's construction, given the numerous delays Obama has ordered without rendering a decision.
In addition, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., faces pressure from Republicans to permit a vote on the project, with the Senate expected to debate energy-efficiency legislation in the next few days.
Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota said he and other Republicans want the issue voted on either as a part of the energy-efficiency legislation or shortly afterward as a stand-alone bill. He said rank-and-file Republicans have "taken a very strong position" that one or the other must occur.
Aides said no decision had been made, but Reid said he had met in the last 24 hours with both Landrieu and Hoeven and left open the possibility of permitting a pipeline vote. "I'm open to anything that will move energy efficiency," he said.
The White House declined to comment on the latest Keystone gambit, but Obama threatened to veto a previous effort, in 2012, to attach approval of the project to a transportation bill.
The pipeline project has long been at a vexing crossroads of energy policy and politics that confronts Democrats.
The 1,179-mile project is proposed to go from Canada through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with existing pipelines to carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day to refineries along the Gulf Coast.
Advocates say it will create thousands of jobs and aid energy independence, but environmentalists warn of possible spills and say transporting oil will eventually contribute to global warming.
The State Department said in a Jan. 31 report that building the pipeline would not significantly boost carbon emissions because the oil was likely to find its way to market by other means. It added that transporting it by rail or truck would cause greater environmental problems than if the Keystone XL pipeline were built.
The administration unexpectedly ordered another delay in its decision earlier this month, citing a judge's ruling in Nebraska that overturned a state law permitting the pipeline to traverse the state.
Nebraska's Supreme Court isn't expected to hear an appeal to that ruling until September or October, and there could be more legal maneuvering after that to carry past the November elections.
Republicans seized on the announcement to ridicule Landrieu, whose campaign for re-election is based in part on a claim that her position as chair of the Senate Energy Committee is a major benefit to her oil-producing state.
Begich didn't wait for Republicans to criticize him. He said he was "frankly appalled at the continued foot-dragging by this administration on the Keystone project."
Further complicating the political calculations for Democrats, billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer has vowed to spend $50 million of his own money to make climate change a top-tier issue in the 2014 elections. He opposes the pipeline. Environmentally minded voters tend to back Democrats, and the party is already worried about a fall-off in voting this fall by other supporters because of the wobbly economic recovery and controversy over the nation's health care law.
In his comments to reporters, Reid said Republicans had first said they merely wanted to vote on a nonbinding measure expressing support for the pipeline. He said they have now switched positions and want to vote on legislation to allow the project to begin.
Landrieu told reporters that negotiations are continuing, and that it is not yet clear whether the legislation will be binding or not. Hoeven and other Republicans put it differently.
“It’s easy to talk the talk, but it’s time for all members to walk the walk on the Keystone XL pipeline. We ought to have a vote that matters,” Sen. John Thune, R-S.D, said in a statement Tuesday.
In a nonbinding vote last year, 62 lawmakers supported construction. Among them were 17 Democrats, including Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who has since retired and been replaced by another pipeline supporter, Sen. John Walsh.
More recently, 11 Senate Democrats urged Obama in a letter to approve the pipeline by the end of May. Six of the 11 are on the ballot this fall, including Landrieu, Begich and Walsh, and Sens. Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mark Warner of Virginia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Clippers owner Donald Sterling banned for life from NBA, fined $2.5 million by NBA
Chris Paul, PG Los Angeles Clippers Salary $18,668,431
Blake Griffin, PF Los Angeles Clippers Salary $16,441,500
The NBA threw the book at LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling, banning him for life, fining him $2.5 million and raising the possibility of a forced sale of the team over racist remarks he made to an ex-girlfriend that surfaced on a tape recording.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver made the announcement at a New York press conference moments after Sterling told Fox News that he was not interested in selling the team. When reached after the press conference by Fox News' Jim Gray, Sterling declined to comment.
Silver, who succeeded David Stern as NBA commissioner in February, said the league interviewed Sterling during its investigation. He said NBA investigators determined that the voice heard on the audio tape obtained by TMZ was Sterling's and called the comments "deeply offensive" and vowed to “do everything in my power” to force a sale of the team, which could be worth more than $500 million.
Lawyer for ex-IRS official Lerner asks to address House
Last May, Lerner refused to answer questions at a hearing about IRS agents singling out tea party applications for extra scrutiny. She again refused to answer questions in March, citing her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
The Oversight Committee voted earlier this month to hold her in contempt. All Republicans voted in favor and all Democrats voted against.
Lerner directed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. She retired from the IRS last fall, ending a 34-year career in the federal government, including work at the Justice Department and Federal Election Commission.
"Holding Ms. Lerner in contempt would not only be unfair and, indeed, un-American, it would be flatly inconsistent with the Fifth Amendment as interpreted by the Supreme Court," Lerner's lawyer, William W. Taylor III, wrote in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
Taylor requested "an opportunity to present to the House the reasons why it should not hold Ms. Lerner in contempt."
In an email, Taylor told The Associated Press that Lerner's lawyers would address the House, if given the chance -- not Lerner herself.
Taylor, citing Supreme Court precedent, argues in the letter that Lerner cannot be prosecuted for asserting her Fifth Amendment privilege.
"No court will hold that she waived her privilege," Taylor said. "Supreme Court precedent is clear that a witness compelled to appear before a congressional committee does not waive her Fifth Amendment privilege by asserting her innocence."
Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said, "Ms. Lerner can avoid being held in contempt at any time by testifying fully and honestly, but she has chosen not to."
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., responded on Twitter: "The House welcomes the opportunity for Lois Lerner to address our members. She can do so at any time before the House Oversight Committee."
The House is expected to vote on the contempt measure in May, according to a memo from Cantor to House Republicans.
Taylor's appearance before the House would be extraordinary. Other than House members, the privilege of addressing the full House is generally reserved for foreign leaders, dignitaries and, of course, the president.
Lerner was subpoenaed by the Oversight Committee last year after publicly acknowledging that the IRS had improperly singled out tea party and other conservative groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status from 2010 to 2012.
Oversight Committee Democrats have compiled a list of constitutional experts who say the contempt case is weak. Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., countered with a memo from the House general counsel's office saying there is a legal foundation for holding Lerner in contempt.
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee, complained that the House is poised to act without hearing from any experts.
"Before members of Congress are asked to take the grave step of stripping an American citizen of her Fifth Amendment rights -- something Congress has not attempted to do since the McCarthy era -- I believe the Republican leadership should do what Chairman Issa has refused to do for the last nine months: allow members to hear directly from Ms. Lerner's attorney and from some of the more than 30 independent legal experts who have concluded that his contempt proceeding will be thrown out of court," Cummings said.
Last week, House Republicans stepped up their investigation into the Justice Department's possible role in the targeting scandal, citing emails that purportedly suggest high-level DOJ officials may have been involved.
Emails published April 16 showed correspondence between Lerner and others at the IRS regarding the DOJ's interest in investigating "political" groups.
Senior Justice Department have denied the agency's involvement, saying that the accusations surrounding the emails are "conflating two separate issues."
The Obama administration at the highest level denied the targeting, from 2010 through the 2012 presidential election cycle, was illegal or politically motivated.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
GOP senators demand explanation for Benghazi talking points
Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and John McCain, R-Ariz., wrote to leaders on the House and Senate Foreign Relations committees asking them to compel the administration to explain the "taking points."
In the letter first obtained by Fox News, the senators cite the recent testimony of former CIA acting and deputy director Michael Morell before the House Intelligence Committee, where he said it was Rice, not the CIA, who connected the obscure Internet video to the deadly Sept. 11, 2012 attack.
"How could former Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, during the five Sunday talk shows on Sept. 16, 2012, claim that the attacks on our compounds were caused by a hateful video when Mr. Morell testified that the CIA never mentioned the video as a casual factor and made no reference to the video in any of the multiple versions of the talking points?" the senators wrote.
Given the CIA was not the source of the video explanation, according to Morell, lawmakers want to know whether State Department or White House personnel were involved in the Rice briefings in advance of the 2012 talk shows.
Rice is now the president's national security adviser. Some lawmakers believe it would be difficult for Rice to now assert executive privilege because her previous job as U.N. ambassador required Senate confirmation.
In the letter, the lawmakers also questioned Rice's statements about security at the Benghazi compound that were "clearly misrepresentations of the facts."
"Ambassador Rice also falsely asserted that Al Qaeda was decimated. Who briefed her about Al Qaeda's activities in Libya?" the lawmakers wrote.
"If we are to avoid future terrorist attacks like the one in Benghazi, we must answer these and many other unanswered questions," the senators added.
Fox News' Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.
Monday, April 28, 2014
Affirmative action lawyer calls Supreme Court decision on Michigan schools 'racist'
“This is a racist decision that takes us back to an era of state’s rights,” civil rights attorney Shanta Driver told “Fox News Sunday.” “This decision cannot stand.”
The high court’s 6-2 decision Tuesday upheld a voter-approved change to the Michigan Constitution in 2006 that forbids the state's public colleges to make race, gender, ethnicity or national origin a factor in college admissions.
“The old Jim Crow [law] is now the new Jim Crow.”- Shanta DriverThe basis of the case was the 1995 decision of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to reject the application of Jennifer Gratz.
Gratz, who is white, told “Fox News Sunday” that she found it “unbelievable” that a decision that prohibits race discrimination could be perceived as “racist.”
She also said she challenged the school’s decision because it was based on “skin color,” not because her enrollment application was rejected.
Driver argued that minorities typically attend under-performing schools, which put them at a disadvantage compared to students at better, suburban schools. And minority students have less power, compared to athletes or children of alumni, for example, to get accepted into universities, she said.
“The old Jim Crow [law] is now the new Jim Crow,” Driver said.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Mia Love wins GOP nomination for Utah seat
TheHill.com reports that the former Saratoga Springs, Utah, mayor brought in over 78 percent of the vote at the local Republican convention, with competitor Bob Fuehr coming second with approximately 22 percent of the vote.
"Mia Love has been a tireless advocate for hardworking Utah families throughout her career and will bring this same dedication to Congress,” said National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Greg Walden in a statement Saturday evening.
“With Jim Matheson's retirement, Republicans are poised to pick up this congressional seat and there is no better candidate to lead the charge than Mia Love,” the statement read.
Love, who became a national party favorite after her speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention, will face off against Democrat Doug Owens – who picked up 98 percent of the vote at the Democrat convention.
The suburban Salt Lake City district is seen by many as a likely pickup for the GOP, with presidential nominee Mitt Romney carrying the district by 37 points in 2012.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/26/mia-love-wins-gop-nomination-for-utah-seat/?intcmp=HPBucket
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Friday, April 25, 2014
Holder cancels graduation speech amid protests
Attorney General Eric Holder canceled a speech to a graduating class of police cadets in Oklahoma City on Thursday, after crowds of Oklahomans flocked to the ceremony to protest his appearance.
Protest organizers said Holder's planned speech to the law enforcement graduates was "inappropriate," and argued that the attorney general has failed to uphold the law himself.
"A lot of people just felt that it was very inappropriate for this man, with his track record, to speak to law enforcement officers that demand and expect to be backed up by the government working on behalf of the citizens, not against the citizens," State Rep. Mike Turner (R.), who is running for U.S. congress, told theWashington Free Beacon.
Turner said Holder has flouted the law when it comes to illegal immigration, the "Fast and Furious" gunrunning scandal, and the Second Amendment.
The U.S. House of Representatives held Holder in contempt of Congress in 2012, on the grounds that he was impeding investigations into Fast and Furious.
The Oklahoma City protest made national news Thursday afternoon, after Holder backed out of the speech shortly before the graduation ceremony began.
Holder's office told the Washington Times that the last-minute cancelation was due to a scheduling issue.
"The attorney general had been looking to addressing the cadets, and regrets he cannot attend in person," spokesman Brian Fallon told the Washington Times. "He extends his heartfelt congratulations to the cadets and their families."
Student claims community college rejected application because of Christian faith
Now, I have to admit to being a bit skeptical when I first heard about Mr. Jenkins’ plight – seeing how this is the age of tolerance and diversity. But any doubt I had melted away after his attorney showed me the proverbial smoking gun.
David French, an attorney with the American Center for Law and Justice, has an email written to his client by Adrienne Dougherty, the director of the college’s radiation therapy program.
In the email Ms. Dougherty explains why Jenkins was denied entry into the program. She wrote that while his grades were good, there were other students with higher grade point averages. Applicants had to have a 2.5 overall GPA to be eligible. Still, it seemed plausible that there were other candidates with higher averages.
It sounds to me like the Community College of Baltimore County has a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” religion policy.The college also took issue with his desire to stay in Maryland after he got his degree.
“I feel that I would be doing you a disservice if I allowed you into the program and you are not able to find a job based on your past,” she wrote.
Mr. French acknowledged that his client had a single criminal charge on his record – dating back more than 10 years. Early in the admission process, Mr. Jenkins asked if that would be a problem, and he was assured it would not hamper his effort.
But then – Ms. Dougherty dropped the bombshell, the lawsuit alleges.
“I understand that religion is a major part of your life and that was evident in your recommendation letters, however, this field is not the place for religion,” she wrote. “We have many patients who come to us for treatment from many different religions and some who believe in nothing at all.”
And then, Ms. Dougherty offered what I imagine in her mind must have been helpful advice in this age of tolerance and diversity.
“If you interview in the future, you may want to leave your thoughts and beliefs out of the interview process,” she wrote.
This field is not the place for religion.
“I was astonished by the email,” Mr. French told me in a telephone conversation. “While colleges routinely discriminate against Christians, rarely do they state their discrimination so explicitly.”
In a letter to the ACLJ, a law firm representing the community college, defended Ms. Dougherty’s statement.
“Stated bluntly, that is not bad advice,” attorney Peter Saucier wrote. “Mr. Jenkins was not advised to ignore, change or deny his religious views. The suggestion simply was that he not wear them on his sleeve as his best qualification.”
So you might be wondering -- how the college knew that Mr. Jenkins is a Christian?
Well, during the interview process he was asked the following question: what is the most important thing to you? According to the lawsuit, Mr. Jenkins replied, “My God.”
Mr. French said there were no follow up questions and his client did not mention his religious beliefs. But that brief mention of God, coupled with recommendation letters that made references to faith, were enough to disqualify Mr. Jenkins from the program.
Still, the college denied they discriminated against the man. Instead, they argue they were just trying to help him refocus and succeed.
“Her words may have been inartfully stated, but the fact is that in any secular job or program interview it is better to have a concrete reason for wanting to undertake the training at hand than to say only that God directed one to do it,” Mr. Saucier wrote to the ACLJ. “That is true for every job from astronaut to attorney.”
It sounds to me like the Community College of Baltimore County has a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” religion policy.
The ACLJ’s lawsuit alleges the college violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution and they want their client granted admission to the radiation therapy program. A college spokesperson told me they have not yet seen the lawsuit.
In fairness to the college – it’s not like they are kicking him out of the school. Ms. Dougherty’s email clearly shows that she was offering him alternative degree paths. She went so far as to suggest he could work on a degree in mental health study – and noted in her email that he would make a “great candidate.”
I’ve never met Mr. Jenkins, but he sounds like a stand-up guy. Based on the court documents I’ve read, it sounds as if he took a wrong turn in life. But through his faith in God, he made amends and got back on the right path.
Here’s a man who’s trying to better himself with a college education. Here’s a man trying to live the American dream only to be told he can’t do that because he believes in God. That should spark a furious fire in the heart of every red-blooded, freedom-loving American.
The ACLJ lawsuit names four administrators: Sandra Kurtinitis, Mark McColloch, Richard Lilley and Adrienne Dougherty as defendants. Should they be found guilty of discriminating against this man because of his faith – they should be fired. American tax dollars should not be used to fund the salaries of religious bigots.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter. His latest book is "God Less America”.
Oregon panel recommends moving to federal health care exchange
On Friday, the Cover Oregon board will take up a recommendation made Thursday by a partial panel to hand over the state- run exchange to the federal government.
The move comes nearly seven months after Oregon’s online system was supposed to go live, but never did so completely.
Cover Oregon official Alex Pettit said fixing the existing system would be too risky and take too long to implement.
He also said it would be too costly. Trying to fix the system would cost around $78 million, he said. Switching to the federal system would be considerably cheaper, estimated at $4 million to $6 million.
Oregon would continue using its current technology for Medicaid enrollments, but not for people who are buying private policies.
Aaron Albright, a spokesman for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told Fox News in a written statement Thursday, “We are working with Oregon to ensure that all Oregonians have access to quality, affordable health coverage in 2015.”
Oregon's exchange is seen as the worst of those of more than a dozen states that developed their own online health insurance marketplaces. The state is the only one where the general public still can't use an online enrollment system to sign up for coverage in one sitting -- despite an early start building the site and millions of dollars from the federal government.
The Oregon exchange – like the ones in Maryland and Massachusetts- have been hit hard by technical glitches that have made signing up difficult for consumers.
The website was supposed to go live Oct. 1, but Cover Oregon and the technology vendor that built it, Oracle Corp., have been unable to work out all the glitches. Instead, Oregonians must use a costly, time-consuming, hybrid paper-online process to sign up for insurance.
The state has spent nearly $7 million on the paper processing efforts, in addition to $134 million in federal funding paid to Oracle.
Oregon was the only state to receive a month-long enrollment extension because of the technology problems.
The federal Government Accountability Office has announced an investigation into Oregon's exchange, including looking at whether the federal government can reclaim grant money given to Cover Oregon if taxpayer funds were mismanaged.
Separately, former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asked for an inspector general's investigation into problems with the rollout of the health care law.
An independent investigation ordered by Gov. John Kitzhaber found state managers repeatedly failed to heed reports about technical problems that prevented the exchange from launching. It also found that Oracle did a shoddy job in building the exchange. Four Oregon officials connected to the development of the Cover Oregon portal have resigned.
Kitzhaber has insisted that communications about the portal's troubles never reached him as the planned Oct. 1 launch neared.
So far, about 240,000 Oregonians have enrolled in coverage through Cover Oregon. More than 69,000 of those enrolled in private health plans, while 171,000 enrolled in the Oregon Health Plan, the state's version of Medicaid.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Arizona VA boss accused of covering up veterans' deaths linked to previous scandal
Sharon Helman, director of the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system, is accused with other management officials of keeping a fake waiting list that made it appear sick veterans were being treated in a timely manner -- while hiding the real list that showed up to 1,600 sick veterans were waiting months to see a physician. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, said investigators have evidence that two sets of records were kept by the facility to conceal the lengthy delays in care.
At least 40 veterans on the secret list allegedly died while waiting for appointments, prompting congressional committees to launch investigations into the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
Helman, who is said to have approved and defended the Phoenix facility's actions, previously served as director of the Veterans Affairs facility in Spokane, Wash., where the VA's Office of Medical Investigations found the number of veteran suicides were being miscounted.
"Leadership, management and accountability is all we have ever required of the VA."- William Thien, Vietnam veteran and leader of 1.9 million-member VFWFrom July 2007 through the first week of July 2008, at least 22 veterans in the Spokane VA service area committed suicide. During that same time period, however, Spokane VA reported nine suicides and 34 attempted suicides, according to Military.com and other media outlets.
Helman was director of the Spokane facility at the time the number of suicides were being misreported. Shortly after news revealed that such data had been falsified, Helman was transferred to the VA facility in Hines, Ill., after having spent less than two years in Spokane. From there, Helman moved to Phoenix, where she became director of the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system in February 2012.
Helman could not be reached for comment, but the Arizona Republic reported earlier this week that Helman denies knowledge of any patients who died awaiting care or that patient information was improperly manipulated.
In a statement to FoxNews.com, VA spokeswoman Jean Schaefer said the agency has asked for an independent review regarding the claims in Arizona.
“The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) cares deeply for every veteran we are privileged to serve, and we are committed to delivering the highest quality care," Schaefer said. "The Phoenix VA Health Care system takes these issues very seriously and invited the independent VA Office of the Inspector General to complete a comprehensive review of these allegations."
But veterans advocates said Helman's transfers are part of the government agency's pattern of shuffling officials around instead of holding them accountable.
"This is not the first time that Sharon Helman has been involved in an incident involving manipulation of patient data," said Pete Hegseth, chief executive officer for Concerned Veterans for America. "She fudged the number of veterans suicides at a previous job — and was never fired. She just moved."
Public records show that Helman received a $9,345 bonus last year, in addition to her annual base salary of $169,900.
"Leadership, management and accountability is all we have ever required of the VA," William A. Thien, a Vietnam veteran from Georgetown, Ind., who leads the 1.9 million-member VFW and its auxiliaries, said in a statement Thursday.
"When you deal with lives, there should be no leniency granted to anyone with any knowledge of this alleged coverup, to include everyone in Phoenix who knew but didn’t tell, and those in oversight positions at the VA network and VA headquarters in Washington who knew but didn’t care," Thien said.
FoxNews.com's Cristina Corbin contributed to this report.
Hillary Clinton all but erased from tragic story of Benghazi Multiple inquiries about her role hit dead ends
Over the past 18 months, there have been at least seven public congressional hearings and three fact-finding reports on the terrorist attack. If not invisible, Mrs. Clinton is certainly portrayed as being only in the background during Benghazi, unaware of key events.
In the early post-Benghazi days on Capitol Hill, Republicans tried to pry “what did she know and when did she know it” information out of witnesses. But in later hearings, her name came up rarely — if at all.
On key questions, there is a dead end. For example, the nation’s two most senior military officials said they never spoke with Mrs. Clinton during the eight-hour crisis in Benghazi, Libya.
The State Department refused to cooperate for a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence investigation, Republicans say, and her name is not in the final report.
Mrs. Clinton testified that she was never informed about how susceptible the Benghazi diplomatic mission was to attack or about requests for more security officers. On the infamous Benghazi talking points, that process was carried out below her level, she said.
At the recently concluded public hearing of Michael J. Morell, the CIA deputy director who coordinated the “talking points” with State, references to Mrs. Clinton, who leads in polls to be the next Democratic presidential nominee, were made twice as asides, not as to Benghazi facts.
P.J. Crowley, who was Mrs. Clinton’s top spokesman at State in her first year, said Republicans have tried to nail her but there simply is no evidence.
“Benghazi happened on her watch, so she will always have a connection to the attack,” Mr. Crowley said. “There have been some efforts to make it about her, which I suspect will continue despite the lack of evidence.”
Lawyer Victoria Toensing has another view. She said members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence displayed incompetence while questioning Mr. Morell.
“Nobody from the House committee asked about her,” said Mrs. Toensing, who represents Gregory Hicks, the chief of mission in Tripoli that day who was among the first to blow the whistle on lax security in Benghazi and a lack of help from Washington during the crisis. “Was that hearing somewhat incompetent? Yes.”
Mrs. Toensing said the investigative failings pertaining to Mrs. Clinton began much earlier in the search to explain the deaths of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and his aide, Sean Smith.
State’s own investigation, by the accountability review board, gave Mrs. Clinton a pass. It never interviewed her on facts and decided that culpability lay at a much lower level, said former Ambassador Thomas Pickering, a co-chairman of the board.
His report said Stevens was in Benghazi that day “independent” of Washington.
“It’s a lie. An outright lie,” Mrs. Toensing said, adding that Mrs. Clinton’s fingerprints can be seen on that point.
“One of the most important facts about her is left out. Why was Chris in Benghazi?” the attorney said. “He was in Benghazi because on the day he was sworn in, Hillary met with him privately [in May 2012] and said she wanted him to go to Benghazi and assess whether it could be made a permanent post.”
Stevens met with Mr. Hicks and “Chris told him about this priority of the secretary’s,” Mrs. Toensing said. After the new ambassador took care of many initial tasks, September became the month he had to act on Benghazi before the fiscal year — and thus money — ended Sept. 30.
“He was there because of Hillary Clinton, and when the [accountability review board] interviewed Greg [Hicks], Greg said that to Pickering,” Mrs. Toensing said.
The review board took notes but did not transcribe its witness testimonies, which would have formed a more complete historical record.
Mr. Hicks has been denied access to the notes, Mrs. Toensing said.
Talking points issued
Mr. Crowley, Mrs. Clinton’s former spokesman, said there is historical precedence for putting a mission in a contested area such as Benghazi. The State Department erected two large complexes in Iraq and Afghanistan amid wars to further the goal of “expeditionary diplomacy.” Mrs. Clinton embraced the strategy, he said.
“This trend helps explain what Chris Stevens was doing in a post-conflict environment in Libya,” Mr. Crowley said. “He understood better than anyone that diplomats cannot hermetically seal themselves off from danger and do the job they were sent to do. Benghazi is about the nature of conflict in the 21st century, not about any one person.”
In January, a second major report emerged on Benghazi. This one, too, was Clinton-less.
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released a bipartisan report that attempted, after months of investigation, to lay out an official chronology of what officials did to prepare for and respond to the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission. Mrs. Clinton’s name is not mentioned in the report.
The committee’s Republicans wrote in an addendum that the State Department stonewalled the investigation by refusing requests for documents and witnesses.
“We surmise that this lack of forthrightness stems from a desire to protect individual political careers, now and in the future, and the Department’s reputation, at the expense of learning all the facts and apportioning responsibility,” the Republican senators wrote.
Then there are the long-debated “talking points,” President Obama’s first report to the nation about what happened in Benghazi.
The White House-State Department-CIA back-and-forth emails that produced the Sept. 16, 2012, talking points contain no reference to the secretary of state. Her fingerprints do not appear during two days of intense exchanges during which Clinton aides rejected various CIA versions. In the end, the CIA produced a brief statement that blamed protesters — an assertion Republicans say fit the president’s re-election campaign themes but not the facts.
The CIA’s first version turned out to be accurate, but under internal and outside pressure during two days, all references to al Qaeda and Islamic terrorists were removed.
‘She’s definitely culpable’
As Mrs. Clinton worked that late afternoon on Sept. 11 and into the night, no U.S. military help ever arrived at a CIA annex under attack for eight hours. Two former Navy SEALs were killed in their effort to protect CIA officers and huddled diplomats who were rescued from the burning compound.
Retired Army Gen. Carter Ham, who led U.S. Africa Command at the time, has stated that no one from State on Sept. 11 ever asked for a military rescue attempt.
Mrs. Clinton’s role in that lack of a request? Gen. Ham was not asked that question when he appeared in secret before a House Armed Services subcommittee in June, according to a declassified transcript.
Mrs. Clinton’s inner circle is known to be fiercely loyal. When CNN attempted to produce a Clinton documentary that would likely be favorable, all 100 aides and Democrats contacted refused to cooperate. Director Charles Ferguson canceled the project.
“I discovered that nobody, and I mean nobody, was interested in helping me make this film,” Mr. Ferguson wrote in The Huffington Post.
Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA official and State counterterrorism official, said the same thing that happened to Mr. Ferguson happened to Benghazi investigators.
“It’s part of the ‘protect Hillary’ deal. That’s what’s going on,” Mr. Johnson said. “But she’s definitely culpable. The security at the annex and so-called consulate was the responsibility of the State Department. Libya was one of the top five foreign policy priorities for the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton. She didn’t do anything. That’s the point.”
In her own words
Mrs. Clinton’s aides also tried to control post-attack information coming out of the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli.
When Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Utah Republican, visited the embassy, a State Department attorney — referred to by one Republican as a “spy” — was not allowed in his briefing because his security clearance was not high enough.
The next thing Mr. Hicks knew, he was getting a phone call from Cheryl Mills, Mrs. Clinton’s chief of staff.
“She was very upset,” Mr. Hicks told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
An example of a brief and unsuccessful attempt by Republicans to find Mrs. Clinton culpable occurred in February 2013 at a Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire Republican, noted Stevens‘ cable to the State Department on Aug. 15, one month before the attack, in which he said the Benghazi compound could not sustain an assault.
At the witness table sat the nation’s two highest military officials: Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, Joint Chiefs chairman. Asked whether they discussed the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi with the secretary of state, both men said they had not.
Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, asked what conversations the men had with Mrs. Clinton between the first attack on the diplomatic mission and the next morning when the CIA annex was shelled. Mr. Panetta said he and Gen. Dempsey never spoke with Mrs. Clinton during those critical hours.
When Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, asked whether it was true that Mrs. Clinton never saw Stevens‘ Aug. 15 warning, Gen. Dempsey answered, “Well, I don’t know that she didn’t know about the cable.”
Asked whether he would be stunned if she never saw it, Gen. Dempsey responded, “I would call myself surprised that she didn’t.”
For now, the lone source for a detailed account of what Mrs. Clinton did and did not do regarding Benghazi is — herself.
In January 2013, as her four years as secretary of state came to an end, she sat alone before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to tell the Benghazi story as she saw it.
About Stevens‘ request for more security, she said: “The specific security requests pertaining to Benghazi, you know, were handled by the security professionals in the department. I didn’t see those requests. They didn’t come to me. I didn’t approve them. I didn’t deny them.”
On the talking points, she said: “I wasn’t involved in the talking points process. As I understand it, as I’ve been told, it was a typical interagency process.”
On what she did that night at her desk in Foggy Bottom, she testified: “I participated in a secure videoconference of senior officials from the intelligence community, the White House and DOD. We were going over every possible option, reviewing all that was available to us, any actions we could take.”
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Over 40,000 voters are registered in both Virginia and Maryland
A crosscheck of voter rolls in Virginia and Maryland turned up 44,000 people registered in both states, a vote-integrity group reported Wednesday.
And that’s just the beginning.
“The Virginia Voters Alliance is investigating how to identify voters who are registered and vote in Virginia but live in the states that surround us,” Alliance President Reagan George told the State Board of Elections.
George acknowledged that the number of voters who actually cast multiple ballots is relatively small. In the case of Maryland and Virginia, he revealed that 164 people voted in both states during the 2012 election.
But George said his group will expand their search for duplicate voters in the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Georgia.
IRS employees with tax and conduct issues still got awards, watchdog report finds
The report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that while for the most part the reward program for IRS workers complied with federal regulations, employees who had themselves failed to pay their federal taxes and had discipline problems were also rewarded.
"While not prohibited, providing awards to employees who have been disciplined for failing to pay federal taxes appears to create a conflict with the IRS’s charge of ensuring the integrity of the system of tax administration,” Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George said.
The watchdog found that in the period from October 1, 2010 to December 31, 2012 over 2,800 employees who had been disciplined for conduct problems, including issues with federal tax compliance, had received over $2.8 million in monetary awards and over 27,000 hours in time-off awards.
The watchdog found that the more than 1,100 employees who had issues with tax compliance received more than $1 million in monetary awards and more than 10,000 hours in time-off awards.
The IRS said in a statement it has already developed a new policy linking conduct and performance bonuses for executives and senior level employees.
"Even without a formal policy in place over the past four years, the IRS has not issued awards to any executives that were subject to a disciplinary action," the IRS said in a statement. "We are also considering a similar policy for the entire IRS workforce, which would be subject to negotiations with the National Treasury Employees Union."
The IRS had about 100,000 workers during the period under review.
In the 2011 budget year, more than 70,000 IRS workers got cash bonuses totaling $92 million, the report said. In the 2012 budget year, nearly 68,000 workers got cash bonuses totaling $86 million.
The report said the IRS considers prior conduct before awarding permanent pay increases. "However, IRS officials stated that the IRS generally does not consider conduct issues when administering other types of awards," the report said.
There are no government-wide policies on providing bonuses to employees with conduct issues, the report said. However, a 1998 law calls for removing IRS employees who are found to have intentionally committed certain acts of misconduct, including willful failure to pay federal taxes.
Tax compliance at the IRS is generally better than at other federal agencies.
In 2011, 3.2 percent of federal workers owed back taxes, according to IRS statistics. The Treasury Department, which includes the IRS, had the lowest delinquency rate, at 1.1 percent.
The delinquency rate for the general public was 8.2 percent.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Md. gov candidate suggests Iraq War vet opponent not up for 'real job'
A Democratic candidate for governor of Maryland is defending comments he made Monday in which he suggested his opponent, an Iraq war veteran, was not up to the task of a “real job.”
Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler drew ire from a veterans’ group after he made the comments about his opponent for the Democratic nomination, Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, at an event held by the Tech Council of Maryland.
During the event, Gansler was asked what the state had learned from the rollout of ObamaCare. Maryland’s state-run exchange has been particularly troubled, and earlier this month the exchange’s board of directors voted to replace technology in the system with one used in in Connecticut's exchange instead of fixing its current system or partnering with the federal government.
Gansler said the website’s woes prove Maryland needs someone who has leadership experience and worked with budgets, someone, he claimed, unlike Brown.
“I’m running against somebody who has never managed anybody, never run anything, his ads are about how he’s a lawyer in Iraq, and that’s all fine and good but this is a real job,” Gansler said.
Gansler was referencing a recent campaign ad by Brown, in which he talks about serving in the Army ROTC, the Army Reserves and being deployed to Iraq.
Gansler’s comments were slammed by a veterans’ group VoteVets.org, whose chairman told the Baltimore Sun his comments were “slime ball politics.”
“Doug Gansler needs to stop smearing those of us who served in Iraq as not having had a ‘real job,’ "Jon Soltz, whose group has endorsed Brown, said. “It’s a horrible insult to all those men and women who put their lives on the line, and especially those who died, in service to this country."
Gansler said in a statement to FoxNews.com his comments simply needed to be clarified.
“I have the utmost respect for his military service and for veterans,” Gansler said. “The point I was trying to make is that Anthony Brown's only attempt to lead as Lieutenant Governor was the unmitigated debacle of the health exchange website that denied Marylanders access to health care and cost taxpayers nearly $200 million.”
Brown and the state’s current Gov. Martin O’Malley have blamed the website’s vendors for the problems with Maryland’s state exchange. He and Gansler face off in the primary June 24.
Monday, April 21, 2014
Feds draw criticism for selling Wyoming horses for slaughter
(Bailey) Where is Reid and his smart mouth on this issue?
They, in turn, sold the herd to the highest bidder, a Canadian slaughterhouse.
Wild horse advocates are incensed, saying they should have had a chance to intercede in the March roundup and auction. But the BLM says that the horses were abandoned, not wild, and that it publicized the sale beforehand.
"It would take very little to do this in a more effective way so that horses are not just sent off to slaughter indiscriminately," said Paula Todd King, of The Cloud Foundation, a Colorado-based advocacy group.
According to the BLM, the Wyoming horses weren't officially wild and protected by the Wild-Free Roaming Horses and Burro Act, the federal law for maintaining many of the horse herds, some of which have roamed free in the West since the days of Spanish explorers more than 300 years ago.
"It would take very little to do this in a more effective way so that horses are not just sent off to slaughter indiscriminately."- Paula Todd King, of The Cloud FoundationThe BLM bans wild horses from being sold for slaughter. Anybody who adopts a wild horse from the BLM must agree to provide it a home.
The horses in the Bighorn Basin's sagebrush hills descended from stray rodeo horses owned by Andy Gifford, a rancher and rodeo livestock contractor, in the 1970s, BLM spokeswoman Sarah Beckwith said.
Gifford had claimed the horses as his but never rounded them up before he died in 2009. That, plus the fact that the horses never interbred with wild horses, officially classified them as strays.
"Nobody had a permit to have these horses grazing on public lands," Beckwith said.
King questions that policy. "How long does a horse have to live wild and free before it's considered wild?" she said.
Area ranchers and farmers had long complained that the herd grazed down pastures and damaged cattle rangeland.
On March 18 and March 19, a BLM contractor rounded up the 41 horses and handed them over to Wyoming officials. Within hours, the horses were sold for $1,640 to Bouvry Exports, a slaughterhouse based in Calgary, Alberta.
The BLM follows state laws for handling stray livestock, Beckwith said, and it had no option but to hand over the horses to the Wyoming Livestock Board. The state took three bids for the horses, state Brand Commissioner Lee Romsa said.
Bouvry Exports shipped the horses out of state, Romsa said. Phone messages for Bouvry Exports weren't immediately returned.
BLM officials had printed notices about the upcoming roundup in local newspapers and posted notices in local post offices.
The roundup wasn't unprecedented. Last summer, a federal judge allowed an American Indian tribe to sell 149 mustangs over the objection of critics, who claimed that the unbranded animals were federally protected wild horses.
The mustangs were among more than 400 on U.S. Forest Service land along the Nevada-Oregon line that the Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Tribe claimed belonged to them.
In the end, King said, more than 160 were sold to people who planned to take them to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico, but local residents and rescue groups raised money to buy 150 of the horses to spare them.
The BLM rounds up stray livestock perhaps three or four times a year in the West. Usually they are cattle or sheep. Impoundments of large numbers of stray horses are far less frequent, said Robert Bolton, a senior rangeland management specialist for the BLM.
"That's a pretty sizable number, and they have been out there a long time," Bolton said of the Wyoming herd. "Normally, most of our impounds have been in the low numbers."
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Why did a news outlet cancel this church's Easter ad?
A New York City news organization has apologized after it canceled a church’s advertising campaign promoting its Easter Sunday services – just three days before Good Friday.
The Journey Church, a Christian evangelical congregation, paid $1,400 to run a series of ads on the Capital New York website. Capital New York is a sister publication of Politico. And for the sake full disclosure, I attend The Journey Church.
The advertisement read: “You’re invited to discover #HOPE at The Journey Church this Sunday April 20. Click here to discover how you can find hope when you feel like giving up.”
Pastor Kerrick Thomas tells me the advertisement ran on Capital New York’s website earlier in the week – but on Wednesday the church received an email notifying them that the ad was being pulled.
“Capital is implementing a new policy company-wide that we won’t be running any religious-affiliated campaigns moving forward,” the email read.
It certainly seemed rather convenient that the company’s new policy was implemented just days before the holiest of holidays for Christians. Heaven forbid Capital New York soil their fine reputation by taking money from Christians.
“It stings a little when someone says they won’t work with you because you are religious or Christian or a church,” Thomas said. “But we are going to love everyone and keep moving forward to have an impact for Christ in New York.”
The news organization’s decision put the church in a jam.
“As a church we have limited resources – so we have to be strategic when we invest in outreach,” Thomas said. “We thought working with them could be a cool way to bless New Yorkers. The fact that it was canceled the week of Easter made it impossible for us to use our resources to try something new in such a short amount of time. We really felt like it wasted our time and a great opportunity at Easter.”
But fortunately, this Easter story has a happy ending.
About an hour after I started sniffing around and asking questions, Capital New York suddenly had a change of heart – a come-to-Jesus moment.
The company reversed course and apologized.
“The Capital New York brand is very young and there was some confusion around the advertising policy,” read a statement the news outlet sent me. “In this case, the Journey Church ad should not have been pulled.”
Pastor Thomas confirmed that he received an email as well – offering to run the church’s ad without charge.
So, let’s review. A wrong has been righted. Apologies offered. Forgiveness granted. And all’s well that ends well. Happy Easter, America.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter. His latest book is "God Less America”.
Western lawmakers strategize on taking control of federal lands
The lawmakers and county commissioners discussed ways to wresting oil-, timber- and mineral-rich lands away from the feds. Utah House Speaker Becky Lockhart said it was in the works before this month's standoff.
The BLM rounded up hundreds of Bundy's cattle, saying he hasn't paid more than $1 million in grazing fees he owes for trespassing on federal lands since the 1990s. But Bundy does not recognize federal authority on the land, which his family has used since the 1870s.
The BLM released the cattle after a showdown last weekend with angry armed protesters whom Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid referred to as "domestic terrorists."
"What's happened in Nevada is really just a symptom of a much larger problem," Lockhart said, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
The Legislative Summit on the Transfer of Public Lands, as it was called, was organized by Utah state Rep. Ken Ivory and Montana state Sen. Jennifer Fielder. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, addressed the group over lunch, the Tribune reported.
"It’s simply time," Ivory told reporters. "The urgency is now."
Fielder said federal land management is hamstrung by bad policies, politicized science and severe federal budget cuts.
"Those of us who live in the rural areas know how to take care of lands," said Fielder, a Republican who lives in the northwestern Montana town of Thompson Falls. "We have to start managing these lands. It's the right thing to do for our people, for our environment, for our economy and for our freedoms."
Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Oregon and Washington also were represented, but none of the other states has gone as far as Utah, where lawmakers passed a measure demanding that the federal government extinguish title to federal lands.
The lawmakers and Gov. Gary Herber have said they're only asking the federal government to make good on promises made in the 1894 Enabling Act for Utah to become a state. The intent was never to take over national parks and wilderness created by an act of Congress, said Lockhart, a Republican from Provo.
"We are not interested in having control of every acre," she said. "There are lands that are off the table that rightly have been designated by the federal government."
Ivory said federal government's debt threatens its management of vast tracts of the West and its ability to make payments in lieu of taxes to the states, the Tribune reported. He said the issue is of interest to both urban and rural lawmakers.
"If we don’t stand up and act, seeing that trajectory of what’s coming … those problems are going to get bigger," Ivory was quoted as saying.
The University of Utah is conducting a study called for by the legislation to analyze how Utah could manage the land now in federal control.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Click here for more from The Salt Lake Tribune.
Friday, April 18, 2014
‘This thing is working’? Widows of Alabama county workers dropped from health plans
A report by Huntsville-based WHNT said that more than a dozen widows of retired Madison County employees lost their coverage earlier this year.
They originally had been covered under the county's self-insured plan. But, according to WHNT, officials learned that it would have been too expensive to keep providing that coverage and comply with the Affordable Care Act's coverage mandates.
The county instead joined a statewide network that dozens of county governments already are in. That plan, though, does not offer coverage to husbands and wives when their government employee spouses die.
WHNT reported that one county commissioner is trying to restore the insurance for widows of county workers, though it's unclear whether he'll be successful.
"What I'm trying to do is get this coverage back to them," Madison County Commissioner Roger Jones said. "A lot of these people are on fixed incomes. Some of them are living on Social Security and very little else, and health insurance is very important to them."
The widows reportedly still get 18 months of Cobra coverage once their old insurance expires.
The Madison County case comes as the Obama administration aggressively steps up its defense of the law and its performance. At a surprise press conference on Thursday, Obama reported that 8 million people have signed up on the federal and state insurance exchanges.
"This thing is working," Obama said, adding: "The repeal debate is and should be over."
The 8 million figure is a marked improvement over sign-up figures in late 2013, when the exchange websites were emerging from the disastrous launch in October. Still, the administration has not broken down the numbers to get at the heart of how many people really have obtained coverage under the law.
Many people were dropped from their old insurance policies last year, and then went into the exchanges. The administration has not said how many of the 8 million were previously insured, and how many were previously uninsured -- those figures would help paint a picture of the net gain in coverage.
The administration also has not said how many of the 8 million have paid their first month's premium, and technically are enrolled.
Republicans bristled at the president's tone in the White House briefing room Thursday afternoon. While the president cites the millions gaining coverage and new protections under the law, Republicans note that many also have lost their old policies despite being told they wouldn't.
"While the President repeatedly pats himself on the back over the number of people that were forced to sign up for his insurance scheme, millions of Americans are experiencing real and significant repercussions," Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said in a statement. "The President has now taken to mocking those that point out the negative consequences. The impacts are very real.
"It's clear that the President remains totally focused on coverage instead of care. He is either ignoring reports from across the country -- or he isn't hearing them. Either way, he is out of touch with Americans who have lost their doctor, had their insurance cancelled and watched their premiums spike all because of this failing law."
Lois Lerner
Oversight member on Lois Lerner coordination with DOJ: ‘Now I see why IRS is scared to give up emails’
Key members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform expressed outrage at revelations made in newly released emails showing ex-IRS official Lois Lerner coordinating with the Department of Justice on prosecuting nonprofit groups.
One committee member said the emails prove why the IRS is “scared to give up the rest of Lois Lerner’s emails.” IRS commissioner John Koskinen was recently threatened with contempt for stonewalling the committee’s investigation. Koskinen claimed in a hearing that it could take years to provide the documents requested by Oversight.
“The release of new documents underscores the political nature of IRS Tea Party targeting and the extent to which supposed apolitical officials took direction from elected Democrats,” Oversight chairman Rep. Darrell Issa said in a statement. “These e-mails are part of an overwhelming body of evidence that political pressure from prominent Democrats led to the targeting of Americans for their political beliefs.”
“Now I see why the IRS is scared to give up the rest of Lois Lerner’s emails,” said Oversight Economic Growth subcommittee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan.
“Not only do these e-mails further prove the coordination among the IRS, the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Justice Department and committee Democrats to target conservatives, they also show that had our committee not requested the Inspector General’s investigation when we did, Eric Holder’s politicized Justice Department would likely have been leveling trumped up criminal charges against Tea Party groups to intimidate them from exercising their Constitutional rights,” Jordan said.
The emails were obtained through a lawsuit filed by the watchdog group Judicial Watch, and were not provided to Oversight, which voted to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress. Lerner’s contempt charge currently awaits a full House floor vote.
“I got a call today from Richard Pilger Director Elections Crimes Branch at DOJ … He wanted to know who at IRS the DOJ folks could talk to about [Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon] Whitehouse idea at the hearing that DOJ could piece together false statement cases about applicants who ‘lied’ on their 1024s — saying they werent planning on doing political activity, and then turning around and making large visible political expenditures,” Lerner wrote in a May 8, 2013 email to a colleague, just days before the IRS scandal broke.
“DOJ is feeling like it needs to respond, but want to talk to the right folks at IRS to see whether there are impediments from our side and what, if any damage this might do to IRS programs. I told him that sounded like we might need several folks from IRS …,” Lerner wrote.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/04/16/oversight-member-on-lois-lerner-coordination-with-doj-now-i-see-why-irs-is-scared-to-give-up-emails/#ixzz2zF3yJOh6
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