Lois Lerner: Difference between revisions

'''Lois Gail Lerner''' (born October 12, 1950) is an American attorney and former [[United States federal civil service]] employee. Lerner became director of the [[Tax exemption|Exempt Organizations Unit]] of the [[Internal Revenue Service]] (IRS) in 2005, and subsequently became the central figure in the 2013 [[IRS targeting controversy]] in the targeting of politically- aligned groups, either denying them tax-exempt status outright or delaying that status until they could no longer take effective part in the [[2012 United States presidential election|2012 election]]. On May 10, 2013, in a conference call with reporters, Lerner apologized that Tea Party groups and other groups had been targeted for audits of their applications for tax-exemption. Both conservative and liberal groups were scrutinized.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rappenport |first=Alan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/politics/irs-targeting-tea-party-liberals-democrats.html |title=In Targeting Political Groups, I.R.S. Crossed Party Lines |work=New York Times |date=October 5, 2017}}</ref> Only three groups — &mdash;all branches of the Democratic group Emerge America — &mdash;had tax exemptions revoked.<ref>{{cite news |last=Strom |first=Stephanie |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/business/advocacy-groups-denied-tax-exempt-status-are-named.html |title=3 Groups Denied Break by I.R.S. Are Named |work=New York Times |date=July 21, 2011}}</ref> Lerner resigned over the controversy. An investigation by the [[U.S. Department of Justice]] and [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], completed in 2015, found "substantial evidence of mismanagement, poor judgment and institutional inertia" but "found no evidence that any IRS official acted based on political, discriminatory, corrupt, or other inappropriate motives that would support a criminal prosecution.".<ref name="Phelps"/><ref>{{cite news |last=Perez |first=Evan |url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/23/politics/lois-lerner-no-charges-doj-tea-party/ |access-date=June 30, 2016 |title=First on CNN: DOJ closes IRS investigation with no charges |work=CNN |date=October 23, 2015}}</ref>

On May 7, 2014, the resolution passed on a 231–187 vote, with all [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] and six [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] voting in favor, and every other Democrat opposed.<ref name="hres574allactions"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2014/roll203.xml|title=Final Vote Results for Roll Call 203|website=House.gov|date=May 7, 2014}}</ref><ref name=SixDemsHill>{{cite news|last=Marcos|first=Cristina|title=Six Dems vote for Lerner contempt resolution|url=httphttps://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/205547-six-dems-vote-for-lerner-contempt-resolution/|access-date=8 May 2014|newspaper=The Hill|date=7 May 2014|language=en-US}}</ref> Representative [[Steve Stockman]] introduced a measure (never taken up by the House) that, had it been adopted, would have directed [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker]] [[John Boehner]] to instruct the [[Sergeant at Arms of the United States House of Representatives|House sergeant at arms]] to arrest Lerner for contempt of Congress.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bade|first=Rachael|authorlink=Rachael Bade|url=http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/steve-stockman-lois-lerner-irs-108783.html|title=Steve Stockman pushes House GOP to arrest Lois Lerner|work=Politico|date=July 10, 2014}}</ref>

Testifying in June 2015, the IRS Deputy Inspector General Timothy P. Camus said that 424 back-up tapes, most likely to have contained the missing emails, were erased in March 2014—a2014&mdash;a month after the IRS said it realized it was missing some of Lerner's emails because of a hard-drive crash, and although the emails were then under subpoena from the Oversight Committee. He stated, however, that their investigation "did not uncover evidence that the erasure was done ... to destroy evidence or conceal information from Congress,", and noted that there was a "remote possibility" that additional emails might still be found. He said that officials were examining the possibility, however, of criminal activity.<ref name=Dinan1/><ref name=Frates1/>

In a statement released June 25, 2015, the IRS said it has "fully cooperated with the investigation,", but acknowledged the backup tapes should not have been erased. "The IRS recognizes there was a clear breakdown of communication in one part of the organization regarding the need to preserve and retain the back-up tapes and information," the statement said, noting that an internal review found the erasure wasn't intentional.<ref name=Frates1/>

On August 23, 2015, the IRS told a federal court that Lerner had a second personal email account that she used to conduct IRS business. The account was set up under the name "Toby Miles.". The disclosure occurred in a lawsuit by the [[Judicial Watch]], which is suing to obtain the release of Lerner's emails. According to [[Eliana Johnson]] of [[National Review]], a former colleague said that Toby Miles was the name of Lerner's dog.<ref name="FoxTobyMiles">{{cite web | url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/25/irs-reveals-existence-another-lois-lerner-email-account/ | title=IRS reveals existence of another Lois Lerner email account | website=[[Fox News]] | access-date=August 25, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/423035/Lois-Lerner-email-alias-what-does-it-mean | title=Who's Toby Miles? | work=National Review | access-date=August 26, 2015 | author=Johnson, Eliana| date=25 August 2015 }}</ref>

Reactions to the investigation's conclusions were split along [[Partisan (political)|partisan]] lines. Representative [[Darrell Issa]], Republican of California, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said that decision not to prosecute ignored "volumes of evidence in the public record and efforts to obstruct legitimate inquires", and that "giving Lois Lerner a free pass only reinforces the idea that government officials are above the law and that there is no consequence for wrongdoing.".<ref name="HessCleared"/> Representative [[Elijah E. Cummings]], Democrat of Maryland, the [[ranking member]] of the Oversight Committee, said "...I believe the American people have higher expectations for their elected officials, and they want Congress to start doing its job and focusing on issues that matter instead of these ridiculous, partisan, taxpayer-funded attacks."<ref name="HessCleared"/> House Judiciary Committee Chairman Goodlatte, the recipient of the DOJ letter, said that DOJ's decision was "...disturbing. The American people should be concerned that this kind of politicization continues to go unchecked by this administration and a Justice Department charged with pursuing wrongdoing",<ref name="Phelps"/> and 19 members of the [[House Oversight and Government Reform Committee]] led by the committee's Chairman, [[Jason Chaffetz]] (R-Utah), filed a resolution to [[Federal impeachment in the United States|impeach]] [[IRS Commissioner]] [[John Koskinen]].<ref name=WPost102815>{{cite news|last=Rein|first=Lisa|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2015/10/27/house-republicans-in-last-ditch-effort-move-to-impeach-irs-commissioner-over-targeting-scandal/|title=House Republicans, in last-ditch effort, move to impeach IRS commissioner over targeting scandal|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=October 28, 2015|access-date=October 28, 2015}}</ref><ref name=CNN102815>{{cite news|last1=Schleifer|first1=Theodore|last2=LoBianco|first2=Tom|url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/27/politics/john-koskinen-irs-impeach/|title=House Republicans move to impeach IRS head|work=CNN|date=October 27, 2015|access-date=October 28, 2015}}</ref>