Comments on: Lerner takes the Fifth

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:06:10 +0000

Personally, there’s no need for lawyers, deals with Democrats, or circus shows on tv with Leftist elects in congress.

Just take them out and drop them in the Marineas trench.

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:04:53 +0000

Well the Leftist alliance wouldn’t be much of one they didn’t “coordinate” things together.

By: holmes

holmes — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:34:07 +0000

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/05/on-irc-section-1203.php

See this as well. It appears the IRS has its own regulations on top of the regular discipline/adverse action regulations governing certain misconduct.

By: Baklava

Baklava — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:20:58 +0000

We need a whistleblower.

An IT guy perhaps.

These agencies COORDINATED their attack on True the Vote.

IRS, ATF, EPA, OSHA, FBI all spent time with True the Vote racking up costs for True the Vote. I’m sure there are other organizations who have been targeted also.

This is not just Tea Party people being targeted by IRS. This is conservatives being targeted by the government.

By: M J R

M J R — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:30:23 +0000

As much as I despise Lerner and what she has (allegedly) done – and will do if not stopped – I think she’s still protected by the Fifth. BUT:

I also think she’s already gearing up for a plea bargain of sorts. I for one will happily offer a bargain under which she agrees to tell all and name names, in return for immunity. Because as much as I despise her, I think the return for the good guys will be much greater if we can pry open the Pandora’s box and watch the bats and demons come flying and crawling out.

It will be crucial for reaching more reachables.

By: betsybounds

betsybounds — Thu, 23 May 2013 02:55:08 +0000

A special prosecutor is needed? You mean like, say, Patrick Fitzgerald in the Valerie Plame case, eh?

By: Mr. Frank

Mr. Frank — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:09:38 +0000

The only way anyone gets in serious trouble is if the DOJ or FBI goes after them. Guess who they work for.

A special prosecutor is needed.

By: kcom

kcom — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:49:41 +0000

This is the bureaucratic equivalent of “too big to fail.”

They’re too big to control. Or to be accountable. There are too many ways to slip in a partisan agenda.

Bureaucracies this big need much greater transparency. Or, more ideally, need to be much smaller and have much less power.

By: Ann

Ann — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:34:10 +0000

Not sure having Issa be more aggressive would have been the way to go because then the spotlight would have been on him, which the Dems and the MSM would love.

Looks to me as if the Republicans are trying their best to keep that from happening, and so have decided on a less dramatic nuts & bolts approach to all this.

By: holmes

holmes — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:20:38 +0000

I fire federal employees for a living. Well, technically I help managers put together the discipline/adverse action cases and they fire them, but they don’t generally know what they’re doing. That’s my job. I’m totally serious. And it’s not that difficult to do. And look how easy it was for State to put someone, unconnected to Benghazi, on administrative leave while they “investigate.”

The IRS stance is this: simple procedural error, gave them a good talking to, right-oh. And as you state, that helps them as well since they can still dangle their jobs over them as leverage not to testify. But I think that Prisoner’s Dilemma is about to break as the local Fox affiliate in Cincinnati has had a few conversations with the local office already. They’re not going to burn for this.

Congress would be wise to call them all in, one by one, and go up the chain from there.

But seriously, it’s not as difficult as it’s made out to be to remove federal employees. They’re protected by a Union, but that only means the forum for their removal might be an arbitrator instead of the Merit Systems Protection Board. The Board is currently staffed by former Union counsels (I kid you not), and so is more employee friendly these days, but it’s not determinative.