Election Law Blog

Reuters: “Internal Revenue Service employees in Ohio, who singled out conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status for extra scrutiny, likely did not consider the political implications, an IRS official in Washington has told congressional investigators.”

Reuters reports.

From the Center for Responsive Politics:

Bob Bauer blogs.

Here, at On Brief.

Bloomberg BNA:

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) June 12 said the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of tea party and other conservative groups applying for tax exemptions did not originate in Cincinnati.

Where the targeting originated has become an increasing point of contention among lawmakers interviewing IRS employees for their involvement in inappropriately lumping together the groups’ applications for special scrutiny by name.

Camp said he knows the targeting did not begin in Cincinnati “because of the testimony we’ve gotten.”

Tom Edsall dives into the data on 501c4 election activity.

Greg Colvin sends along this response by email.

CPI:

During Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s race last year against incumbent GOP Sen. Scott Brown, the League of Conservation Voters spent more than $1 million on “independent expenditures” that either advocated for Warren’s election or Brown’s defeat, including mass mailings and paid canvassers.

The 501(c)(4) nonprofit’s treasury, as well as its related political action committee and super PAC, accounted for the spending, which helped push Warren to victory in a race that ranked among the League’s top electoral priorities. The League also bundled more than $100,000 in earmarked campaign contributions for Warren, federal records show.

Now tonight in Washington, D.C., supporters of the League — one of the nation’s most politically active environmental nonprofits — will gather for a fundraising gala during which Warren, a Democrat, is scheduled to address the crowd.

The event is the latest illustration of how politicians and special interest groups, which by law can’t coordinate election spending, nevertheless forge mutually beneficial ties.

Bloomberg BNA:

The war of words between the two leaders of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee continued June 11, with Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) accusing ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) of obstructing the committee’s efforts to fully investigate IRS’s handling of applications for tax exemption from conservative groups….Cummings responded in a statement June 11 by saying that Issa was going back on his word to release the full transcripts. “Now that this new evidence directly contradicts the Chairman’s unsubstantiated accusations, it appears that he is suddenly reversing himself and refusing to let the American people see the full story,” Cummings said.