Lawmakers: IRS lost more emails in tea party probe
Source: AP
WASHINGTON (AP) Congressional investigators say the Internal Revenue Service has lost more emails connected to the tea party investigation.
The IRS said last Friday it had lost an untold number of emails when Lois Lerner's computer crashed in 2011. Lerner used to head the division that handles applications for tax-exempt status.
On Tuesday, two key lawmakers said the IRS has also lost emails from additional officials whose computers crashed. Among them was Nikole Flax, who was chief of staff to Lerner's boss, then-deputy commissioner Steven Miller.
Miller later became acting IRS commissioner, but was forced to resign last year after the agency acknowledged that agents had improperly scrutinized tea party and other conservative groups when they applied for tax-exempt status.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/lawmakers-irs-lost-more-emails-tea-party-probe
Response to alp227 (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
PatrynXX
(5,668 posts)but oh well. tell me what conservative group was denied then I'll listen. But mostly it was a conservative controlled IRS nothing to see here and I'm sure Obama is not a Republican but he has acted like one from time to time
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)24601
(3,955 posts)CIA? Sure, makes sense. Conservative IRS? You still got me rolling on the floor!
The Magistrate
(95,241 posts)Lacking as you do the necessary quality....
uppityperson
(115,677 posts)louielouie
(42 posts)Iliyah
(25,111 posts)GOPers witchhunt ever stops.
tridim
(45,358 posts)FailureToCommunicate
(14,006 posts)Newsjock
(11,733 posts)The AP should know better. And the fourth graf repeats the lie. Shameful.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)PeoViejo
(2,178 posts)..onto the Floor, or the Pavement Outside?
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)This narrative really... sucks transparency wise.
Shit.
4139
(1,893 posts)I'd hammer my computer.
I'd hammer my computer, and smash it on the ground.
I'd hammer the keyboard, I'd hammer that biiiig screen.
Is hammer out all the chips and spread the dust out... All over this land!
lark
(23,059 posts)Liberal groups were actually targeted more, the right wing knows that their groups are scams so are pushing that they are being targeted., They absolutely should be targeted because they are the ones breaking the law, but still numerically more liberal groups were investigated and more liberal groups charged. Of course, you never hear that from main st. news, they don't care about reality, just spin, spin, spin.
YarnAddict
(1,850 posts)How can those e-mails be lost so completely? Companies back up their computers daily, and I imagine that government agencies do also. So, it seems unlikely that even one person's e-mail can be lost, let alone multiple employees.
I will admit that I am technologically-challenged, so maybe someone else can let me know how this is possible?
LittleGirl
(8,277 posts)Backup are kept for whatever time was dictated by management or the legal department. Missing emails are not so uncommon. You can only keep emails as long as the backup program lasts and restoring those backups takes huge amounts of TIME AND RESOURCES that are not always affordable. But if the network server administrators never kept the backups according to the legal department, they are long gone. In the old days, we kept tapes for monthly backups for 3 yrs and after that, they were overwritten. If the end user kept emails on their computers (and only there) and the system crashed and were unrecoverable, then they are also gone
edit: grammar.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)as part of Sarbannes-Oxley. I find it impossible to believe the IT department over at the IRS didn't have the capability to keep these emails for a sufficiently long period of time (this, of course, being the agency that wants you to keep your own records for SEVEN years), or that their "backup system" was having users store all emails on their local system. If you told me they did this in 1995, I wouldn't have been surprised, but in 2011, that excuse is complete fiction.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)This whole thing is nonsense. But it's not the first time it's happened in government. And it won't be the last. It's not a partisan thing even.
YarnAddict
(1,850 posts)but it sure seems like something underhanded is going on.
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)for months now. on a multitude of subjects.
and especially on this one:
8. The point is--
--they apparently didn't go after every PAC--just ones whose ideology differs from that of whomever was making the decision.
What is it about organizations with the word "patriot" in the name that would make one automatically assume there is corruption involved? This was purely ideologically driven, and the fact that the IRS issued an apology proves it.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=304889
whether you think it's a cover up or not is not the issue.
it's that you falsely claim you "hate" to say that. any read of your posts on health care, on ACA, on birth control, and most other issues.
if you have an agenda, fine. just don't play games with us by saying you don't.
Yavin4
(35,411 posts)placed on deleting any of their existing emails until the investigation is over. Routine deletions are cancelled. These emails should have been preserved.
LittleGirl
(8,277 posts)I agree with you that this is b.s. about lost emails but I also know that mistakes happen by administrators and backups are not tested. And Fail.
And this is the IRS and it's government which usually goes with the lowest bid.
Sometimes you get what you pay for.
YarnAddict
(1,850 posts)They have unlimited resources, unlike a small company. Especially considering the power that the IRS wields, I would hope that they keep detailed records forever.
I have had some dealings with the IRS, as the treasurer of a non-profit organization, and I have had to come up with answers for things that happened many years before my tenure in this position began. If they aren't keeping records of correspondance, how can they expect us as a small organization to do it?
creeksneakers2
(7,472 posts)The have lots of money but it is extensively stretched between all the jobs they are tasked with doing. The IRS computer system is decades old and is nothing like private companies have. The IRS does keep records, but they don't keep records of everything forever. This is just E-mails, most of which have no significance at all.
Also, the missing E-mails are somewhat old, from 2009 to 2011.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)erronis
(15,169 posts)Or one of our partners in the Five-Eyes(?) program. Or the Chinese, the Russians, the Israelis.
Actually, there are probably some patriotic hackers out there that have sniffed the contents of every transmission and would happily give it back - for a price.
creeksneakers2
(7,472 posts)and only kept E-mails for six months.
For a good explanation of what happened:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/06/16/heres-how-the-irs-lost-emails-from-key-witness-lois-lerner/
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)LittleGirl
(8,277 posts)leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)Skip Intro
(19,768 posts)I know people don't want to hear that.
But read the OP - what else could it realistically be?
YarnAddict
(1,850 posts)I have to agree with you.
I read an article by Peggy Noonan in the WSJ today. (Yes, I know, Peggy Noonan . But I like to keep up with what everyone is thinking and saying about the issues.) She compared this to the missing 18.5 minutes on the Nixon tape.
It was the cover-up that led to Nixon's downfall. I just hope that there is a simple explanation, and that this can all be straightened out before good people get tangled up in it.
creeksneakers2
(7,472 posts)Another big difference between this and the Nixon tapes is that there was unlawful activity with Nixon. Here, the only thing that was ever proven was the IRS office in charge of screening tax exempt status applications for political activity used poor judgement in selecting search terms. There's no reason for the GOP to be requesting all the E-mails in the first place.
The GOP is on a witch hunt. Nothing will straighten it out. The show will only end when it quits getting covered on cable.
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)apparently you think that every email ever sent on any topic is automatically kept and archived forever.
and you claim to have worked in information technology?
yeah sure you really believe that. i call BS. you were hawking this story on DU as much as you could when it first appeared.
don't give us this "now" you think it's a cover up, you were flogging this from the beginning and you disingenuously post that you think it's a cover up if every single email from 3+ years ago wasn't preserved. you don't even believe that.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2958442
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023418909#post5
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4749919&mesg_id=4752284
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5071884
former9thward
(31,923 posts)But emails are forever. You can throw your computer into an incinerator and the emails are still there. It is just a matter of time and resources to recover them.
LittleGirl
(8,277 posts)former9thward
(31,923 posts)The person you sent the email to has a copy available even if they have deleted it.
creeksneakers2
(7,472 posts)and found 22,000 E-mails, but not all the missing E-mails. If its possible to recover the E-mails I'm sure the GOP will spend millions to do it, although recovery was attempted back in 2011 at Lerner's request and wasn't successful.
former9thward
(31,923 posts)who were part of the investigation. If this was Bush we would be screaming 'A New Watergate -- 18 1/2 minute Gap in the Tape' and all that. But since it is our team ....
creeksneakers2
(7,472 posts)because if it were Bush and Democrats investigating there would be no witch hunt in the first place.
former9thward
(31,923 posts)Hyper partisans never let facts get in their way.
benld74
(9,901 posts)seveneyes
(4,631 posts)Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)leap of logic.
Notice how the media always report Republicans scrambling for any thing to keep the faux scandals alive as "lawmakers" or "Congress".
Almost like the media is covering for them, when have they ever done that before?
seveneyes
(4,631 posts)This is the Federal Government we are talking about. They do backups. Lots of them.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)forthemiddle
(1,375 posts)Because I do. In fact I read medical records from VA Phoenix every day, and I can say, without hesitation, that the VA medical electronic medical records are extremely modern, and top notch. That has nothing to do with this story, but I guarantee every single key stroke I make in the system is tracked, and backed up.
frylock
(34,825 posts)I could walk over and unplug your PC right now, and guess what? your email would still be retained on the mail server, as well as the backup mail server(s), as well as the several tape backups that are made daily and are stored offsite in the eventuality of a computer crash. do I buy into the IRS teabagger "scandal?" fuck no, but this is just stupid, and really helps the baggers and their bullshit narrative.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)All zero of them.
jmowreader
(50,527 posts)The teabaggers applied for tax exempt status under Section 501(C)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. This is the section for tax-exempt "social welfare organizations."
Says the IRS, "To be operated exclusively to promote social welfare, an organization must operate primarily to further the common good and general welfare of the people of the community (such as by bringing about civic betterment and social improvements)."
In addition to attempting to overthrow the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections and working to take over legislative bodies at all levels from school board to the U.S. Congress, this is what the tea party does:
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTHfuZGMwuzGfux4K16nvTpSLAz_Zjge3LugkKuqDRogrPP1oH2
Someone please tell me how this activity qualifies as "promoting social welfare." Until you can, in a way that makes sense, these guys need to remain under Section 529, which is NOT tax-exempt.
EC
(12,287 posts)it was, I can see this. Mine at work was so old it couldn't handle the new platforms and programs required for my job. The company had to finally get me a new one. So this is very valid to me.
Didn't they say the VA scheduling system was something out of the mid-90s??
christx30
(6,241 posts)and you lost (or "lost" a bunch of emails that might be important to the investigation, they would probably charge you with hindering the investigation and you would go to jail, even if it was just old equipment at fault, and you weren't trying to hide anything. Should the IRS get a pass here?
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)I might believe some IRS personnel destroyed e-mails, out of sympathy for the teabaggers or out of fear of terrorism by that group.
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)The IRS/Teaparty probe is entirely illegitimate. THere is no duty to cooperate. If they don't like the answers they can go pound sand.
What is going to happen if these emails stay lost? Nothing. Will anyone at the IRS get indicted? No. The Attorney General is already in contempt of congress. Is he going to help them out? Not likely.
So fuck them. No email for you!
Big_Mike
(509 posts)Our nation is one of law. You cannot in contempt break the law. Nixon is the shining example. And, like a clock is right twice a day, Charles Krauthammer said on one of the Faux show's, "The second article of impeachment for Richard Nixon was using the IRS for political purposes."
This must be completely and totally cleared up. Even the perception of the IRS, our nation's foremost criminal enforcement arm, could be used for political gain must be PROVEN impossible. Otherwise, we are headed for a polity much like Greece. Tax evaders everywhere, no money for desperately needed projects, mass protests in the streets regarding taxes, etc.
If we do not clear this up, openly and in a completely non-partisan manner, we are doomed.
creeksneakers2
(7,472 posts)If it were non-partisan this would have all ended investigations ago.
NoGOPZone
(2,971 posts)His statement is a half truth that omits relevant details
The second article was for abuse of power and included not only IRS abuse worse than what Obama is accused of but also misuse of the FBI and interference in the operation of the Justice department and CIA.
On another topic the usual suspects are out on this thread. I'm not directed this at you, so you know
Big_Mike
(509 posts)I read much on the board (twice or three times daily) but do not post often. Thank you for your comment.
YarnAddict
(1,850 posts)They absolutely have a duty to cooperate. This is Congress, you know. Just because you don't like the people conducting the investigastion doesn't mean they should just give them the finger.
Throd
(7,208 posts)hughee99
(16,113 posts)You know, like the NSA and CIA do now. Everyone likes that system, right?
quadrature
(2,049 posts)rickyhall
(4,889 posts)Steerpike
(2,692 posts)it's the cover up...
lost e-mails...really? The incompetance and laziness this would require (require) is only believable becouse it is the IRS.
broadcaster75201
(387 posts)nt
padfun
(1,786 posts)Did she ever have time for REAL work? I mean come on, that is a LOT of emails.
alp227
(32,002 posts)And what do you think the 65k emails would imply? If anything scandalous, how can you say Lerner wasn't doing "REAL work"? Which is it? She wasted time with emails or she was behind an evil anti-Tea Party plot?