Chattanooga Tea Party President Mark West’s longtime suspicions were confirmed Friday-that the political organization he leads had been the target of unfair scrutiny in recent years by the Internal Revenue Service.
A top IRS official admitted and apologized Friday that workers for the agency had inappropriately flagged conservative-leaning groups seeking tax-exempt status, complicating the process for many during the 2012 election cycle. Groups registering with words including “tea party” or “patriot” in their applications were sent delayed replies and exhausting questionnaires with instructions to return them under difficult deadlines.
The Chattanooga Tea Party was among the 75 groups the agency admitted had been unfairly singled out.
The news came as no surprise to West, who wrote complaints to both Tennessee Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker in the spring of 2012, asking them to look into the situation. Both Alexander and Corker later signed their names to a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Schulman, calling the scrutiny “disturbing.”
On Friday, West said that he was still disappointed, regardless of the IRS’ apology, particularly because a statement made by top official Lois Lerner claimed that the targeting had not been motivated by political bias.
“Out of one side of their mouth they apologize, but out of the other side, they say there is no political motivation. What do they take us to be?” West said. “What other motivation would there be? They apologize, but then they say it wasn’t political? That’s almost a reversal of an apology. But what can you say? It’s the IRS. And what can you say? It’s the federal government.”
After initially applying for tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(4) in 2009, the Chattanooga Tea Party’s application was finally approved midway through 2012. But West said that the IRS was still requiring them to file additional returns for 2009, 2010, 2011 and parts of 2012-the period during which their application was in process.
West said he would see if there was any way for the agency to reverse its current requirements for the group but doubted any future action would be taken.
Both Alexander and Corker issued scathing statements regarding the IRS’ admission Friday afternoon.
“This is the United States of America, where the First Amendment protects our right to organize and speak up and speak out, and it’s shocking to learn that the IRS arbitrarily targeted any peaceful political organization for ideological reasons,” Alexander said in a news release. “. Congress needs to investigate this further and make sure those responsible are held accountable and that something like this never happens again.”
Corker called the news “outrageous.”
“The IRS’ admission that its employees were specifically targeting conservative groups-including groups in Tennessee-is outrageous, disturbing and will further erode Americans’ trust in the federal government,” Corker said in an emailed statement. “Swift and decisive action should be taken to punish those responsible and to assure the American people that these actions will not be tolerated, at the IRS or any other federal agency.”
West said that despite instances where he and his group had been critical of Alexander and Corker in the past, he appreciated their concern regarding the issue.
“We hold our elected officials’ feet to the fire, and we think that’s appropriate,” he said. “But in this case, they’re due some kudos. We need to acknowledge that they were helpful in signing on to a letter that no doubt had an impact on today’s confession from the IRS, so I want to say thanks to both Sen. Corker and Sen. Alexander for their part in the process.”
