Archive for the ‘George Soros’s Plan’ Category

HUH

By Mike Ciandella
As IRS efforts targeting politically-conservative groups gained momentum, George Soros-funded liberal groups repeatedly called on the IRS to investigate conservative nonprofit organizations.

While the first reported instances of extra IRS scrutiny for conservative groups began in Cincinnati in March of 2010, the attacks began to pick up steam on a national level soon after Soros-funded groups began firing off letters to the IRS in October of that year – following the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling.

The talking points of these groups then bounced around a carefully created progressive “echo chamber,” until they eventually made their way into established media outlets. Key IRS policy changes about how it investigated conservative groups took place soon after it received three separate letters sent by Soros-funded liberal organizations.

Several Soros-funded groups including the Campaign Legal Center, Democracy 21, the Center for Public Integrity, Mother Jones and Alternet have worked to pressure the IRS to target conservative nonprofit groups. The subsequent IRS investigation flagged more than 100 tea party-related applications for higher scrutiny, including applications that included the words “Tea Party” and “patriot.”

The IRS scandal can be traced back to a series of letters that the liberal groups Campaign Legal Center (CLC) and Democracy 21 sent to the IRS back in 2010 and 2011. Both groups were funded by George’s Soros’s Open Society Foundations. The CLC received $677,000 and Democracy 21 got $365,000 from the Soros-backed foundation, according to the Foundation’s 990 tax forms.

The letters specifically targeted conservative Super PACs like Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, asking the IRS to scrutinize them more thoroughly to determine whether or not they should retain their tax-exempt status.

On Oct. 5, 2010, when the first letter was sent to the IRS, calling specifically for the agency to “investigate” Crossroads GPS. The letter claimed Crossroads was “impermissibly using its tax status to spend tens of millions of dollars in the 2010 congressional races while hiding the donors funding these expenditures from the American people.” Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer wrote a blog post for the liberal Huffington Post to promote it, and the effort to get the media to notice the anti-conservative campaign began.

On June 27, 2011, a second letter by the CLC and Democracy 21 complained about enforcement of 501(c)(4) tax regulations, asking “that the IRS issue new regulations that better enforce the law.” Two days later, an IRS senior agency official was briefed on a new policy targeting groups which “criticize how the country is being run,” according to a Washington Post story. According to the Post, this policy was later revised.

A third letter by the CLC and Democracy 21, on Sept 28, 2011, got media traction. The letter showed the escalation of the left’s complaint about 501(c)(4) groups. It challenged “the eligibility of four organizations engaged in campaign activity to be treated as 501(c)(4) tax exempt organizations.” The four organizations included Crossroads GPS, Priorities USA, American Action Network and Americans Elect.

The Soros-funded Center for Public Integrity ($2,716,328) published a “study” on 501(c)(4) groups, on October 31, which drew heavily from, and referenced, the CLC and Democracy 21. The Center for Public Integrity has strong media connections and boasts an advisory board that includes Ben Sherwood, president of ABC News, and Michele Norris, an NPR host, as well as a board of directors with such prominent names as Huffington Post CEO Arianna Huffington, Steve Kroft of CBS News’s “60 Minutes” and Craig Newmark (founder of Craigslist).

This study then led to a Mother Jones article about a month later, on November 18, which was reposted on the left-wing blog Alternet on November 21. By December of 2011, the topic had been picked up in a New York Times editorial, and then began receiving other media coverage. That editorial called for “the Internal Revenue Service to crack down on the secret political money already flooding the 2012 campaign from partisan operatives ludicrously claiming to be ‘social welfare’ activists.”

On Jan. 15, 2012, the IRS targeted groups focused on limiting government or educating people about the Constitution and Bill of Rights

Alternet and Mother Jones are both members of The Media Consortium, which is designed to do exactly what happened here. The Media Consortium was created to be a progressive “echo chamber,” where 63 separate left-wing media outlets can network and share ideas, as well as cross-promote stories. Other members of the Consortium include such liberal outlets as The Nation, Democracy Now! and The American Prospect. The consortium has also received $675,000 in Soros funds since 2000. Alternet ($285,000) and Mother Jones ($485,000) have both also received individual funding from Soros’s Open Society Foundations.

This isn’t the only time the IRS has targeted conservative groups recently, nor is it the only connection between the IRS and Soros-funded groups. The IRS gave the left-wing journalism site ProPublica the applications for nine conservative groups pending tax-exempt status.

The IRS also released the confidential donor lists of the National Organization for Marriage to the liberal Human Rights Campaign. Both the Human Rights Campaign ($2,716,328) and ProPublica ($300,000) are also Soros-funded. Despite its blatant liberal leanings, ProPublica boasts a staff of well-known journalists, including veterans of The New York Times and The Wall Street journal, as well as of liberal operations like the Center for American Progress and The Nation, and has even won two Pulitzer Prizes.

Timeline Shows Influence of Soros-Funded Groups

March 1-17, 2010: First ten reported cases of targeting by the IRS against groups that had ties to the “tea party or similar organizations.”
Sept. 16, 2010: TIME article “The New GOP Money Stampede” quotes Wertheimer;
Sept. 23, 2010: DISCLOSE act, a campaign finance disclosure act specifically targeting a Tea Party group, in the writing of which the CLC participated, fails in the Senate;
Sept. 28, 2010: Democrat Senator Max Baucus writes a letter to the IRS, citing the TIME article;
Oct. 5, 2010: Democracy 21 and Campaign Legal Center petition IRS, Wertheimer writes HuffPo article;
Oct. 7, 2010: Legal brief from HoltzmanVogel PLLC against the Democracy 21 petition;
Oct. 14, 2010: Dick Durbin asks IRS to investigate American Crossroads, HuffPo coverage;
June 27, 2011: Second petition to the IRS by CLC and Democracy 21;
June 29, 2011: IRS senior agency official Lois Lerner briefed on efforts to target groups which “criticize how the country is being run”;
Sept. 28, 2011: CLC and Democracy 21 petition IRS again, this time about four conservative groups;
Oct. 31, 2011: CPI “investigation”;
Nov. 18, 2011: Mother Jones article;
Nov. 21, 2011: Alternet repost of Mother Jones Article;
Dec. 29, 2011: New York Times oped;
Jan. 15, 2012: IRS targeted groups focusing on limiting government or educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights;
February 2012: First articles promoting this issue appear in New York Times, Washington Post and LA Times
$6.1 Million in Soros Funding Since 2000

Center for Public Integrity: $2,716,328
Campaign Legal Center: $677,000
Media Consortium: $675,000
Mother Jones: $485,000
Democracy 21: $365,000
ProPublica: $300,000
Alternet: $285,000
Human Rights Campaign: $600,000

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It warms my heart to see the mainstream media doing its job (well somewhat and only with Benghazi, IRS and the AP). Now its time for them to prove their meddle. Since they are awake, alert and paying attention, perhaps they could investigate the twenty scandals ignored since Obama became President in January 2009.

According to the information about the Justice Dept. investigation of the Associated Press, Holder’s troops got the phone information of 100 reporters Hey AP this is a great way to get back at the administration assign each of the stories below to a reporter, you still would have 80 others to cover other news.

What about the other news organizations–I am not asking they investigate all twenty, perhaps they could split them up one or two per liberal media organization.

Here’s my twenty–I am sure there are others but with these twenty plus the three new ones the mainstream media has enough–they have five years to catch up on:

Going to war in Libya without first seeking congressional approval.

The administration’s screwing of the primary GM investors so he could give the company to his buddies in the UAW.

Offering Joe Sestak a White House job to drop out of the Senate race against Arlen Specter

Offering Andrew Romanoff a White House job to drop out of the Senate Race against Michael Bennett.

Dropping an already won case against the New Black Panthers.

Refusing to prosecute African Americans for Civil Rights violations.

Ignoring a court order to ease up on restrictions against deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, instead issuing tougher restrictions.

Circumventing the Senate by setting up a “shadow cabinet” of Czars.

Obama’s Justice Department’s refusal to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Ignoring his constitutional responsibility to defend laws passed by Congress.

Firing (and slandering) AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin after because he was investigating Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson a friend of the Obamas.

Practicing crony capitalism and wasting taxpayer money with Green energy loans to Solyndra and other failing companies.

No bid contract given to a company owned by major Obama donor for a small pox vaccine that doesn’t work.

Fast and Furious: Giving guns to Mexican drug cartels in an attempt to take away guns from law abiding Americans.

Making recess appointments when congress was not in recess.

Trampling on the Catholic Church’s first amendment rights by forcing them to pay for procedures and drugs that their faith bans.

The GSA and Secret Service scandals neither of which should be blamed on Obama directly, both of which show his poor management of the federal government.

Receiving foreign donations for his 2012 campaign.

Slashing the pensions of Delphi’s non-union employees leaving the UAW employees’ pensions alone.

The Administration purchasing bullets to drive up costs/ empty supply.

Prosecuting Thomas Drake, NSA whistle-blower who leaked unclassified information about government waste and fraud.

Democrats and the IRS – WALL STREET JOURNAL – 5-16-2013

Chuck Schumer wanted the agency to probe tax-exempt political groups.
President Obama fired acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller on Wednesday, two days after claiming it was an “independent” agency. That was certainly a rapid re-education. But Mr. Miller shouldn’t be the only fall guy, because the 54-page report released Tuesday by the Treasury Inspector General of Tax Administration makes clear that the tax agency tried to quash the political speech of groups opposed to Democrats during a Presidential election.
Beginning in early 2010, the report says, IRS officials in Cincinnati began using “inappropriate criteria that identified for review Tea Party and other organizations applying for tax-exempt status based upon their names or policy positions instead of indications of potential political campaign intervention.” The Cincinnati workers also developed a spreadsheet that was dubbed “Be On The Look Out” with key words to target conservative groups.

Over the next 18 months those groups found their applications delayed, and they were served with aggressive and burdensome questionnaires as part of the process of applying for tax-exempt status. Of the 170 groups that got requests for extra information, the Treasury report finds that 98 or 58% of the requests were unnecessary.

IRS defenders have said in recent days that the operation wasn’t really partisan because tea party and similar groups only made up a third of all groups flagged for additional scrutiny. But according to the report, “all cases with Tea Party, Patriots, or 9/12 in their names were forwarded to the team of specialists” (our emphasis). Of the 296 applications that were selected as “potential political cases,” 91 of them, or 31%, were selected for scrutiny even though they showed no evidence of major political campaign activity.

Once they were selected, the report confirms they were slow-tracked: While a few applications got attention, the vast majority sat interminably as the 2012 campaign rolled on. According to the report, “No work was completed on the majority of these applications for 13 months.” And “all applications that were forwarded to the team of specialists experienced substantial delays in processing.” The political cases took the IRS some 574 days on average to process compared to 238 days for other nonprofit applications.

Those delays effectively sidelined the political activity of groups that would have opposed the re-election of President Obama and other Democratic priorities. The report acknowledges that “For I.R.C. § 501(c)(3) organizations, this means that potential donors and grantors could be reluctant to provide donations or grants. In addition, some organizations withdrew their applications and others may not have begun conducting planned charitable or social welfare work.”

***
It’s no surprise, then, that Democrats have been angling to blame all this on the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision to allow more independent campaign spending. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi responded to the scandal by saying that “We must overturn Citizens United, which has exacerbated the challenges posed by some of these so-called ‘social welfare’ organizations.” So a Supreme Court decision justifies selective tax enforcement?

Ms. Pelosi’s remarks are revealing because they underscore that Democratic agitation to restrict political speech may have driven this IRS dragnet. In a September 2010 letter to then-IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman, Montana Senator Max Baucus encouraged the IRS to investigate the use of nonprofit status by conservative groups. Noting media reports on conservative groups like Crossroads GPS, American Action Network and Americans for Job Security, Mr. Baucus wrote that there are “serious questions about whether such organizations are operating in compliance with the Internal Revenue Code.”

In March 2012, New York Senator Chuck Schumer and six other Democrats signed a letter demanding that the IRS put a “cap” on spending by nonprofits or face legislation. In the meantime, they wrote, the groups should be forced to “show their math” to prove that they deserve the tax-exempt status they are applying for. “The IRS should already possess the authority to issue immediate guidance on this matter,” the Senators wrote.

Before he was fired Wednesday, Mr. Miller, the acting IRS commissioner identified two “rogue” Cincinnati workers as the puppeteers behind the overly “aggressive” enforcement. But don’t be surprised if they thought they were merely following the direction of Senate Democrats.

***
Whether these T-men were dumb or ambitious, count us skeptical that the buck stops there. The report blames much of the debacle on inefficient management or inadequate oversight of low-level workers. But IRS Exempt Organizations Director Lois Lerner has years of experience that include 20 years at the Federal Election Commission, including as Acting General Counsel.

The report also lobs some softballs that deserve follow-ups. On page 7, the report notes that “We asked the Acting Commissioner, Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division; the Director, EO; and Determinations Unit personnel if the criteria were influenced by any individual or organization outside the IRS. All of these officials stated that the criteria were not influenced by any individual or organization outside the IRS.” So, that’s it? Let’s get that one answered under oath.

An IRS culture of politicized enforcement has shown up elsewhere too. The ProPublica website said recently that in 2012 the Cincinnati IRS gave it the confidential nonprofit applications of nine conservative groups, of which ProPublica later published six. The ProPublica reports were exploring the theme that Ms. Pelosi and Democrats sounded on tax-exemptions and political spending.

These leaks are an abuse of power. By all means let’s hear from the folks in Cincinnati, but the idea that conservative group tax-exemptions should be targeted also has a Washington pedigree.

A version of this article appeared May 16, 2013, on page A14 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Democrats and the IRS.

George Soros? I haven’t written about him in awhile. When you understand a simple concept it makes understanding the world a whole lot easier. Money talks. That’s it. Even the “do gooders” at ProPublica.org require money and George Soros is always willing to write a check for a good progressive cause. This IRS scandal is bigger than anyone can imagine. It has Obama’s prints on it as well as those of George Soros. Whether or not they are guilty of giving any orders, you can not deny that they are both well connected to those who were doing the dirty work.
ProPublica dropped a bombshell on Monday evening. For those who have not heard, they admitted to receiving confidential documents, at their request, from the IRS.

On Nov. 15, 2012, ProPublica requested the applications of 67 nonprofits, all of which had spent money on the 2012 elections. (Because no social welfare groups with Tea Party in their names spent money on the election, ProPublica did not at that point request their applications. We had requested the Tea Party applications earlier, after the groups first complained about being singled out by the IRS. In response, the IRS said it could find no record of the tax-exempt status of those groups — typically how it responds to requests for unapproved applications.)
Just 13 days after ProPublica sent in its request, the IRS responded with the documents on 31 social welfare groups.
One of the applications the IRS released to ProPublica was from Crossroads GPS, the largest social-welfare nonprofit involved in the 2012 election. The group, started in part by GOP consultant Karl Rove, promised the IRS that any effort to influence elections would be “limited.” The group spent more than $70 million from anonymous donors in 2012.
So our good friends at ProPublica were receiving these documents from the IRS in the spirit of good investigative journalism. I left the paragraph about Rove and Crossroads to illustrate a point. The article I am taking these quotes from was not journalism. It was filled with left-wing opinion as well. That’s what blogs are for (like this one). We need to understand the organization that was in receipt of these documents to understand the full scope of the story. Does the end justify the means? Not when it is infringing on the liberties of others. We don’t work like that in America.
By the way…it gets better.
ProPublica also exposed a tie to Washington D.C. and you know what that means. I don’t have to spell it out for you, do I? Check this out:
Last December, Collegio wrote in an email: “As far as we know, the Crossroads application is still pending, in which case it seems that either you obtained whatever document you have illegally, or that it has been approved.”
This year, the IRS appears to have changed the office that responds to requests for nonprofits’ applications. Previously, the IRS asked journalists to fax requests to a number with a 513 area code — which includes Cincinnati. ProPublica sent a request by fax on Feb. 5 to the Ohio area code. On March 13, that request was answered by David Fish, a director of Exempt Organizations Guidance, in Washington, D.C.
In early April, a ProPublica reporter’s request to the Ohio fax number bounced back. An IRS spokesman said at the time the number had changed “recently.” The new fax number begins with 202, the area code for Washington, D.C.
Ding, ding, ding…we have a winner! The hearings on Friday promise to be full of fireworks. This is not about a lone office in Cincinnati as originally reported. This scandal goes straight to Mr. Obama’s neighborhood and I have another tie to that neighborhood later, but let’s get to Soros.
OK, so what does all of this have to do with George Soros? Soros just happens to be one of the chief financiers for ProPublica and many other media organizations. Let’s go back to a wonderful Fox News investigative piece from May 2011.
The investigative reporting start-up ProPublica is a prime example. ProPublica, which recently won its second Pulitzer Prize, initially was given millions of dollars from the Sandler Foundation to “strengthen the progressive infrastructure” – “progressive” being the code word for very liberal. In 2010, it also received a two-year contribution of $125,000 each year from the Open Society Foundations. In case you wonder where that money comes from, the OSF website is www.soros.org. It is a network of more than 30 international foundations, mostly funded by Soros, who has contributed more than $8 billion to those efforts.
Wow, so George Soros is a major financier of ProPublica? How fascinating.
In the spirit of giving you more than what you asked for I will throw in one more name that might ring a bell. A guy named Ben Sherwood, president of ABC News, just happens to sit on the ProPublica “Advisory Board.”
Why is that important?
Ben Sherwood’s sister just happens to be Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall who is a special assistant to Barack Obama. Coincidence? Or course it is.
Like I said, it will be a very interesting hearing beginning Friday. It would seem like there could be a lot more here than a few IRS agents who don’t like conservatives. We may never know how high this goes but you should be aware that there are proven connections.
I’ve put in an illegal request for some documents that I have no business seeing. If I get them I will be sure to update you. If I do not then you will have to wait until Friday’s hearings.

Read more: http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/05/liberal-organization-with-ties-to-george-soros-got-documents-from-irs/#ixzz2TOUdGiIN