Gary Palmer joins resolution to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen
Alabama Congressman Gary Palmer (AL-06) and 18 other Republican members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee introduced a resolution Tuesday to start impeachment proceedings against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “Mr. Koskinen has repeatedly provided misleading testimony to Congress and has failed to comply with a Congressional subpoena,” said Rep. Palmer. “This behavior is unacceptable, particularly for someone in such a powerful position.” In introducing the resolution, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) said, “Commissioner Koskinen violated the public trust. He failed to comply with a congressionally issued subpoena, documents were destroyed on his watch, and the public was consistently misled. Impeachment is the appropriate tool to restore public confidence in the IRS and to protect the institutional interests of Congress. This action will demonstrate to the American people that the IRS is under repair, and signal that Executive Branch officials who violate the public trust will be held accountable.” According to the Committee’s press release, Commissioner Koskinen violated the public trust in the following ways: Failed to comply with a subpoena resulting in destruction of key evidence. Commissioner Koskinen failed to locate and preserve IRS records in accordance with a congressional subpoena and an internal preservation order. The IRS erased 422 backup tapes containing as many as 24,000 of Lois Lerner’s emails – key pieces of evidence that were destroyed on Koskinen’s watch. Failed to testify truthfully and provided false and misleading information. Commissioner Koskinen testified the IRS turned over all emails relevant to the congressional investigation, including all of Ms. Lerner’s emails. When the agency determined Ms. Lerner’s emails were missing, Commissioner Koskinen testified the emails were unrecoverable. These statements were false. Failed to notify Congress that key evidence was missing. The IRS knew Lois Lerner’s emails were missing in February 2014. In fact, they were not missing; the IRS destroyed the emails on March 4, 2014. The IRS did not notify Congress the emails were missing until June 2014 – four months later, and well after the White House and the Treasury Department were notified. Before going the impeachment route, Palmer along with 51 members of Congress, called on President Barack Obama to remove Commissioner Koskinen back in July. The White House failed to respond to their request.
Anonymous donors send millions to pro-Marco Rubio group
Voters are beginning to learn about Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio. What they’re not learning, however, is who is paying to promote his candidacy. The Florida senator is benefiting in unprecedented ways from a nonprofit group funded by anonymous donors. While other presidential candidates also have ties to secret-money groups, the Rubio arrangement is the boldest. Every pro-Rubio television commercial so far in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina has been paid for not by his campaign or even by a super PAC that identifies its donors, but instead by a nonprofit called Conservative Solutions Project. It’s also sending Rubio-boosting mail to voters in those same states. Rubio is legally prohibited from directing the group’s spending, and he has said he has nothing to do with it. But there’s little doubt that Conservative Solutions Project is picking up the tab for critical expenses that the campaign itself might struggle to afford. Although Rubio is rising in national polls, his fundraising has so far been dwarfed by that of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. By the end of June, Bush and his super PAC had amassed $114 million – more than quadruple what Rubio and his super PAC collected. Ahead of what is expected to be a new and disappointing fundraising report next week, Rubio’s aides have stressed that their thriftiness gives them a competitive advantage over campaigns with more money. Left unsaid was that a secret-money group is giving him at least an $8 million assist, according to information provided by advertising tracker Kantar Media’s CMAG. The candidate has presented himself as being opposed to such unaccountable money. “I believe that – as long as it’s being disclosed – that people have a right to participate in our political process,” Rubio said in June at a voter forum in New Hampshire when asked about “the corrupting influence” of money in politics. Conservative Solutions Project does not disclose its donors. Its latest commercial shows Rubio, 44, speaking at the Iowa State Fair. “New ideas for a new age,” a narrator says before ticking through a list of Rubio priorities: “throw out the tax code, overhaul higher education, repeal and replace Obamacare.” Conservative Solutions Project has put $2.3 million into the 30-second ad over the past three weeks and is on deck to spend close to another $1 million keeping it on the air next week, according to CMAG information about advertising placements on broadcast, cable and satellite television. That follows a $3 million summertime ad campaign by the same group that promoted Rubio’s strong opposition to a deal the White House and other countries struck with Iran on nuclear weapons. Conservative Solutions Project also has reserved nearly $2 million in additional satellite TV advertising space through Feb. 16, according to the advertising tracker. Although numerous candidates may ultimately benefit from allied nonprofits, so far it appears that only the entities helping Rubio and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal are advertising in the presidential race. America Next has spent about $380,000 boosting Jindal on TV, CMAG said. Bush also has a secret-money group in his corner, but it hasn’t yet directly communicated with voters. Nonprofits are the edgier cousins of super PACs. Both can accept unlimited amounts of money from wealthy donors, corporations and unions, but only nonprofits can keep those names a secret. In exchange for that privilege, nonprofits are barred from making political activity their primary purpose. But gray area abounds. The two regulating agencies, the Federal Election Commission and the Internal Revenue Service, have been less than aggressive in pursuing potential violators. The Campaign Legal Center in Washington is suing the FEC for failing to require a nonprofit that was active during the 2012 presidential election to file finance reports. “Congress, the Supreme Court and the public have all recognized that voters have a right to know who is spending money to try to influence them on Election Day,” said Paul S. Ryan, the center’s senior counsel. “Transparency is how we hold politicians accountable and make sure they’re not in the pocket of their benefactors.” That’s in line with public opinion: Seventy-five percent of voters, an equal share of Democrats and Republicans, said contributors to unaffiliated groups should be disclosed, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll in June. The Conservative Solutions Project declined to say who gave it the $16 million it claims to have. Although it shares a name and key personnel with the Rubio-focused super PAC, Conservative Solutions PAC, its mutual spokesman, Jeff Sadosky, said the two are “very separate and distinct groups.” He said the nonprofit’s work goes well beyond Rubio’s presidential ambitions, pointing to a detailed study it did last year of voter behavior, which was made available on its website. Additionally, Sadosky said, Conservative Solutions Project highlights on its website the work of other conservative leaders, including Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton. But its bent toward Rubio is apparent even there: Visitors to the site are immediately routed to a video of the Florida senator speaking, the same footage on television in early primary states. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama, AG Luther Strange join 15-state push to re-enforce religious tax exemptions
Attorney General Luther Strange on Tuesday hopped on board a 15-state appeal to the Republican Congressional leadership to “take steps to prevent the IRS from choosing” to deny religious organizations their current tax-exempt status in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision last month in Obergefell v. Hodges. “The U.S. Solicitor General recently indicated … the federal government might decide based on Obergefell that certain religious organizations may no longer qualify as tax exempt under the Internal Revenue Code and also that contributions to these organizations are not deductible as charitable contributions,” read the five-page letter co-signed by 15 state attorneys general addressed to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner. “We take very seriously the religious freedom of our States’ citizens and believe that Congress should take action now to preclude the IRS from targeting religious groups in this way.” By a 5-4 decision in June, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples are guaranteed the right to marry under the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, striking down prohibitions against same-sex marriage in either the state laws or constitutions of each of the 15 states that wrote the appeal to Congress, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Arizona, West Virginia, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin. Echoing a meme circulating among conservative circles, the letter seized on a comment by U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrili, the Obama administration’s chief advocate to the high court that the tax-exempt status of organizations who object to same-sex unions by refusing to accommodate them will “certainly be an issue” for the federal government going forward. The state attorneys general — all are Republicans — sought to prevent the contemplation of any such issues by asking for swift pre-emptive action to signify Congress’ intent to preserve the tax status of all religious organizations currently exempt, regardless of their practices regarding newly-legal marriage licensees. “Stripping tax-exempt status from religious organizations in this way-a severe consequence that could force groups to exit the public sphere-would be an unprecedented assertion of governmental power over religious exercise,” the searing communique continued. Despite the “historic” Obergefell decision, the status of gay marriage recognition in America is not completely settled. An array of tax, family law and clerical issues remain around the nation.
Mo Brooks calls for inquiry into Clinton Foundation contributions
U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, from Alabama’s 5th Congressional District, issued a call for an Internal Revenue Service review of financial contributions to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that Brooks says inappropriately handled donations from foreign nationals while Mrs. Clinton was U.S. Secretary of State. Brooks also joined Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn in penning a letter to the IRS urging their attention to the matter, which surfaced among revelations that Clinton allegedly sometimes used a private email account for state business. “I am pleased to join my colleague Marsha Blackburn in calling on the IRS to conduct a timely review of the Foundation’s tax-exempt status and shed light on these reports,” Brooks said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon. “As a non-profit, tax-exempt organization, we owe it to the American people to ensure the Clinton Foundation is acting within the scope of its charitable mission.” “An IRS investigation of the Clinton Foundation is a prudent first step,” Brooks continued. “I also support hoped-for steps two and three, a Congressional inquiry coupled with an investigation by the United States Justice Department.” The letter co-signed by Brooks is addressed to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. It details allegations against the Clinton group and implores the agency to take action by beginning a probe into possible abuses of tax-exempt status. “…recent media reports have revealed that the Foundation failed to report millions of dollars in grants from foreign governments that it accepted while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State and that it facilitated private business transactions between foreign entities. As a result, given the substantial public interest involved, we feel a prompt review of the Foundation’s tax-exempt status is appropriate to determine whether it is acting within the scope of its charitable mission,” the letter reads. The full text of the Blackburn-Brooks letter is below: Dear Honorable Koskinen: We write to ask that you review the tax-exempt status of the Clinton Foundation (hereinafter “the Foundation”). The Foundation maintains that “The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.” However, recent media reports have revealed that the Foundation failed to report millions of dollars in grants from foreign governments that it accepted while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State and that it facilitated private business transactions between foreign entities. As a result, given the substantial public interest involved, we feel a prompt review of the Foundation’s tax-exempt status is appropriate to determine whether it is acting within the scope of its charitable mission. First, the Foundation is required to annually file a form 990 series return with the IRS listing foreign contributions. Unfortunately, the Foundation failed to report tens of millions of dollars in foreign government grants between 2010 and 2012. Foundation Acting CEO Maura Pally admitted in an April 26th blog post that “…our error was that government grants were mistakenly combined with other donations.” Former President Clinton recently added that “people re-file their taxes all the time” and that the omissions were “just an accident”. However, the Foundation apparently did report such information prior to 2010. The Foundation’s failure to report the donations is problematic and deserves enhanced scrutiny given Mrs. Clinton’s position as Secretary of State at the time. Second, former President Clinton and Canadian businessman Frank Giustra currently serve as board members of the Foundation. An article titled “The Clintons, a luxury jet and their $100 million donor from Canada” appeared in the Washington Post on May 3rd and details their relationship. The article notes that Giustra has donatedover $100 million dollars to the Foundation since 2005 and that “Clinton has also gained regular transportation, borrowing Giustra’s plane 26 times for foundation business since 2005, including 13 trips in which the two men traveled together.” The Post adds that Giustra “closed some of the biggest deals of his career in the same countries where he traveled with Clinton.” Giustra joined the Foundation’s Board of Directors in 2013. The nexus between the Foundation and Giustra’s business ventures is unusual and raises a question as to whether Foundation activities were used as a pre-text to allow Giustra to gain access to foreign individuals or entities with a stake in his private business interests. Given these widely reported allegations, we believe a review of the appropriateness of the Foundation’s tax-exempt status is necessary. Proceeding under the cloak of philanthropy, the Foundation appears to have facilitated major private business transactions between foreign entities and also failed to report substantial foreign donations during Secretary Clinton’s tenure at the State Department. These actions have created an appearance of impropriety and go behind the Foundation’s pledge to act primarily in furtherance of charitable causes for which it was granted tax-exempt status. Thank you. We look forward to your prompt review.
Know a vet getting the government run around?
Soon our nation will be celebrating Memorial Day. More than a three-day weekend marking the beginning of summer, Memorial Day is time to pay tribute to the soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation. It’s also a time to say thank you to our nation’s many vets and our current service members who are still manning the front lines to protect this great nation. Often times our nation’s veterans and military have issues with the federal government and need help. Did you know that you your Congressman and Senators are often your best resource when you can’t get an answer from a federal agency in a timely fashion, or if you feel you have been treated unfairly. For those currently in the military, or their families, experiencing difficulties with the U.S. Department of Defense and/or any of its military branches (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and the U.S. Merchant Marines), TRICARE, or the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) a Congressional office can often intervene and help you receive a fair and timely response to your problem. For veterans, a Congressional office can assist efforts to obtain military records and medals, in answering questions they have concerning eligibility for benefits provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), or those who might be having difficulties with the VA Health Care System or the VA claims and appeals process. Offices are also available to assist with a myriad of other constituent services areas that include, but are not limited to: Citizenship and Immigration Services: dealing with USCIS — relating to the process of becoming a U.S. Citizen, how to renew a Permanent Resident (Green) Card Consumer Complaints: complaints about a product or business General Financial and Emergency Assistance: facing financial difficulties and looking for temporary financial assistance Internal Revenue Service: federal tax-related problems, tax-fraud Medicare: problems with Medicare Part A, Medicare Part B, Medicare Part D Prescription Coverage, a Medicare Advantage Plan (also known as Medicare Part C) or CMS Passports: figuring out where you should submit your application, figuring out which application to use, and deciding when you need to submit application to ensure that you get your Passport prior to your travel date Preventing Identity Theft and Fraud: provide information about steps that individuals may take to as a way to proactively protect themselves from identity theft and what can be done to protect your credit information from use in fraudulent ways Small Business Administration: provide information on any available government financing, counseling, and training programs to individuals who are interested in starting or expanding Alabama-based business Social Security Administration: difficulties with the Social Security Administration with obtaining disability benefits, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), retirement or other Social Security-related benefits, or if you simply need some help in obtaining documents If you’re facing an issue with the federal government, don’t hesitate to reach out to your respective Representative or one the Senators for assistance. Alabama’s 1st Congressional District: Rep. Bradley Byrne Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District: Rep. Martha Roby Alabama’s 3rd Congressional District: Rep. Mike Rogers Alabama’s 4th Congressional District: Rep. Robert Aderholt Alabama’s 5th Congressional District: Rep. Mo Brooks Alabama’s 6th Congressional District: Rep. Gary Palmer Alabama’s 7th Congressional District: Rep. Terri Sewell Statewide: Sen. Jeff Sessions State-wide: Sen. Richard Shelby Not sure of your congressional district or who your member is? You can use this easy service to find out.
