logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

IRS Lois Lerner Emails Impossible to Find or Save

Michael Wyland
July 7, 2015
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

IRS-entrance

June 25, 2015; CNN Politics

Yesterday, NPQ published a newswire based on an editorial that speculated that it would be difficult to address the dark money issues in 501(c)(4) nonprofits this election season because of the targeting scandal of the IRS. This, of course, is not helped by the fact that the inquiry drags on and on.

Last week’s Treasury Inspector General’s update to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Lois Lerner’s missing emails was unsatisfying to all parties. Early estimates of tens of thousands of possible emails being found that relate to the IRS scandal were subsequently reduced to 6,000 and ultimately to about 1,000. Meanwhile, the TIGTA’s office reported that as many as 24,000 emails may be permanently lost.

The IRS had promised for more than a year to respond fully to a subpoena and produce all Lerner emails. After a long delay, the IRS ultimately reported the emails to have been lost due to computer hardware failures. However, the TIGTA’s office later found more than 700 backup tapes (not produced by the IRS in response to the subpoena) that may have included the Lerner emails under subpoena. Almost all of the tapes had been erased and the data unrecoverable.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

The investigators’ interviews with IRS personnel discovered no willful intent to destroy evidence. The tapes were handled in accordance with IRS policy and procedures for the handling of confidential material, and the personnel involved in the destruction claimed no knowledge of the subpoenas and the potential relevance of the materials destroyed.

Democrats on the committee continue to point out that there is no evidence of political bias as a motivation for the IRS’s targeting and that there is no demonstrated link to the White House. They cite the more than 160,000 labor hours and $20 million spent by the IRS to comply with investigators’ demands as a distraction from customer service and other IRS priorities. Democrats and the Treasury investigators both complained about leaks from committee Republicans citing the early numbers of possible emails. Republicans continue to be enraged about the slow IRS response and apparent unwillingness to take the investigations seriously, despite credible evidence of IRS malfeasance that, by definition, targeted “Tea Party” and other conservative-sounding organizations in the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling in early 2010.

At the very least, the IRS’s procedures for responding to subpoenas for electronic evidence have been demonstrated to be seriously deficient. In addition, the IRS’s destruction of electronic records may violate the Federal Records Act, which mandates the archiving of all government communications under the ultimate supervision of the Archivist of the United States.

The IRS’s targeting of conservative-sounding tax-exempt organizations, first reported publicly in May 2013, prompted several simultaneous and ongoing investigations that have awaited production of subpoenaed emails to and from Lerner. Lerner was the Director of the Exempt Organizations (EO) Unit of the IRS from 2006 until being placed on unpaid administrative and ultimately retiring from the IRS in 2013. Lerner is believed to have been a key figure in the IRS scandal, based on the TIGTA’s May 2013 initial audit report and upon evidence subsequently produced.

To add more unfortunate fodder for the conspiracy theorists, there is now a link between the IRS scandal and the Congressional investigation surrounding the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012. Catherine Duval, the IRS attorney responsible for supervising the production of the Lerner emails, has been transferred to the State Department, where she now oversees the production of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails to the House committee investigating Benghazi.—Michael Wyland

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Wyland

Michael L. Wyland currently serves as an editorial advisory board member and consulting editor to The Nonprofit Quarterly, with more than 400 articles published since 2012. A partner in the consulting firm of Sumption & Wyland, he has more than thirty years of experience in corporate and government public policy, management, and administration.

More about: auditsNonprofit NewsPolicy

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

NPQ_Winter_2022Subscribe Today
You might also like
Cancelling Student Debt Is Necessary for Racial Justice
Kitana Ananda
To Save Legal Aid, Expand Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Zoë Polk
No Justice, No Peace of Mind and Body: The Health Impacts of Housing Insecurity for Black Women
Jhumpa Bhattacharya, Maile Chand and Andrea Flynn
The Human Impact of the Global Refugee Crisis Must Be Understood—And Acted Upon
Anmol Irfan
Black Americans Need Reparations: The Fight for the CTC Highlights the Roadblocks
Jhumpa Bhattacharya and Trevor Smith
Edgar Cahn’s Second Act: Time Banking and the Return of Mutual Aid
Steve Dubb

Popular Webinars

Remaking the Economy

Black Food Sovereignty, Community Stories

Register Now

Combating Disinformation and Misinformation in 21st-Century Social Movements

Register Now

Remaking the Economy

Closing the Racial Wealth Gap

Register Now
You might also like
Cancelling Student Debt Is Necessary for Racial Justice
Kitana Ananda
To Save Legal Aid, Expand Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Zoë Polk
No Justice, No Peace of Mind and Body: The Health Impacts of...
Jhumpa Bhattacharya, Maile Chand and Andrea Flynn

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.