On May 7, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to hold Lois Lerner in contempt over her refusal to answer questions related to the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting for extra scrutiny conservative applicants for tax-exempt status as social welfare organizations from 2010-12. As happens so often in Washington, the debate over whether to hold Lerner in contempt and the IRS scandal as a whole have degenerated into another partisan battle, which is a shame, since one year ago, when Lerner herself broke the story about the targeting through a planted question during a speech to an American Bar Association group, there was near-unanimity about how profoundly disturbing this conduct was, and that whoever was responsible should be held accountable.
Lerner, the former director of IRS-exempt organizations, may well be responsible for the extra scrutiny and processing delays that tea party and other conservative groups were subjected to, and, indeed, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has found that she was “extensively involved” in this targeting. The committee’s staff report identifies Lerner as the “singularly most relevant official” in the IRS scandal, and contends that her testimony remains “critical” to its investigation, to, among other things, “provide context regarding the actions of other IRS officials.”
