House Republicans on Thursday released what they said was further evidence that the Internal Revenue Service acted on political impulses when it targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny.
The chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Representative Dave Camp of Michigan, said that a series of e-mails from Lois Lerner, an I.R.S. official who is on a leave of absence while a Congressional investigation moves forward, demonstrated that “high-level I.R.S. employees in Washington were abusing their power to prevent conservative groups from organizing and carrying out their missions.â€
The e-mails, the latest example of what Democrats have characterized as selective leaks from Republicans on a partisan fishing expedition, show Ms. Lerner communicating with other I.R.S. employees about an inspector general’s review into the practices of the division that oversees tax-exempt organizations.
Mr. Camp pointed to one e-mail in which Ms. Lerner circulated a news story about Democrats’ filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission that questioned whether some conservative groups, like Crossroads GPS, were abusing their I.R.S. designation as “social welfare†organizations by engaging in political activity.
“Perhaps F.E.C. will save the day,†Ms. Lerner wrote. It is unclear, however, what she hoped the F.E.C. would do: crack down on conservative groups, as Mr. Camp alleges, or merely decide the issue so the I.R.S. would not have to.
In another e-mail Mr. Camp highlighted, Ms. Lerner wrote, “Tea Party Matter very dangerous.†Though she correctly predicted the investigation’s political peril, she did not provide any evidence that I.R.S. employees had acted willfully when singling out conservative groups, as Tea Party activists have alleged.
