A Washington watchdog fighting for the public's right to know the who, what, when, where and why of the IRS campaign to obstruct tea-party and other conservative groups opposing Barack Obama's re-election bid in 2012 is going back to court to try to unseal a deposition by Lois Lerner, who headed the tax-exempt division of the IRS then.
Judicial Watch said Monday it has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in another case in which the depositions of Lerner and aide Holly Paz were sought.
"Both played key roles in the targeting of conservative nonprofit groups opposed to Obama policies in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election," Judicial Watch explained.
The organization submitted its request in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Western Division, where a case filed by the NorCal Tea Party Patriots already was under way.
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That's a class-action lawsuit demanding that the public be given access to the depositions of Lerner and Paz, who both answered questions about how the discrimination began, who ordered it and why.
"The depositions were sealed by a federal judge after Lerner's and Paz's lawyers claimed the two were receiving threats," the watchdog group said.
But Judicial Watch's brief argues that the documents sought may shed light on government misconduct, and the shielding of internal government deliberations does not serve the public’s interest.
Judicial Watch also explained the depositions may significantly impact ongoing Judicial Watch lawsuits seeking information about misconduct of government officials in the IRS targeting scandal.
The organization has filed at least nine Freedom of Information Act lawsuits regarding the willful attacks on the constitutional rights of conservative and tea-party groups.
"In a republic, citizens have a right to know what their government is up to, especially when officials abuse the powers entrusted to them," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "This effort to seal Lois Lerner and Holly Paz depositions for all time is affront to the rule of law and government accountability."
Judicial Watch has obtained information that has led to a variety of additional actions, including investigations of the IRS and a review of how and why the IRS failed to preserve thousands of emails that potentially were relevant to various investigations.
The government has admitted its attacks on conservative groups were "wrong" and has said that "for such treatment, the IRS expresses its sincere apology," Judicial Watch noted.
But the agency still is concealing from the public the information from Lerner and Paz, including their depositions and emails.
Judicial Watch said Lerner "was actively engaged in the attempted cover-up of IRS misconduct."
"In July 2016, Judicial Watch revealed that both Lerner and Paz knew the agency was specifically targeting 'tea party' and other conservative organizations two full years before disclosing it to Congress and the public. They also knew donor lists of tax-exempt organizations were being used to target those donors for audits."
The immediate response was denial, but Judicial Watch eventually forced the agency to admit it had used "inappropriate political labels" to screen applications of organizations seeking tax-exempt status.
By refusing to cooperate and process the applications in a timely fashion, the IRS could hinder organizations that opposed Obama's agenda and re-election bid.
For example, Judicial Watch brought to light that the IRS was going to require some applicants to restrict their alleged political activities.
The group reported: "In April 2015, Judicial Watch released court ordered IRS documents that included an email from Lerner asking that a program be set up to 'put together some training points to help them [IRS staffers] understand the potential pitfalls' of revealing too much information to Congress. The documents also contain a Lerner email from 2013 in which she says she is willing to take the blame on some aspects of the scandal. She also indicates that she 'understands why the IRS criteria' leading to the targeting of tea party and other opponents of the President Obama 'might raise questions.'"
Judicial Watch already has exposed a variety of IRS record-keeping inconsistencies, erroneous claims and failures to product court-required records.
Explained the filing: "Judicial Watch's interest in unsealing and making Ms. Lerner's and Ms. Paz's testimony public is twofold. First, as an organization whose mission is to promote transparency and accountability in government, Judicial Watch believes release of the testimony is in the public interest. Second, as a litigant continuing to battle the IRS for records about the agency's targeting of organizations based on their political views, the depositions may prove crucial to Judicial Watch's ability to challenge the IRS's deliberative process exemption claims."
WND reported in November that Lerner claimed people, including "young children," were facing death threats if her words became public.
WND reported in October an apology from the IRS, and a reported $3.5 million settlement, wasn't sufficient to resolve the dispute.
At that time, several individuals and groups that were victimized by the IRS tax-exempt organizations division run by Lerner called for the reopening of a criminal investigation into her activities.
The Washington Examiner reported at the time Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., called for the Department of Justice to review whether or not it should prosecute Lerner.
He's chairman of the oversight subcommittee responsible for the IRS.
"Lerner betrayed the nation's trust yet managed to avoid prosecution," Buchanan said. "Heads should roll and people should be held accountable for this gross abuse of power."
Leesa Donner of the Liberty Nation blog, one of the targeted groups, wrote: "It seems that IRS Senior Executive Lois G. Lerner is in the crosshairs again. And for many who have been persecuted by the most powerful agency of the most powerful government in the world – this comes not a moment too soon."
The attack on conservative groups became apparent early in 2012 when the American Center for Law and Justice was contacted by "literally dozens of tea party and conservative groups who were being harassed by the Obama IRS after submitting applications for tax-exempt status."
While Lerner publicly admitted the targeting campaign, no action was taken against her, and she ultimately left the government on a retirement plan while lawsuits were under way.
The IRS used tactics such as demanding donor lists, copies of communications, Internet passwords, and personal political and charitable activities of officers and their family members.
In one case, the IRS demanded to know the subject of group members' prayers. And in another, the IRS demanded that members stop opposing the Planned Parenthood abortion industry.
The Obama administration had claimed the scandal was "phony."
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