WASHINGTON — In response to a flood of mail and e-mail from WorldNetDaily readers and others incensed by recent reports linking the White House to an audit of the Western Journalism Center, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer, R-Texas, says the Joint Committee on Taxation is still conducting an investigation of politically motivated Internal Revenue Service audits after two-and-a-half years.
“Unfortunately, due to the investigation’s complexity, scope and because it involved privileged information about individual tax returns, the committee’s final report has been delayed considerably beyond our original hopes,” Archer said in a prepared statement sent to many who made inquiries about the status of the probe. “This investigation has become far more voluminous than was originally anticipated. As my original letter to the JCT (Joint Committee on Taxation) makes clear, I take allegations of IRS harassment of ‘political enemies’ very seriously and follow the JCT’s investigation with interest. I have forwarded to the committee all specific information in my possession on the matter, gathered from personal correspondence and interviews.”
Archer added that he is hopeful the final committee report will be forthcoming in the near future.
“Allegations of such abuse were the prime impetus for the enactment of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998’s provision (Section 7217 of the Internal Revenue Service Code), making it a crime for the president, the vice president or any other executive office employees to request any officer or employee of the IRS to conduct or terminate an audit or otherwise investigate or terminate the investigation of any particular taxpayer,” Archer said. “The prohibition applies to both direct requests and requests made through an intermediary. We are determined to prevent abuses, or even the appearance of abuse, in the future.”
Archer gave no indication in his letter that Congress had any plans or the will to deal with past abuses of the Clinton administration.
“I shall continue to monitor the progress of the JCT’s investigation and have forwarded to the investigators all information concerning new allegations and developments in this case,” said Archer.
The new allegations to which Archer refers are those made by WorldNetDaily Editor Joseph Farah, who last month received through the Freedom of Information Act Treasury Department documents showing the audit of his non-profit journalism center in 1996 was initiated by a letter to the IRS from the White House.
The Western Journalism Center is one of dozens of tax-exempt organizations targeted for IRS audit after criticizing President Clinton. Farah first exposed what appeared to be a pattern of political audits three years ago. The revelations were followed quickly by the resignation of IRS Commissioner Margaret Milner Richardson, a close personal friend and political confidante of Bill and Hillary Clinton, and the launching of a congressional probe by Archer, co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Taxation.
A heavily redacted 1997 Treasury Department report titled, “Questionable Exempt Organization Examination Activity,” was released July 6 to Farah’s news organization following three years of FOIA filings and appeals for such information. Contradicting IRS officials and their Justice Department lawyers in two suits pending against the agency by the center and its legal counsel, the Treasury report states unequivocally and repeatedly that the audit began with a letter forwarded from the White House to the IRS.
“The audit originated from a taxpayer who faxed a letter to the White House expressing his concern over a one-page advertisement paid for by WCJ (Western Center for Journalism),” explained the official Treasury Department report. “The fax was forwarded to the EO (Exempt Organizations) National Office and then to the respective Key
District Office for appropriate actions.”
“The Treasury report shows there was a direct chain of events beginning with that fax in the White House — just as I suspected all along but could never conclusively prove until now,” said Farah. “This is why the IRS has steadfastly refused to provide us with our own case file, as it is required to do under the law. Had officials coughed up the file, they would have hanged themselves and provided us with a winning case.”
Long before the IRS audit of 1996, the White House had taken critical notice of the activities of the center. A White House counsel’s memo, written by Jane Sherburne in December 1994, lists the center as a major concern with regard to its coverage of the Vincent Foster death story. In 1995, the White House counsel’s office, in conjunction with the Democratic National Committee, produced and distributed at taxpayer expense a 331-page report called, “Communication Stream of Conspiracy Commerce,” in which it was alleged that the center was directing a vast, international media plot to discredit President Clinton.
No member of Congress, nor any staff member, have asked Farah or the center for the latest documents obtained from the Treasury Department.
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