A call for hearings on IRS political audit

By WND Staff

By Stephan Archer
© 1999 WorldNetDaily.com

“This would be an issue that I would think would be bipartisan,” says Laura
Woolfrey, press secretary for Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama. “I would
think that no one in either party would want to see intimidation from the
government.”

Aderholt’s spokeswoman is referring to the now three-year-old Internal
Revenue Service audit of the Western Journalism Center, parent company of
WorldNetDaily. If that audit was, in fact, instigated by the White House —
as WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah claims, and as recently unearthed
evidence seems to prove — then both Democrats and Republicans should rally
together to fight the injustice, says Woolfrey.

Aderholt, a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee and
sponsor of the Ten Commandments Defense Act Amendment, which passed in the
House last June, was unavailable for comment, as Congress is not currently
in session.

Speaking of the audit against the Western Journalism Center, Woolfrey
states, “This office sees it as cut and dried that it’s a bad thing to do,
but we’re not going to make any stark judgments on anyone until we see
evidence come out of the committee. But if there’s evidence, we should have
hearings on it.”

“Evidence?” echoes Western Journalism Center’s founder, Joseph Farah. “We
have the smoking gun, and it’s still hot.”

Fact: The Center was first audited back in 1996 after a letter was sent from
the White House to the Internal Revenue Service. The letter, which had
originated from a citizen named Paul Venze in the Los Angeles area,
expressed concern that the Western Journalism Center, a non-profit
organization, might be engaging in activities unfit for a not-for-profit
organization.

However, evidence of the letter and the White House’s involvement wasn’t
given to Farah until three years after the audit had ended when, last month,
the Treasury Department finally delivered documents to Farah in response to
a Freedom of Information Act request.

The heavily redacted 1997 Treasury Department report titled “Questionable
Exempt Organization Activity” including the following admission: “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) that asked for contributions to investigate (White House
Deputy Counsel Vincent) Foster’s death. The fax was forwarded to the EO
(Exempt Organizations) National Office and then to the respective Key
District Office for appropriate actions.” In short, the White House
initiated the audit.

While the Treasury Department report has been in Farah’s hands for only
about a month and a half, he and the other journalists at the center were
suspicious of a politically motivated audit early on. It seems that, in an
unusual moment of candor, the IRS agent in charge of the audit, Thomas
Cederquist, had stated that the audit was a “political case” and that “the
decisions were being made at the national level.”

Since there is now compelling evidence that the White House initiated the
audit, not to mention an obvious motive — to silence its critics — why
then has this high-profile political audit not received more congressional
attention? Woolfrey believes Congress’ inaction to date may be due to the
fact that, toward the end of its session, it was extremely busy trying to
get the appropriations bills passed, as well as dealing with other complex
issues such as taxes and education.

“I think that’s what their focus has been,” Woolfrey says. “Just because a
member of Congress does not come out on front of an issue does not mean that
they’re not concerned. But there are an awful lot of issues facing Congress
and an awful lot of important legislative items that need to be addressed.
Everything that should be addressed doesn’t necessarily get addressed
because of lack of time.”

Nevertheless, speaking for Aderholt, Woolfrey insists the congressman is
interested in getting to the bottom of the Western Journalism Center’s audit
case. “We’ll be following this issue and watching to see what comes out of
any sort of hearings or investigation. This kind of thing, if it is
happening, should be stopped right away,” Woolfrey adds.

Meanwhile, Rep. Bill Archer, R- Texas, who stated recently he was very
concerned about such cases, wrote in a prepared statement, “I take
allegations of IRS harassment of ‘political enemies’ very seriously. … [It
is] “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 added, “The prohibition applies to both
direct requests and requests made through an intermediary.” Beyond these
strong pronouncements, however, Archer’s office apparently has not yet acted
to initiate an investigation, nor even contacted the Western Journalism
Center to examine the incriminating Treasury Department report.

Woolfrey summarizes the whole issue of the executive branch’s use of the IRS
to silence its critics this way: “I would say that if it is true that the
government is using intimidation tactics to punish the media, that’s a black
and white issue. That is bad, and it cuts across party lines,” she adds, “It
would be something that both Republicans and Democrats care about.”

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