Today, at a House Ways and Means Committee Hearing about the transgressions of the IRS, individuals who were with conservative and Tea Party groups that suffered at the hands of the IRS, gave their testimony. One of the witnesses – Becky Gerritson, founder of a Tea Party in Alabama – actually got choked up and laid blame right at the feet of Congress.
Said Gerritson:
“We don’t understand why the government tried to stop us. I’m not here as a serf or a vassal. I’m not begging my lords for mercy. I’m a born-free American woman, wife, mother, and citizen and I’m telling my government that you’ve forgotten your place. It’s not your responsibility to look out for my well-being and to monitor my speech. It’s not your right to assert an agenda. The posts that you occupy exist to preserve American liberty. You’ve sworn to perform that duty and you have faltered. The abuses I will discuss today occurred on your watch and it’s your responsibility to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
After Gerritson and other witnesses testified about the egregious treatment they received from the IRS, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WI) arrogantly chided these witnesses for applying for tax-exempt status in the first place. According to McDermott, these individuals should expect to be investigated.
As you watch McDermott, ask yourself if the standard he sets should have been applied to the 501(c)(3) application of Malik Obama’s Foundation.
Gerritson’s group applied for 501(c)(4) in October in 2010. From then on, her Tea Party was dragged through the bureaucratic wringer. She testified that she received a letter from none other than Lois Lerner in March of 2012 in which Lerner requested more information. A year and a half after applying for tax-exempt status, Lerner was still holding up Gerritson’s application.
Yet, on June 26, 2011, Lerner signed off on the 501(c)(3) status of the Barack H. Obama Foundation, headed by Malik Obama, in less than one month (Malik filed originally on May 30, 2011) and even back-dated it (illegally) to April of 2008.
Now, if the McDermott standard had been applied to Malik Obama, the half-brother of the president should have expected to be investigated. He obviously wasn’t because as Executive Secretary of the Islamic Da’wa Organization (IDO), Malik is working with a State Sponsor of terrorism.
What say you, Rep. McDermott?
Incidentally, as part of McDermott’s arrogant rant above, he whipped out the Newt Gingrich case from the 1990’s in which the House Ethics Committee charged the former Speaker with misuse of funds. In actuality, by citing the Gingrich case, McDermott unwittingly bolstered the cases of the witnesses at his hearing.
Gingrich was cleared of all charges: