CCP Chairman Brad Smith and President David Keating spoke with Washington Free Beacon reporter Alana Goodman about members of Congress pressuring the IRS to investigate non-profits:
Bradley Smith, chairman of the Center for Competitive Politics, said Levin should not be surprised that the IRS was caught targeting Tea Party groups when senators are sending these kinds of letters.
“And he wonders why the IRS gets caught using partisan criteria to investigate Americans,” said Smith.
Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Tom Udall (N.M.), and Al Franken (Minn.) sent a similar letter to Shulman in February 2012, asking for the IRS to investigate tax-exempt groups they believed were engaged in political activities.
Similar letters were also sent to the IRS by Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.) in 2010 and House Democrats in 2012, the Atlantic reported on Monday.
David Keating, president of the Center for Competitive Politics, said requests from members of Congress for the IRS to single out specific groups for scrutiny were inappropriate.
“There seems to be a consensus that members of Congress should not pressure government officials to reward friends with contracts or special treatment,” said Keating. “Neither should they demand that government agencies punish political opponents.”…