More on the IRS’s Pursuit of Conservative, Libertarian Groups

The editors of the Washington Post have questions:

When Ms. Lerner heard about the targeting of tea party groups, she rightly demanded the practice end. But did she reinstitute checks against inappropriate targeting that had been in place years before? If not, why not? What are the safeguards now?

Who else knew about the targeting? In subsequent testimony, IRS leaders assured lawmakers that no one did. Were they ignorant or deliberately untruthful? Did they even ask before reporting to Congress?

Anecdotes about unreasonable demands for information are already circulating, but what were the practical effects of this policy on those 100-plus conservative applicants?

Considering that Ms. Lerner seems to have known about the targeting by 2011, did the IRS ever plan on revealing that it had singled out conservative groups? Or was it only the impending release of the inspector general’s report that compelled agency officials to ’fess up?

IMO this story has a lot more potential to turn into a major scandal than Benghazi does. Abuse of power, politicization of the IRS, incompetence. So far the administration has done little to avert potential disaster. Three days before making a presidential statement is an eternity nowadays. The IRS’s own statements have gotten the organization into more trouble if anything.

I doubt that this particular scandal will reach the White House but it’s not impossible. What would need to happen is for there to be found some kind of coordination or exchange of information between the White House or the president’s re-election committee and the IRS over which organizations to target or what was discovered in the process. That could turn into a major scandal. Otherwise, as I say, I doubt it.

Nonetheless, as I said yesterday, it really does undercut the message.