Thursday, May 16, 2013

INCREDIBLE: OFFICIAL IN CHARGE OF IRS OFFICE RESPONSIBLE FOR CONSERVATIVE TARGETING NOW HEADS AGENCY’S OBAMACARE OFFICE




It appears that the official who oversaw the Internal Revenue Service office responsible for targeting conservative groups has moved on from that post and now heads the agency’s Obamacare division.

From ABC News:

The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation.

Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today.
Her successor, Joseph Grant, is taking the fall for misdeeds at the scandal-plagued unit between 2010 and 2012. During at least part of that time, Grant served as deputy commissioner of the tax-exempt unit.

Grant said Thursday he would resign as commissioner of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division on June 3, TheBlaze reported. He was appointed to the post just eight days ago.


But here’s something ​really ​interesting: Ingram received more than $100,000 in bonuses between 2009 and 2012, slightly before and well after her office started targeting conservatives, the Washington Examiner’s Mark Tapscott reports.

“Ingram received a $7,000 bonus in 2009,” the Examiner report adds, “then a $34,440 bonus in 2010, $35,400 in 2011 and $26,550 last year for a total of $103,390. Her annual salary went from $172,500 to $177,000 during the same period.”

News that the IRS official heading the agency’s Obamacare office used to run the division responsible for conservative discrimination comes on the heels of House Speaker John Boehner calling for a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

“Fully repealing ObamaCare will help us build a stronger, healthier economy, and will clear the way for patient-centered reforms that lower health care costs and protect jobs,” Boehner said shortly after the House passed a “repeal Obamacare” measure.

“Obamacare empowers the agency that just violated the public’s trust by secretly targeting conservative groups,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-In.) added. “Even by Washington’s standards, that’s unacceptable.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell summed up his reaction to the Ingram revelation:  “stunning, just stunning.”

MEGYN KELLY GOES OFF ON GUEST OVER BENGHAZI TALKING POINTS: ‘CAN WE HAVE SOME HONESTY?


Fox News host Megyn Kelly exploded at one of her liberal guests during her show Thursday while discussing the much-handled Benghazi talking points, ultimately demanding, “Can we have some honesty?”

Simon Rosenberg, founder of the progressive think tank NDN, claimed nothing new had been gleaned about the Libya attacks in the last few weeks.

“What?” a baffled Kelly asked. “Did you know that the State Department was heavily involved in editing the talking points?”

Rosenberg responded that “we know that there were terrible mistakes made on the ground in Libya that allowed this tragic event to happen” and “we know that for several weeks afterwards the administration was confused about what happened.”

“We don’t know that,” Kelly said.

She went on to note that White House press secretary Jay Carney had said that only very minimal changes to the talking points were made. “Maybe I’m just naïve because I was still believing Jay Carney until I saw all this evidence.”

After Kelly asked again whether or not Carney misled the American public, Rosenberg repeated the point that nothing had “materially changed,” noting that “we know there was confusion.”

“You’re telling me Jay Carney was being truthful? He made a mistake twice in November and then again in May?” Kelly shouted. “Come on, Simon! It is not a mistake to say that it was only stylistic changes and only one word was changed.”

“That’s not a mistake when we now know that the White House was the one meeting on this issue. I just — can we have some honesty? Wouldn’t it be so great?”

Watch the exchange below, via Mediaite: