Treasury IG: IRS improperly probed political candidates, campaign donors

Ed Morrissey - The IRS scandal may get a lot bigger — and may push Congress to call for an independent investigator.  Treasury Inspector General J. Russell George informed Senator Charles Grassley that the IRS has improperly probed political candidates and donors in at least four cases going back to 2006.  The Department of Justice declined to prosecute any of the cases, and Grassley wants to know why:

The Treasury Department has admitted for the first time that confidential tax records of several political candidates and campaign donors were improperly scrutinized by government officials, but the Justice Department has declined to prosecute any of the cases.

Its investigators also are probing two allegations that the Internal Revenue Service “targeted for audit candidates for public office,” the Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration, J. Russell George, has privately told Sen. Chuck Grassley.

In a written response to a request by Mr. Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Mr. George said a review turned up four cases since 2006 in which unidentified government officials took part in “unauthorized access or disclosure of tax records of political donors or candidates,” including one case he described as “willful.” In four additional cases, Mr. George said, allegations of improper access of IRS records were not substantiated by the evidence.   More