ATR President Grover Norquist today sent a letter to members of Congress urging support for H.Res.494, a resolution to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, introduced by House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).
It is imperative that the IRS be perceived as an impartial, nonpolitical agency. Its job is to administer the tax code in a fair way. But under Commissioner Koskinen the agency has inserted itself in the political arena, misled investigators, and deceived the American people.
The full letter can be found here and is pasted below.
Dear Member of Congress:
I write to urge you to support and co-sponsor H.Res.494, a resolution to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, introduced by House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).
It is imperative that the IRS be perceived as an impartial, nonpolitical agency. Its job is to administer the tax code in a fair way. But under Commissioner Koskinen it has undeniably and unrepentantly involved itself in the political arena.
Throughout the investigation into the IRS targeting scandal, Koskinen failed repeatedly to provide important information, perform basic due diligence, and frequently made false or misleading statements under oath.
First, the IRS failed to search five of six possible sources of electronic media for Lois Lerner’s emails.
The only source searched – her hard-drive – was destroyed after a brief search, even though documentation suggests that due diligence to recover all data was not performed.
Later, the agency “accidently” destroyed 24,000 Lerner emails forever despite IRS management issuing an agency wide preservation order months earlier.
Koskinen failed to mention both the preservation order and the destruction of tapes and failed to disclose details regarding Lois Lerner’s mysteriously destroyed hard drive during testimony before Congress. Koskinen’s testimony was also often based on months-old information that was out of date.
The IRS blames all of these discrepancies and missteps on the supposed carelessness of employees and management, but the agency had no intention of complying with investigators.
Following the release of findings, Koskinen refused to resign and President Obama has refused to remove him. Congress cannot ignore this blatant attempt to mislead investigators and deceive the American people. The constitution allows Congress to impeach public officials for malfeasance – a charge that has been proven in this instance time and time again.
Impeaching IRS Chief John Koskinen is the next logical step, and one for which there is precedent. I urge you to co-sponsor and support Rep. Chaffetz’s resolution.