O'Donnell IRS Case Is Starting To Look Like The Agency Has Been Doing More Dirty Dealings

Grassley Says Officials Stonewalling in O'Donnell Tax Case

Monday, 12 Aug 2013 01:55 PM

By Audrey Hudson

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Delaware state revenue officials are refusing to cooperate with a congressional inquiry into the disclosure of tea party favorite Christine O'Donnell's federal tax records, The Washington Times reports.

The tax snooping incident under review by Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa occurred during O'Donnell's unsuccessful 2010 race to fill the Senate seat vacated by Vice President Joe Biden. 

On March 9, 2010, the IRS filed a lien on a home once owned by O'Donnell, but later admitted the lien was placed in error.



The Washington Times broke the story last month that O'Donnell's tax records had been accessed by David Smith, an investigator with Delaware's Division of Revenue, an action that prompted the inquiry by the U.S. Treasury Department. 

The action is one of several under investigation by congressional committees examining claims that politicians and campaign donors had their personal tax records improperly accessed since 2006.

O'Donnell says the state wrongfully accessed her federal tax information to deliberately target a political candidate. Grassley says the case exemplifies how federal information is vulnerable to snooping by state officials.

Grassley says Delaware officials have not responded to repeated requests for information and have refused to allow Smith to speak with Senate investigators.  Grassley has also questioned the legitimacy of the answers he has received from Delaware officials.

In a letter to Division of Revenue Director Patrick Carter, Grassley wrote, "On July 23, 2013, you reported to my staff that the Tax Data Services database utilized by Delaware only maintains an electronic audit trail of systems access for three months. This leads me to question how you were able to confirm information about systems access and its appropriateness when it occurred two years before your interaction with the Treasury Department."

Carter told the Delaware News Journal he is not able to respond to the senator's request without written permission from O'Donnell.

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