Emails Link Lerner to Regulator Who Went After Walker
Saturday, 11 Jul 2015 11:15 AM
Scandal-scarred Lois Lerner, the former IRS official accused of targeting conservative nonprofits, is reportedly buddies with a Wisconsin regulator who helped prosecutors investigate aides and conservative allies of Gov. Scott Walker.
The revelation in a Wall Street Journal editorial this week raises the troubling question of whether there was cooperation between Lerner and Kevin Kennedy, director of the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, the Daily Caller reports.
The Journal cites emails showing the pair, who have been friends for 20 years, were in contact between 2011 and 2013, discussing personal and political issues – and noting the time is significant "because those were the years when the IRS increased its harassment of conservative groups and Wisconsin prosecutors gathered information that would lead to the John Doe probe that began in September 2012."
Kennedy helped the Milwaukee County district attorney and prosecutors conduct the explosive probe in the wake of Walker's victory in a recall election sparked by his busting state employee unions, the Daily Caller reports, with many unaware they were being scrutinized.
The Journal notes under Kennedy, the Government Accountability Board hired four investigators to take part in the probe and set aside staff for the investigation.
The Wisconsin Club for Growth – one of the probe targets – has already alleged Kennedy cooperated in the investigation for months before getting approval from the six retired judges that sit on GAB’s board, the Wisconsin State Journalreported last December.
The Club for Growth also asserts that after the board voted that GAB should stop aiding the investigation, staffers with the regulatory agency continued anyway.
The GAB even considered hauling Fox News host Sean Hannity and a local radio host, Charlie Sykes, with subpoenas, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist wrote.
GOP state lawmakers are livid, and want Kennedy out.
“Friday’s Wall Street Journal exposed a coordinated effort by the GAB’s Kevin Kennedy and the disgraced Obama appointee at the IRS Lois Lerner,” according to a joint statement from Republican state senator Alberta Darling and representative John Nygren, the Daily Caller reports.
"It is clear that the harassment of conservative groups by Lerner at the federal level directly coincided with the harassment of conservative groups right here in our state."
Kennedy responded he wasn't going to "dignify" the Journal editorial with a comment, other than to say "it contains no facts showing that I or the Government Accountability Board did anything inappropriate or out of the ordinary given the agency’s statutory responsibilities," the Fox News affiliate in Milwaukee reports.
Related Stories:
© 2015 Newsmax. All rights reserved.The revelation in a Wall Street Journal editorial this week raises the troubling question of whether there was cooperation between Lerner and Kevin Kennedy, director of the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, the Daily Caller reports.
The Journal cites emails showing the pair, who have been friends for 20 years, were in contact between 2011 and 2013, discussing personal and political issues – and noting the time is significant "because those were the years when the IRS increased its harassment of conservative groups and Wisconsin prosecutors gathered information that would lead to the John Doe probe that began in September 2012."
Latest News Update
The Journal notes under Kennedy, the Government Accountability Board hired four investigators to take part in the probe and set aside staff for the investigation.
The Wisconsin Club for Growth – one of the probe targets – has already alleged Kennedy cooperated in the investigation for months before getting approval from the six retired judges that sit on GAB’s board, the Wisconsin State Journalreported last December.
The GAB even considered hauling Fox News host Sean Hannity and a local radio host, Charlie Sykes, with subpoenas, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist wrote.
GOP state lawmakers are livid, and want Kennedy out.
“Friday’s Wall Street Journal exposed a coordinated effort by the GAB’s Kevin Kennedy and the disgraced Obama appointee at the IRS Lois Lerner,” according to a joint statement from Republican state senator Alberta Darling and representative John Nygren, the Daily Caller reports.
"It is clear that the harassment of conservative groups by Lerner at the federal level directly coincided with the harassment of conservative groups right here in our state."
Kennedy responded he wasn't going to "dignify" the Journal editorial with a comment, other than to say "it contains no facts showing that I or the Government Accountability Board did anything inappropriate or out of the ordinary given the agency’s statutory responsibilities," the Fox News affiliate in Milwaukee reports.
Related Stories:
- Judicial Watch's Fitton: More Lois Lerner Emails on the Way
- GOP Calls on AG to Prosecute Lois Lerner in IRS Scandal
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for commenting. Your comments are needed for helping to improve the discussion.