Somewhere in Delaware, there’s a state official who snooped into Christine O’Donnell’s private tax records. That’s something that should trouble every American, regardless of political affiliation.
O’Donnell was the Tea Partier who knocked off Rep. Mike Castle in the 2010 GOP Senate primary but went on to get clobbered in the general. Her tax records may not have caused her defeat, but news of an IRS tax lien on a house she owned was one of the things used by opponents to suggest her unfitness for office.
Only O’Donnell didn’t own the property at the time. What adds to the stink is that the IRS placed the lien on the house the same day O’Donnell issued a press release announcing her run for office. Even creepier, she says the state official who looked at her tax info friended her on Facebook.
By the time the IRS reversed itself on the tax lien — claiming computer error — the damage was done. And we’ve now learned from Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley’s investigation that O’Donnell was just one of four politicians or political donors whose tax information was inappropriately accessed.
The O’Donnell news comes the same week we’ve learned that applications from conservative groups seeking tax exemption were channeled through the office of IRS counsel in Washington — headed by an Obama appointee. An IRS lawyer testified that the paperwork was forwarded there at the request of Lois Lerner, the same IRS official who invoked her Fifth Amendment rights not to testify before the House.
To get to the truth, Congress needs to get more officials testifying under oath. That includes the Justice officials who declined to prosecute even in the case where Treasury found “willful unauthorized access” was found. And it would help to remind all these agencies that federal disclosure laws are meant to protect citizens from government — not government from accountability.