RESIGNATION AT IRS. Politico. “President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew requested and accepted the resignation of Steven Miller, the acting commissioner of the IRS.”
LERNER TESTIMONY. Lois Lerner has appeared before Congress before. In 1998, she was called to testify about a matter involving a Democratic fundraiser. The background is somewhat complicated; the Commission had declined to pursue a case against Howard Glicken, a fundraiser alleged to have solicited a foreign national. Rep. Burton asked: “Why didn’t they investigate? Here is what the FEC’s General Counsel’s Report says. And I hope all my colleagues will listen to this. ‘Because of Mr. Glicken’s high profile as a prominent Democratic fundraiser, including his potential fundraising involvement in support of Vice President Gore’s expected Presidential campaign, it is unclear that this individual would agree to settle this matter short of litigation.’ Since when does someone get a free ride because he is a prominent Democratic fundraiser? Since when does someone get a free ride because he is a supporter of the Vice President? Since when does someone get a free ride because it looks like he might fight a penalty in court instead of settling?” A transcript of the discussion is online here.
IRS ROLE IN CAMPAIGN FINANCE. Philly.com. “The truly curious universe of politically-oriented nonprofits demonstrates how murky the line has become between groups whose primary focus is issue advocacy and those that target candidates in political races.”
SLOAN SPEAKS. Roll Call. “Everyone can agree it is unacceptable for the IRS to target particular organizations based on political ideology. If that’s what agents at the IRS were up to, they were wrong and there should be consequences.”
FURLOUGHS AND ETHICS RULES. Roll Call. “As a threshold matter, yes, a furloughed staffer is still considered a House employee and remains bound by restrictions on staff employees, with certain limited exceptions.”
HI: PARKING AND LOBBYING. Story here. “But John Radcliffe, one of Hawaii’s biggest lobbyists with 30 clients — including the American Chemistry Council, the Hawaii School Bus Association and Corrections Corporation of America — has an ‘in’ that most members of the public don’t: Sen. Josh Green lets Radcliffe park in his Senate-assigned stall.”
MO: ETHICS COMMITTEE FINE. Story here. “A former state senator from St. Louis has been fined more than $270,000 by the Missouri Ethics Commission for violating numerous campaign finance laws.”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.