At congressional hearings yesterday, it was revealed that the IRS planted a question at an ABA meeting in order to give Lois Lerner of the IRS the opportunity to get ahead of the pending Inspector General Report and make it seem as if the IRS had voluntarily disclosed the targeting of Tea Party and conservatives.
The person with whom the IRS planted the question was Celia Roady, a tax lawyer who handles tax exempt issues and is very close to the IRS.
There is some dispute as to whether Roady initially denied the question was a set-up, with clear reporting by TPM as to Roady’s denial being partially walked back by two attendees who initially stated that Roady denied the set-up but now say it may not have been that clear.
Regardless, Roady now is at the center of a firestorm, as the IRS setting up the question and answer sends a message of consciousness of guilt. The mainstream media now is all over it.
Jonathan Steele at Legal Ethics Forum sees Roady as something of a victim here:
The story is still developing but it now appears that the lawyer who was prompted to ask the planted question at the ABA conference did not know the answer and was surprised at Lerner’s answer. If that’s true, think about how rotten that was: set up a colleague to ask what will become a notorious Q-and-A when she assumed it was just an ordinary question at an ordinary conference and would be answered with the same, ordinary answer the IRS had been giving Congress and the public for some time. Now, unfortunately, when that lawyer’s name pops up here or there it will be associated with the IRS’s deceptive scheme. When a federal agency has been falsely answering a persistent, urgent question from Congress, the agency should report the truth directly to the Congress rather than scheme to create a ruse (and use an unwitting accomplice) only when the truth is going to come out anyway. That’s active concealment of bad conduct.
I agree but only to a very limited point. It was rotten of the IRS to have Roady ask the question.
But, Roady knew that she was asking a planted question and when the bombshell answer dropped, she could have told people that it was a set-up question.
Roady did not make that disclosure at the time, as far as anyone has reported, presumably because of her close relationship with the IRS.
As the days dragged on, and speculation swirled as to whether the question was planted, Roady was silent as far as I can tell. It was only after congressional testimony disclosing the set-up that Roady made the disclosure.
Roady still has not responded to my request for comment.
The only victims here are the Tea Party and conservative groups who were subjected to political targeting at the IRS.
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Comments
I agree, Professor.
What I see going on now, since things cannot be spun directly, is a lot of planting of irrelevant noise and tangential issues into the media of the sort that would induce the ordinary reader to think boring, minutiae, more Republican brouhaha over trivia.
Following the Obama administration’s ‘scandals’ is like living inside a book that makes all of us modern versions of Sherlock Holmes trying to piece together all of the subtle clues to expose the real truth….which now reminds me of another book that also fits.
I believe the title was ‘None Dare Call it Treason’
Very simply any Liberal who pipes up that the 2000 election was `stolen` better look in the mirror before I rearrange their face. The 2012 election for President was totally stolen. I could not foresee any situation where had the current revelations been made public that Obama would have won.
I think it’s time to clean house at the IRS…terminate EVERYONE who is remotely connected with this in any fashion. Furthermore, prosecute those who broke laws…only a Special Prosecutor can follow this through at this point.
Again, I say…
BURN IT DOWN.
Meaning the monstrosity we know as the “tax code”.
It is an affront to any people with a claim on “freedom”.
It cannot be fixed.
[…] Jacobson at Legal Insurrection has up a terrific post today on “Was Celia Roady, who asked the planted question, a victim of the […]
I have a question. I have heard that congress cannot arrest anyone and that any findings except grounds for impeachment are turned over to DOJ for processing. Is this true? If it is true then obviously none of these scandals will go anywhere. And that the only other alternative is an independent counsel who can make arrests or impeachment. Since an independent counsel has to be appointed by the AG who is up to his neck in these scandals that solution is out. Impeachment is out also since the dims hold the senate and they will never remove obama from office. On the contrary, if they could they would vote him in for a third term or even for life.
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The correct spelling of her name is “Toady.” Please correct your records.
[…] late last week we learned that the whole exercise may have been staged with the help of a veteran tax lawyer. The lawyer, Celia Roady, claims she did not […]