Most PJ Media readers will instantly recall the significance of the name "Lois Lerner," the central figure in the Obama administration's weaponization of the IRS against evangelical, conservative, and Tea Party non-profit tax exemption applicants.
A career civil servant, Lerner headed the tax agency's Exempt Organizations Unit, which has tremendous power over the non-profit advocacy world because it decides who does and does not receive the highly coveted IRS 501 (C)(3) and, especially, the 501 (C)(4) tax exempt designations.
The C4 is especially important because it allows exempt groups to be far more active in political campaign advocacy and lobbying the government, so long as those are not their primary activity, which is supposed to be of an educational nature.
In an unusually accurate manner, Lerner and her staff illustrated how Leviathan's Administrative State — unelected bureaucrats who are accountable to no one outside of their agencies — wield decisive power over the political process, the economy, and the private lives of all Americans.
Whenever an applicant was suspected of being from among one of the targeted corners of the non-profit advocacy world, IRS employees under Lerner employed an endless series of often duplicative, repetitive, and costly requests for revisions to applications, additional documentation, and extremely detailed descriptions and justifications of proposed activities.
As the Capital Research Center (CRC) explained in 2016:
"Some of the keywords used to target conservative groups included 'Tea Party' and 'patriots,' as well as the word 'Israel.' Other key phrases and concepts used by the IRS to apply a heightened level of scrutiny included questioning government spending, government debt, government capability, or criticizing how the country was being run, advocating for education about the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, and any challenges to the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare)."
The harassment and targeting began at least as early as 2011 in response to the Tea Party Revolution of 2010. By delaying the approval process for the targeted groups for 18 months and more, the Obama administration's weaponization of the IRS Exempt Division under Lerner effectively barred millions of Americans from participating in the political policy process through and beyond the 2012 election.
Lerner was found in contempt of Congress but the Obama-controlled Department of Justice refused to prosecute her for any offenses related to her management of the tax agency's Exempt Division. She retired from the federal career civil service with a generous, tax-funded pension.
But that was then, Tapscott, and this is 2025, so what's the point of bringing back all of these bad memories, you ask? Well, the point is this: The IRS Targeting Scandal may not be in the headlines these days but key figures in the controversy are still in key positions within the IRS.
We know this because of Thomas Jones and the American Accountability Foundation (AAF). AAF recently asked why Holly Paz, who was Lerner's top deputy during the targeting scandal, is now in charge of the IRS Large Business and International Division.
This is the same Holly Paz who provided deceptive testimony during two congressional hearings, was suspended temporarily from her official duties, and, with Lerner, was sued for civil damages. The latter was settled out of court.
Lerner retired but Paz did not, and during the Biden administration, the Inflation Reduction Act — quite possibly the most misleadingly named piece of legislation ever passed by Congress — established the operation she now heads.
As Jones put it in a March 26 letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent:
"In 2023, the IRS announced a new division of the LB&I would be established to target the nation’s “wealthiest filers." Given the agency’s recent history, this likely means the IRS will continue to target wealthy conservatives with an expanded branch headed by partisan leadership.
"With allegations that the IRS maintains political bias and is still targeting conservatives, Paz cannot be allowed to maintain a role in the IRS. Taxpayers deserve to have faith in those that receive a government salary and Paz has proved undeserving of the honor to serve the American public."
The Jones letter to Bessent was first reported by my former home base, the Daily Caller News Foundation. No comment was available from Bessent, but he can be sure that the Paz problem is not going away any time soon.
It's not just AAF's exposure of Paz that has the Left going nuts these days. Jones' group is also identifying and publicizing dozens of career civil servants in other federal departments and agencies who have demonstrably radical left views that they aggressively advance through their official positions.
And don't forget Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is conducting the deepest, most thorough, forensic audit of federal spending ever done in American history.
In the process, DOGE is exposing the darkest secrets about how the Left has warped and manipulated otherwise legitimate government programs that millions of Americans depend upon to gain, expand, and preserve power over the rest of us. In other words, one of the biggest con games ever played is being exposed.
Elon Musk and DOGE are bringing much-needed accountability to our out-of-control bureaucracy as they take a chainsaw to rampant waste, fraud, and abuse.
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