Another case of abuse: IRS ADMITS LEAKING CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION Used Against Mitt Romney in 2012 Elections

◼ IRS Admits Wrongdoing, to Pay $50,000 in Leaking of Marriage Group's Tax Return - Ken McIntyre/Daily Signal

Two years after activists for same-sex marriage obtained the confidential tax return and donor list of a national group opposed to redefining marriage, the Internal Revenue Service has admitted wrongdoing and agreed to settle the resulting lawsuit.

The Daily Signal has learned that, under a consent judgment today, the IRS agreed to pay $50,000 in damages to the National Organization for Marriage as a result of the unlawful release of the confidential information to a gay rights group, the Human Rights Campaign, that is NOM’s chief political rival.

“Congress made the disclosure of confidential tax return information a serious matter for a reason,” NOM Chairman John D. Eastman told The Daily Signal. “We’re delighted that the IRS has now been held accountable for the illegal disclosure of our list of major donors from our tax return.”

The Daily Signal is seeking comment on the settlement from the IRS and Justice Department.

Update: At 5:28 p.m, IRS spokesman Bruce I. Friedland emailed: “Privacy law, specifically Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code, prohibits us from commenting.”

◼ Orange jumpsuits all around. - Discussion at Lucianne

◼ IRS ADMITS LEAKING CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION Used Against Mitt Romney in 2012 Elections - Gateway Pundit

The conservative group National Organization of Marriage accused the IRS of leaking documents to the Obama Campaign in 2012. A top Obama campaign official Joe Solomese used the information to attack Mitt Romney during the 2012 election. The Huffington Post used the leaked documents in a story questioning former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s support for traditional marriage.

◼ IRS Admits Wrongdoing, to Pay $50,000 in Leaking of Marriage Group’s Tax Return - Daily Signal

In February 2012, the Human Rights Campaign posted on its web site NOM’s 2008 tax return and the names and contact information of the marriage group’s major donors, including soon-to-be Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. That information then was published by the Huffington Post and other liberal-leaning news sites.

HRC’s president at the time, Joe Solmonese, was tapped that same month as a national co-chairman of President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.

OBAMA: 'I Can Do Whatever I Want'...

◼ MAKING IT UP AS HE GOES: EMPLOYER MANDATE DELAYED AGAIN - LOUISE RADNOFSKY and THEO FRANCIS /Wall St. Journal ◼ Via Drudge

Most employers won't face a fine next year if they fail to offer workers health insurance, the Obama administration said Monday, in the latest big delay of the health-law rollout.

◼ Obama Rewrites Obamacare - Wall St. Journal

Another day, another lawless exemption, once again for business.

◼ BOEHNER: Exempts Corporations, Not Families

“Once again, the president is giving a break to corporations while individuals and families are still stuck under the mandates of his health care law. And, once again, the president is rewriting law on a whim. If the administration doesn’t believe employers can manage the burden of the law, how can struggling families be expected to? This continued manipulation by the president breeds confusion and erodes Americans’ confidence in him and his health care law. We need fairness for all, with relief from ObamaCare for every American.”

◼ Directly Violates Text of Affordable Care Act - CNS News

President Barack Obama’s Treasury Department issued a new regulation today that for the second time directly violates the plain and unambiguous text of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by allowing some businesses to avoid the law’s Dec. 31, 2013 deadline to provide health insurance coverage to their employees.

Initially, on July 2, 2013, the administration unilaterally delayed the deadline for the employer mandate until 2015. Now, the administration is unilaterally delaying it for some businesses until 2016....

In sum, the law says that employers with “at least 50 full-time employees” must provide “minimum essential coverage” in the “months beginning after December 31, 2013” or pay a fine. The new declaration from the Obama administration’s Treasury Department says this part of the law no longer applies. It says employers with between 50 and 99 employees need not provide coverage until 2016 and larger employers need only provide coverage to 70 percent of their employees next year.

◼ Krauthammer: 'This is stuff you do in banana republic' - The Right Scoop VIDEO FROM FOX

◼ CBO Backtracks on Controversial Predictions - National Journal
◼ FIT: Gym members forced to pay new tax - FOX NY
◼ 'Avalanche' of Regs Still to Come: 28 paperwork rules will cost $1.4 billion a year to comply with - Washington Free Beacon



◼ OBAMA: 'I Can Do Whatever I Want' - Weekly Standard

BUT WAIT! THERES'S MORE!

◼ Shock: Hidden In WH Employer Mandate Deal – Employers Not Allowed To Fire Anyone (Video) - Nice Deb

On Monday night’s Kelly File, Megyn Kelly covered the ObamaCare Employer Mandate delay, focusing “on one little nugget” that was “found under a mountain of new regulations” which stipulates that in order to be eligible for this latest this gift from the White House, “the employer may not reduce the size of its workforce or its overall hours of service of its employees.”

“Basically”, she continued, “what the government is telling employers is that you will not fire a single person. You will not lay off a single person – if you want to take advantage of our gift. ...

Watchdog: Former Treasury Official Used University Email for Official Business

◼ Another senior Obama administration official used a private email address to conduct government business - Washington Free Beacon

The Competitive Enterprise Institute filed a Freedom of Information Act request last week claiming that former Treasury deputy assistant secretary for environment and energy Gilbert Metcalf used his Tufts university email account to conduct government business.

Metcalf, a professor of economics at Tufts, was appointed to the Treasury Department in 2011. He left the department in 2012 and returned to the university.

“As it has with numerous other senior administration officials, CEI has established Mr. Metcalf’s use of such an account for Treasury-related correspondence, specifically an account he maintained on the system of his employer prior to joining Treasury, Tufts University,” CEI wrote in the FOIA request. “It also appears that Treasury was not in fact maintaining and preserving these records as required by law and regulation, and similarly that Mr. Metcalf was not providing copies to Treasury.”

Federal record laws require government employees to use their official email accounts to conduct business. If they use a private email account, employees must copy the email to their government account for preservation.

CEI’s FOIA request is part of a larger investigation by the organization into the administration’s interest in establishing a carbon tax. CEI is requesting all Treasury-related emails from Metcalf’s non-official accounts....