House oversight chairman moves to censure IRS chief, strip pension

[tod evans]

I'm for 'stripping' all federal pensions, retroactively even...




House oversight chairman moves to censure IRS chief, strip pension

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...ure-irs-chief-strip-pension.html?intcmp=hpbt3

The chairman of the top House investigative panel introduced a measure Wednesday to censure IRS Commissioner John Koskinen -- and remove him from office without a pension -- in the latest bid by Republicans to pressure him into being more cooperative in their probe of the 2013 IRS targeting scandal.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is seeking Koskinen’s resignation or removal for what he calls an alleged “pattern of conduct inconsistent with the trust and confidence placed in him as an officer of the United States.”

If censured, Koskinen, who became commissioner in 2013, would also forfeit his government pension and other federal benefits.

House Republicans are upset with what they consider Koskinen's failure to cooperate with their investigation of Lois Lerner and other IRS officials who targeted for additional scrutiny conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

Chaffetz on Wednesday cited a long list of grievances in calling for the censure -- including Koskinen allegedly lying under oath, allowing “key evidence” to be destroyed by failing to comply with a subpoena and not preserving backup computer tapes that contained as many as 24,000 missing Lerner emails, allegedly destroyed by a computer malfunction.

“Koskinen must be held accountable for his misconduct,” Chaffetz said in a statement. “I am committed to using every tool at my disposal to hold Mr. Koskinen responsible for his offenses.”

A Justice Department probe completed last year found no evidence that any IRS employee acted in a way that would support “criminal prosecution.”

The committee’s efforts Wednesday to begin the censure effort comes six days before the House Judiciary Committee holds a hearing to examine alleged Koskinen misconduct.

In July 2015, Chaffetz and 51 members of Congress sent President Obama a letter calling for Koskinen’s removal.

Three months later, Chaffetz introduced a resolution to begin House proceedings to impeach the commissioner. The resolution was referred to the House Judiciary Committee and now has 69 co-sponsors.

The IRS has disputed Republican allegations that Koskinen has been unhelpful, saying last year, "We have fully cooperated with all of the investigations."

Democrats have derided the GOP investigations as ungrounded partisan attacks aimed at stirring up conservative voters.

"House Republican efforts to impeach or censure the IRS commissioner are exercises in partisanship and a total waste of time and money," Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, top Democrat on Chaffetz's committee, said Wednesday in a written statement. He said Republican investigations have cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars "chasing false political conspiracy theories."

Censure is sometimes used to discipline House members. The chamber voted in 2010 to censure Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., for roughly a dozen infractions include ones related to failing to pay property taxes.

 

[timosman]

House Conservatives Begin Trek To Impeach IRS Commissioner Koskinen

http://www.wcbm.com/2016/05/25/house-conservatives-begin-trek-to-impeach-irs-commissioner-koskinen/

May 25, 2016

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform leaders made their case Tuesday to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.

Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz and Subcommittee on National Security Chairman Ron DeSantis rolled out their case for impeaching Koskinen for ignoring subpoenas and lying to Congress under oath on the IRS targeting of conservative groups during the 2010 and 2012 election campaigns.

[dcquiz] Koskinen, who has told Congress he never sought the job, said he was too busy to accept his his invitation to attend the hearing of the House Committee on the Judiciary.

“Surely, this House should find it intolerable,” DeSantis testified. “As of today, not a single individual has been held accountable in any real way for what happened with the IRS. If Commissioner Koskinen can get away with his conduct, then other executive branch agencies will have a blueprint for how to stymie the Congress when it conducts legitimate oversight. This will further erode the power of the Congress, which is arguably at its historical nadir.”

Rep. Jim Jordan , one of Koskinen’s most determined critics, pointed out the standard for impeachment isn’t criminal behavior, but gross negligence, dereliction of duty and breach of public trust.

The arguments of the impeachment advocates were delivered to a judiciary panel whose chairman, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, carefully avoided the word “impeachment” in titling the hearing “Examining the Allegations of Misconduct Against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.”

Democrats on the panel, led by Rep. Hank Johnson , quickly seized on the omission and called the IRS targeting controversy a “so-called” scandal.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee pointed out multiple times “this is not an impeachment hearing,” and House Judiciary Ranking Member John Conyers said it is “no wonder” that “we have read reports of Speaker Ryan doing his best to make certain this measure never reaches the floor of the House — as Speaker Boehner did before him.”



The Hill previously reported conservatives cornered Speaker of the House Paul Ryan into allowing hearings, threatening to hold an impeachment vote on the House floor if he didn’t, something Democrats have been quick to acknowledge.

President Barack Obama appointed Koskinen in the wake of the conservative targeting scandal, in which the agency singled out hundreds of conservative and Tea Party groups to delay applications for tax-exempt status. Koskinen and former IRS executive Lois Lerner soon became emblematic of IRS problems.