-Caveat Lector-
August 4, 1999
Congress slow to act on audit
Congressman explains
colleagues' silence
By Stephan Archer
© 1999 WorldNetDaily.com
Although it could very well be the most flagrant abuse of power
the nation has seen since Nixon, Congress has remained silent.
The abuse of power being referred to is the Internal Revenue
Service's 1996 audit of the Western Journalism Center, parent
company of WorldNetDaily. Political motivations behind the audit
were alleged by the center's founder, Joseph Farah, when the IRS
agent in charge of the audit, Thomas Cederquist, said the case
was a "political case" and "the decisions were being made at the
national level."
Last July, Farah and his Western Journalism Center at last
received additional evidence the audit was politically motivated
when a heavily redacted 1997 Treasury Department Report about the
center titled, "Questionable Exempt Organization Activity," was
released to the center as part of its Freedom of Information Act
request.
The report said, "The audit originated from a taxpayer who faxed
a letter to the White House expressing his concern over a
one-page advertisement paid for by WCJ (Western Center for
Journalism) that asked for contributions to investigate (White
House deputy counsel Vincent) Foster's death. The fax was
forwarded to the EO (Exempt Organizations) National Office and
then to the respective Key District Office for appropriate
actions."
The taxpayer's name who wrote the letter to Clinton on Nov. 9,
1994, after seeing the ad in the Los Angeles Times is Paul Venze.
WorldNetDaily, in attempting to get a reaction from Congress, has
made repeated calls to numerous members of Congress but has had
little success in getting even the smallest comment from any of
them. Most of the congressmen didn't even know Western Journalism
Center had been the target of a politically motivated audit.
Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., explained to WorldNetDaily a
possible reason for Congress' lack of response on the issue may
have had to do with the fact that on July 20, the very day both
WorldNetDaily and the Wall Street Journal broke the story,
Congress was "riveted on passing a tax bill."
"I think that drowned out everything else," Doolittle said. "I
really think that's the lion's share of the explanation as to why
I suspect most people weren't even aware of it."
For his part, though, Doolittle said he will do what he can to
raise the profile of the case. He plans on doing this by meeting
with members of the Conservative Action Team because this is "the
sort of thing that ought to be talked about."
The uncanny timing of the Treasury Department's release of
documents and Congress' hectic session may bring some questions
to mind, but Judicial Watch's Larry Klayman, who filed suit
against the IRS on behalf of the journalists, said it wasn't any
political calculation that caused the Treasury Department to
release the documents when they did. "They did it because one
part of the Justice Department realized the other part was in
serious trouble and didn't want to be blamed," Klayman said.
"The part of the Justice Department that defends the case in
Sacramento is the Tax Division," continued Klayman. "They're the
ones that had the file, and they're the ones that were
withholding the documents. The part of the Justice Department
that defends the FOIA case is the U.S. Attorney's Office. And I
think -- now this is my guess -- but I think when they found out
their brothers in the Tax Division were withholding documents,
they figured they didn't want to be part of an obstruction of
justice, and they forced the documents to come out. It has
nothing to do with Congress. I'm very certain of that."
Doolittle, who agrees the audit of the center looks "suspicious,"
thinks the current case is worse than Richard Nixon's abuse of
the IRS in the Watergate scandal. In Nixon's time, however, it
was grassroots Republicans that blew the whistle on their own man
in the White House. Will grassroots Democrats now do the same?
"Well after what we've just been through (the impeachment), I
don't know what to think anymore," said Doolittle. "I still can't
explain how what happened, in fact, happened."
Although not speculating on what grassroots Democrats would do,
Klayman had a possible explanation for the lack of interest in
the Republican Party. "Right now, this particular political party
(Republican) has no leadership, and they're just hoping they get
back into power," Klayman said. "Would a Republican Congress
which thinks Filegate can wait until the next administration --
which thinks that Chinagate can wait until the next
administration -- have any interest in protecting the Western
Journalism Center?" asked Klayman matter-of-factly.
Doolittle pointed out, though, that the type of political
coverage by the press may have affected the case.
"Here, the press is basically protecting Clinton," explained
Doolittle. "They weren't protecting (Nixon). I mean, my heavens,
they were screaming every day and making it a national crisis
when it wasn't one in the minds of most people. But eventually,
it became one. They haven't done that with Clinton. They've
minimized it. They've avoided reporting wherever they could, and
when they have reported it, they've always made sure to give all
of their 'phony baloney' spin on it. They've been good spinners,
and so, it's taken the sting out of a lot of the revelations
they've made."
"I almost think people have been so saturated with it (White
House scandals) that it's lost a lot of its shock value,"
Doolittle added.
Doolittle explained this "saturation" of White House scandals
has, in fact, affected Congress as well, making them numb to any
hostile actions taken by the White House. When WorldNetDaily
asked Doolittle if Congress was scared of Clinton, he made
reference to files that were kept by the White House on various
Republican members.
"There is an intimidation factor that's subtle but powerful I
think," Doolittle said.
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Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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