(Still getting caught up from the down time on my computer.)
Forwarded by The Word Warriorette
"Will forward - You decide"
07-09-99 07:04 PM
God save the Republic and the Constitution of the united States of America!
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BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE:
<< Clinton Uses IRS To Punish Critics
by Larry Klayman Judicial Watch
Imagine you founded an organization dedicated to the preservation of basic
principles upon which this country has thrived. Issues like individual
freedom, personal responsibility, and ethics in journalism. Not horrible
terms, and not even so much because you wanted to antagonize those who didn�
t share your view; rather, because you firmly believed in these principles
as a means by which an orderly society should function.
Imagine then if you lived under a government which didn�t share your
principles, and because they didn�t, they decided -- as arbitrarily as you
would choose a movie -- that they would send an investigatory body like the
IRS into your offices to interrogate you without cause. Try to envision a
group of these detached individuals camped in your office, rifling through
your personal papers, admitting to you that it was a political inquiry, and
then making claims to be compiled into formal charges against you. What you�
ve just heard is what the Western Journalism Center went through with its
own government -- the Clinton Administration.
Perhaps one of the most startling and disturbing accounts of the Nixon
Presidency, beyond Water-gate itself, was Nixon, on tape, discussing with
chilling detachment, plans to use the IRS to threaten political opponents.
In 1974, this was a landmark and most egregious breach of the public trust.
Today, despite the Clintons� systematic testing of Americans� threshold of
tolerance, the song does, and must, remain the same.
The story of the Western Journalism center started with a simple, if bulky,
White House document and ended in a $10 million lawsuit filed by Judicial
Watch against the IRS for abuse of power. Like any good story, it takes the
requisite twists and turns, often leaving the viewer or reader befuddled as
to how people placed in a position of trust can bring themselves to act as
they do.
The Communication Stream of Conspiracy Commerce, a 331-page manifesto and
brainchild of Associate White House Counsel Jane Sherburne and the DNC, was
circulated to select reporters in a tortured effort to describe how the
�right wing� conveyed �fringe� stories into mainstream American media. In
essence, this document was an effort to �alert� friendly journalists that
such a �conspiracy� was being promulgated by certain groups dissatisfied
with the moral lapses of the Clinton White House. In short, it was an
enemies list.
Joseph Farah, an award-winning journalist and former editor of The
Sacramento Union, founded the Western Journalism Center in 1991. A
credentialed publisher of numerous periodicals that specialize in
investigative reporting, WJC�s efforts have been the focus of articles in
The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Investors Business Daily, and
dozens of other publications.
Armed with its breadth of prior success, WJC began investigating the
circumstances surrounding Vince Foster�s death -- circumstances widely
reported to be, at minimum, slightly unusual. Taking out ads in The
Washington Times, New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, WJC
raised major questions and inconsistencies about Foster�s death -- echoing
the sentiments of journalist Christopher Ruddy, whose services WJC retained
in furtherance of their investigation.
These ads met with considerable success and attention -- and set off what
has inexcusably become old saw to the Clinton Administration -- paranoia
followed by brutal, systematic effort to silence its critics through
intimidation.
In December 1994, Associate White House Counsel Sherburne prepared a
memorandum that outlined strategies to use against individuals and
organizations perceived to be adversaries of the Clinton Administration. The
memo also assigned staff members to carry out these strategies -- and specif
ically identified the Western Journalism Center for having investigated
Foster�s death. WJC was the only news organization targeted for action.
In July 1996, after absorbing months of swirling rumors of a pending audit,
Joe Farah answered a knock on his door at the Western Journalism Center.
Thomas Cedarquist, an IRS official and one of his chief defendants in
Judicial Watch�s lawsuit on behalf of WJC, strode in and announced that,
having seen the WJC�s work on 60 Minutes, he had arbitrarily decided (as
this Administration does) that WJC was a political (not a non-profit)
organization. Cedarquist confirmed he and others in Washington were going to
challenge WJC�s tax-exempt status and audit their 1995 tax returns.
Farah was asked about his affiliation with Christopher Ruddy, a thorn in the
side of the administration, and why WJC chose to work with him. Nearly every
query posed to Farah was related to a story or developing story concerning
the White House -- an IRS search completely devoid of concern for money.
Rightfully exasperated, Farah questioned the tactics of the agency and
received the following rejoinder from Cedarquist: �Look, this is a political
case, and the decision will be made at the national level.�
Over the course of the investigation of WJC, nearly 20 conservative
organizations -- including the Heritage Foundation, NRA and Citizens Against
Government Waste -- felt the close, touch of the Clinton audit machine.
Even more oddly, the media who knew of the Communication Stream of
Conspiracy Commerce never saw any pattern developing that would signify an
orchestrated White House effort -- much less actually troubled themselves to
report it. Meanwhile, the WJC�s offices were being broken into, with,
mysteriously, nothing stolen. Their phone messages were apparently being
monitored, and some of these developments happened to coincide with WJC
breakthroughs in Clinton investigations.
The scrutiny of the WJC by the IRS lasted nine months. WJC employees lost
their jobs and livelihoods. Finally, in October 1996, Farah exposed these
corrupt practices in a piece in The Wall Street Journal, and the tide began
to turn.
Margaret Milner-Richardson, IRS commissioner and close friend of first lady
Hillary Rodham Clinton, abruptly resigned. The New York Post attributed her
departure to political audits of conservative organizations. Some began to
probe these rampant abuses, and the audit of the Western Journalism Center
was �concluded� -- a verdict of �no wrongdoing� rendered in May 1997.
Under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights enacted by Congress, Farah requested his
case file from the IRS so he could review its contents. In keeping with the
Clinton Administration standard practice, these rights were trampled in a
terse refusal to turn over the documents -- the IRS frivolously citing
�government privilege� as a means of keeping Mr. Farah from seeing
justification for what had nearly bankrupted his organization.
But Farah would not be deterred. On behalf of WJC, Judicial Watch, a public
interest watchdog group, filed a $10 million lawsuit against Ms. Richardson,
Mr. Cedarquist, numerous unidentified agents involved in this case and the
IRS itself. We are determined to ensure that Mr. Farah sees justice in this
case, and that every American is free to express his or her First
Amendment-protected views without vicious, detached harassment from its own
government.
For all the baying we hear from the left of the travesties of Richard Nixon,
they and this White House have elevated abuse of power to a new art form
that, if unchecked, will perpetuate itself to unfathomable lows in the
future. Nixon was an amateur compared with the criminal enterprise that
continues to be run out of this White House. By this standard, citizens who
elected their government will have no protection from those assigned to
protect them. That is the blasphemy we must examine, and do our level best
to stop.
>>
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