Under questioning from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Shulman said he was “certainly not personally responsible for a creating a list that had inappropriate criteria on it.’’ But he said “this happened on my watch and I very much regret that it happened on my watch.’’
“I don’t think that qualifies as an apology,’’ Cornyn replied.
Today’s hearing was the first time that Shulman, appointed to the IRS commissioner’s post in 2008 by former President George W. Bush and who left office at the end of last year, had spoken publicly on the scandal that has prompted outrage from President Barack Obama and members of Congress from both political parties.
Shulman and Steven T. Miller, former acting commissioner of the IRS who was fired this month by Obama, were subjected to intense questioning from senators from both parties.
At one point, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana, wanted to know why “weren’t people then fired or transferred’’ when IRS officials learned in 2011 that the Cincinnati office was targeting conservative organizations, many of them affiliated with the Tea Party.
Shulman said he was unaware in June of 2011 that the targeting had taken place and Miller said he only learned of it in May of 2012.
“Well who was aware?,’’ Baucus asked. “Who did know? Come on?’’
Many of these conservative organizations were asking for IRS approval to form what is known as a 501 c 4 group, which does not have to reveal the names of its financial donors.
Those 501 c 4 groups, known as social welfare organizations, are allowed to engage in educational forums and maintain their tax-exempt status. But they are also allowed to engage in politics, provided that is the not the primary purpose of the organization.
Campaign finance critics have complained that a number of organizations have asked for tax-exempt status as a way of hiding their financial disclosures from the public.
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