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Tea Party Groups Sue Over Targeting

May 29, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

Lerner_IRS_FifthWASHINGTON –  A Washington advocacy group filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the IRS and top Obama administration officials on behalf of 25 Tea Party-related groups, marking the biggest lawsuit to date over the tax agency’s practice of targeting conservatives for additional scrutiny.

The 29-page lawsuit named Attorney General Eric Holder, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and several IRS officials — including Lois Lerner, the division director who refused to testify before Congress last week. The suit claims the constitutional rights of 25 Tea Party and other conservative groups were violated when tax workers singled them out for a drawn-out vetting process.

The American Center for Law and Justice is arguing that the Obama administration overstepped its authority and violated the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act as well as the IRS’ own rules and regulations.

“The whole timeline and the whole narrative that the White House has put forth does not hold up to the truth,” ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow told Fox News on Wednesday.

In its suit, the ACLJ wants the government to admit wrongdoing. The suit also seeks to protect the groups from future IRS retaliation as well as compensatory and punitive monetary damages.

“The IRS and the federal government are not going to get away with this unlawful targeting of conservative groups,” Sekulow said later in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “As this unconstitutional scheme continues even today, the only way to stop this flagrant and arrogant abuse of our clients’ rights is to file a federal lawsuit, which we have done.”

Sekulow says the suit is intended to “send a very powerful message to the IRS and the Obama administration.”

Emails to the White House and IRS for comment were not immediately returned. Administration officials have said that while the additional scrutiny was inappropriate it was not partisan and therefore no laws were broken.

Allegations that the IRS had been targeting conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status date back years but a government watchdog report released this month backed up the claims.

The White House has spent most of the last two weeks trying to contain the fallout from the scandal. Multiple congressional panels are currently investigating the allegations. The Justice Department has also launched its own investigation into whether the IRS broke the rules.

By last Friday, two of the agency’s top tax officials had been ousted from the agency. One was outgoing acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller, who was named in the suit. Another official, Lerner, the director of the division that singled out the conservative groups, was placed on leave — apparently after she refused to resign. She, too, was named in the suit.

Lerner last week invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to testify.

Separately, last week two other Tea Party-related groups filed lawsuits against the IRS.

On May 20, the NorCal Tea Party Patriots filed the first federal suit against the national tax agency. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Cincinnati, seeks group status for “all conservative and libertarian groups targeted for additional scrutiny” between March 2010 and May 2013. It’s also seeking unspecified monetary damages for the alleged violation of its constitutional rights and the costs associated with trying to comply with IRS demands.

The lawsuit is being backed by Citizens for Self-Governance, a group launched by Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler.

Meckler claims that IRS agents demanded massive amounts of disclosure of information not authorized by the Internal Revenue Code or any other federal law. The suit alleges that the tactic was used to delay or dissuade conservative groups from going through with their applications.
The IRS acknowledged that employees at its Cincinnati office had targeted conservative groups, creating massive amounts of paperwork or rejecting applications altogether.

On May 21, Texas-based True the Vote, filed its own suit against the IRS and is demanding the government admit its mistake, grant the group tax-exempt status and pay for thousands of dollars in damages the group says it suffered.

Published May 29, 2013 / FoxNews.com

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Religion

FEELING THE HEAT: Liberal Attorney Joins Calls For Holder to Be ‘Fired’

May 29, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

eric-holderTop Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee openly challenged Attorney General Eric Holder Wednesday over his testimony two weeks ago in which he claimed to be unaware of any “potential prosecution” of the press, despite knowing about an investigation that targeted a Fox News reporter.

Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Rep. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., R-Wis., voiced “great concern” in a letter to Holder. They asked a litany of questions about the department’s dealings with the press, and pointedly alleged that the Fox News case “contradicts” his testimony at a May 15 hearing.

“It is imperative that the Committee, the Congress, and the American people be provided a full and accurate account of your involvement,” they wrote.

The letter comes a day after the committee confirmed it was looking into Holder’s testimony. Appearing before the House Judiciary Committee on May 15, Holder insisted that “the potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material” is not something he was involved in or knew about.

But days later, it emerged that the Justice Department obtained access to the emails of Fox News reporter James Rosen — after filing an affidavit that accused him of being a likely criminal “co-conspirator” in the leak of sensitive material regarding North Korea. Rosen was never charged, and never prosecuted. But he was effectively accused of violating the federal Espionage Act.

“The media reports and statements issued by the Department regarding the search warrants for Mr. Rosen’s emails appear to be at odds with your sworn testimony before the Committee,” Goodlatte and Sensenbrenner wrote in the letter Wednesday. They did not accuse Holder of committing perjury, but noted he was “under oath.”

Among other questions, they asked Holder how he could claim to have never heard of the potential prosecution of the press. And they asked him to clarify whether he “personally approved” the search warrant request.

The top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Michigan Rep. John Conyers, said Tuesday, though, he thinks Holder “was forthright and did not mislead the Committee.”

“Certainly, there are policy disagreements as to how the First Amendment should apply to these series of leak investigations being conducted by the Justice Department, and that is and should be an area for the Committee to consider.  However, there is no need to turn a policy disagreement into allegations of misconduct,” he said.

Holder could argue that, in fact, Rosen was never prosecuted — and so his testimony was not misleading.

A federal law enforcement official said last week that the department had to establish probable cause in the affidavit in order to obtain the search warrant, per the terms of the Privacy Protection Act.

“Saying that there is probable cause to believe that someone has committed a crime and actually charging the person with that crime are two very different things,” the official said.

Meanwhile, one of the country’s most prominent liberal legal scholars called Wednesday for Holder to be “fired,” joining the growing list of left-leaning pundits slamming his department’s pursuit of journalists’ phone and email records.

Jonathan Turley, an attorney and law professor at George Washington University, hammered Holder in a USA Today column Wednesday. He charged that Holder has “supervised a comprehensive erosion of privacy rights, press freedom and due process,” aided by Democrats who looked the other way.

But in the wake of the reporter records scandal, Democrats are starting to join with Republicans in questioning whether Holder continues to be the right man to lead the Department of Justice in President Obama’s second term.

Turley, in his column, referenced a recent call by the Republican National Committee chairman for Holder’s resignation. “Unlike the head of the RNC, I am neither a Republican nor conservative, and I believe Holder should be fired,” Turley wrote.

While Democrats largely defended Holder when his department came under fire for the botched anti-gunrunning sting Operation Fast and Furious, they’ve been less forgiving over the move this year to seize two months of phone records from Associated Press offices. That bombshell was compounded by the revelation that the department seized phone and email records for Fox News offices. The scandal grew as the department acknowledged Friday that Holder was involved in the court document that accused Rosen of being a likely criminal “co-conspirator,” as part of the department’s successful argument for obtaining a search warrant for Rosen’s emails.

According to a report in The Daily Beast, aides say Holder has started to feel regret for the investigations. Under Obama’s direction, he is starting a review of DOJ policies and meeting with representatives from the media.

A Justice Department official said Wednesday that Holder will hold meetings with several Washington bureau chiefs of national news organizations over the next two days.

“These meetings will begin a series of discussions that will continue to take place over the coming weeks. During these sessions, the Attorney General will engage with a diverse and representative group of news media organizations, including print, wires, radio, television, online media and news and trade associations,” the official said.

Turley, in his column, scoffed at this course of action, since Holder was involved in the surveillance — at least the surveillance involving Fox News — in the first place. “Such an inquiry offers no reason to trust its conclusions,” Turley wrote.

He described Holder as a trusted Obama “sin eater,” swallowing the worst criticisms to shield the president.

“Indeed, these sins should be fatal for any attorney general,” Turley wrote.

Published May 29, 2013 / FoxNews.com

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Religion

Rep. Michele Bachmann Says She Will Not Run for Re-election in 2014

May 29, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

michele_bachmanCongresswoman Michele Bachmann says she will not run for re-election in 2014, ending her tenure as the representative from Minnesota’s sixth congressional district after four terms.In a video released on her website early Wednesday, the Tea Party favorite says that, in her opinion, if presidents can only serve eight years that length of time is sufficient for her to serve in Congress.

Bachmann claims her decision was not influenced by concerns that she would not be re-elected, or by recent inquiries into her 2012 presidential campaign.

In January, a former Bachmann aide filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, claiming Bachmann made improper payments to an Iowa state senator who was the state chairman of her 2012 presidential run. The aide, Peter Waldron, also accused Bachmann of other FEC violations.

Bachmann says she considered not running again for her House seat in 2012 after her failed presidential bid, but felt another Republican candidate would not have enough time to adequately prepare for the race.

“I will continue to work overtime for the next 18 months in Congress defending the same constitutional conservative values we have worked so hard on together,” Bachmann says in the video.

Bachmann had given few clues she was considering leaving Congress. Her fundraising operation was churning out the regular pitches for the small-dollar donations that Bachmann corralled so well over the years, and she had an ad running on Twin Cities television talking about her role in opposing President Obama’s health law.

As for her plans beyond Congress, Bachmann said, “There is no future option or opportunity, be it directly in the political arena or otherwise, that I won’t be giving serious consideration if it can help save and protect our great nation.”

Published May 29, 2013 / FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion

California Dems Aim to Curb Oil Bonanza With Anti-Fracking Bills

May 28, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

cal_frackingCalifornia is on the verge of a new gold rush. Expanded hydraulic fracturing — or “fracking” — at the Monterey Shale formation is sparking estimates that 15 billion barrels of oil could be accessed, along with millions of jobs and huge contributions to the domestic energy supply.Even the state’s green-friendly Democratic governor, Jerry Brown, says “the potential is extraordinary.”But standing in the way is a flurry of anti-fracking bills. At last count, 10 were on the table, all introduced by Democrats seeking tighter controls over the controversial technology.Some of the measures take aim at how crude is extracted from rock layers beyond the reach of conventional drilling.Others call for full disclosure of what chemicals are used in the high-pressure process, how they’re removed, and where they’re stored.California State Sen. Fran Pavley, a longtime environmental activist, is pushing for a fracking moratorium until more studies are done on the potential risks, particularly to the groundwater supply.

“With hydraulic fracturing, hundreds of gallons of water, laced with chemicals, sand … can go horizontally underground. … We don’t know enough,” she said.

Fracking has been around in California for decades. It’s a standard step in oil drilling, and while health problems have been reported in states like Colorado and Pennsylvania, the technology has a clean safety record in the Golden State. But critics argue it’s virtually impossible to know exactly where, or how often, fracking operations are occurring.

“Companies aren’t required to report fracking to anyone — not the state or the federal government,” said Patrick Sullivan, with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Some have made their fracking public, but they certainly don’t have to.”

Even so, supporters say bills seeking more studies and rules are, at this point, premature — and could jeopardize a potential bonanza.

“Why would you want to curtail energy production, with a technology that has proved to be safe, and (deny) the folks in the regions of the state where those benefits are going to accrue? That just doesn’t make any sense,” argued Tupper Hull, with the Western States Petroleum Association.

At public workshops, state regulators who oversee drilling in California are outlining their own preliminary rules. They argue once they’re formally approved, these rules will make anti-fracking laws unnecessary.

But some legislators aren’t convinced those regulations will be enough, as energy companies aggressively eye the vast Monterey Shale, and the promise of the biggest boom ever in this oil-rich state.

By Claudia Cowan / Published May 28, 2013 / FoxNews.com

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign

Issa Subpoenas Kerry for Missing Benghazi Emails

May 28, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

john_kerryRepublican Rep. Darrell Issa issued subpoenas Tuesday for a host of State Department emails and other communications on the Benghazi terror attack, signaling that the Obama administration’s recent document dump would not satisfy congressional investigators.Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, claimed in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry that the department is still “withholding documents.”

He demanded the department release more on the administration’s behind-the-scenes discussions, in the days after the attack, on how they would describe the strike. These documents have since become known as the “Benghazi talking points.”

“The State Department has not lived up to the administration’s broad and unambiguous promises of cooperation with Congress. Therefore, I am left with no alternative but to compel the State Department to produce relevant documents through a subpoena,” Issa wrote to Kerry.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said Tuesday that the department “remains committed to working cooperatively with the Congress” and would “take stock” of any requests for information — but noted that the department has provided thousands of pages of documents.

“We have demonstrated an unprecedented degree of cooperation with the Congress on the issue of Benghazi, engaging in over 30 hearings and briefings for members and staff, and sharing over 25,000 pages of documents with committees,” he said. “All of us — in the administration, in the Congress, in the media — we should all be focused on the issue of protecting the American diplomats and development experts who are working every day to advance America’s national interest and global leadership.”

Issa, in the letter, said he was issuing a subpoena that would cover “all documents and communications” for 10 current and former State Department officials.

This includes former spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, as well as nine others. Nuland is the official who, in the emails released earlier this month, could be seen pressing other agencies to remove references to prior attacks and security warnings in Benghazi — expressing concern that the warnings could be used by lawmakers to criticize the State Department.

She also questioned references to Islamic extremists.

Issa wrote that her comments suggest “that she did not raise these concerns in a vacuum,” noting specifically that Nuland said some of the changes did not “resolve all my issues or those of my building leadership.”

Issa wrote: “The documents the enclosed subpoena covers will help the Committee understand why, although on the day after the attacks senior State Department leadership believed that Islamic extremists were involved, there were reservations about publicly acknowledging any such involvement just three days later. This issue is at the heart of the Committee’s ongoing investigation.”

The committee confirmed to Fox News that the subpoena has been served.

Issa gave the department until June 7 to comply. The subpoena would cover communications under the leadership of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The intelligence community’s final talking points compiled for members of Congress suggested the Sept. 11 attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans stemmed from protests over an anti-Islamic video rather than an assault by extremists. Five days after the attack, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice relied on the talking points in a series of interviews on the Sunday talk shows.

Republicans have accused the Obama administration of trying to mislead the American people about an act of terrorism in the heat of the presidential campaign. The White House says Rice reflected the best information available while facts were still being gathered.

After several revisions, the gist of the talking points read: “The currently available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi and subsequently its annex. There are indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations.”

Issa said the emails and documents failed to answer the question of who else at the department other than Nuland had concerns about the early versions of the talking points. The chairman is seeking all documents and communications related to the talking points from former officials such as Nuland; Cheryl Mills, counselor and chief of staff to Clinton; and Philippe Reines, a deputy assistant secretary to Clinton; as well as Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.

Published May 28, 2013 / FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Filed Under: All Stories, Elections, Ethics, Foreign, Religion

‘A MODEL CITIZEN’: Ariz. Mom of 7 Thrown in Mexican Jail While on Trip

May 28, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

model_citizen_mexico_jailAn Arizona mother of seven is being held in a Mexican prison after being accused of attempting to smuggle drugs while in the country for a family funeral.

42-year-old Yannira Maldonado, a devout Mormon who has been a U.S. citizen for 17 years, was thrown in jail while traveling on a bus back to Phoenix from her aunt’s funeral in Hermosillo with her husband Gary, MyFoxPhoenix.com reports.

The woman’s father-in-law, Larry Maldonado, tells the station the couple believed it would be safest to travel to and from Mexico on a bus from a Phoenix-based bus company. However, on the trip back, the bus was stopped by Mexican authorities, who ordered all the passengers off the bus and searched it.

The Mexican authorities then claimed they found 12 pounds of marijuana under Yannira Maldonado’s seat and took her to jail. Her family says the drugs were not hers.

“She’s never been in trouble with the law,” Larry Maldonado told MyFoxPhoenix.com. “A model mom, she’s a model citizen. Just as nice as can be and has never been involved in anything illegal. We’re just praying that she’ll come home and we can use any help we can get.”

Yannira Maldonado faces 10 years in prison if convicted of the drug smuggling charges. Her family says a judge will decide at a hearing Tuesday whether there is enough evidence in the case to proceed.

Maldonado’s daughter Ana Soto visited her mother in the prison, and was put slightly at ease by the fact her mother has not been harmed.

“I keep repeating myself but she is one strong woman,” Soto told MyFoxPhoenix.com.

The office of Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake tells MyFoxPhoenix.com the senator is personally monitoring the situation, and spoke with the deputy Mexican ambassador over the weekend regarding the case.

Published May 28, 2013 / FoxNews.com

Federalist Press recommends that readers call their senator or representative and demand that this American mother and wife be released immediately.

A Facebook page has been set up to support Yanira Maldonado

Readers of this story may also be interested in:

Mormon Mom Jailed in Mexico after Aunt’s Funeral

The “Mormon Effect”

Filed Under: All Stories, Elections, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion

Holder Misled Congress on Pursuit of Reporters’ Records

May 28, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

holder_congressThe Justice Department’s acknowledgement that Attorney General Eric Holder was involved in the decision to seek a Fox News reporter’s emails is raising questions about whether Holder misled Congress when he testified on the investigation two weeks ago.

Appearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Holder insisted that “the potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material” is not something he was involved in or knew about.

But the Justice Department obtained access to the emails of Fox News reporter James Rosen only after filing an affidavit that accused him of being a likely criminal “co-conspirator” in the leak of sensitive material regarding North Korea.

Rosen was never charged, and never prosecuted. But he was effectively accused of violating the federal Espionage Act, in the course of seeking the search warrant for his files.

J. Christian Adams, a former Justice Department attorney who in recent years has emerged as a prominent conservative critic of his former employer, said Tuesday that Holder seems to have misled Congress.

“Holder said it’s not something I’m involved with, don’t know anything about it — he lied on both counts,” Adams told Fox News.

Holder addressed the matter during a House hearing two weeks ago, under questioning by Democratic Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson. Johnson voiced concern that the Espionage Act of 1917 allows the prosecution of anyone who discloses classified information.

He said: “But we certainly need to protect the privacy of individuals, and we need to protect the ability … of the press to engage in its First Amendment responsibilities to be free and to give us information about our government so as to keep the people informed.”

Holder answered: “Well, I would say this. With regard to the potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material, that is not something that I’ve ever been involved in, heard of or would think would be a wise policy. In fact, my view is quite the opposite.”

At the time, Johnson was referencing reports that the Justice Department secretly obtained the phone records of Associated Press journalists.

A few days later, it would emerge that the Justice Department in 2010 also sought the private emails from Rosen’s account, as part of a case against accused leaker Stephen Jin-Woo Kim. An FBI agent cited the Espionage Act in seeking those documents.

And on Friday, the Justice Department acknowledged that Holder was looped in on the decision-making in that case.

“The Department takes seriously the First Amendment right to freedom of the press. In recognition of this, the Department took great care in deciding that a search warrant was necessary in the Kim matter, vetting the decision at the highest levels of the Department, including discussions with the Attorney General,” the department said.

Jesselyn Radack, an attorney who works with the Government Accountability Project and has represented accused leakers, told FoxNews.com that Holder’s statement to the House committee was “at best hypocritical and at worst perjury.”

Holder, though, could argue that, in fact, Rosen was never prosecuted — and so his testimony was not misleading.

A federal law enforcement official said last week that the department had to establish probable cause in the affidavit in order to obtain the search warrant, per the terms of the Privacy Protection Act.

“Saying that there is probable cause to believe that someone has committed a crime and actually charging the person with that crime are two very different things,” the official said. “No reporter has been charged in this case.  And, at this time, we do not anticipate bringing additional charges against anyone in this matter.”

Karl Rove, former adviser to George W. Bush and a Fox News analyst, argued in a FoxNews.com opinion piece last week that, at the least, Holder has “a lot of explaining to do to Congress.”

Meanwhile, there are conflicting accounts involving a Justice Department claim that it notified Fox News’ parent company News Corp. of the investigation. Lawrence “Lon” Jacobs, News Corp.’s general counsel at the time, said they never got the apparent fax from the Justice Department that contained the information about Rosen.

“If the Justice Department wanted Fox to be advised, I think they would have sent the notification to Fox News not News Corp.,” he said. “I don’t know what fax number it went to but if it was faxed to my office it would have been received by my assistant and she would have notified me.”

He said he would have notified Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes had he received it.

Published May 28, 2013 / FoxNews.com

Filed Under: All Stories, Elections, Ethics, Religion

Lawmakers facing recall bids over strict gun laws in Colorado

May 28, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

Daniel WhiteCOLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. –  A Democratic campaign office here usually would be quiet this time of year, a few weeks after the state’s legislature wrapped up work and lawmakers headed off to summer vacations.

But even though it’s not an election year, the office is in full campaign mode, with volunteers working the phones and reviewing maps in anticipation of a new front of modern campaigning — the recall phase.

A handful of Democratic state lawmakers in Colorado face recall petition efforts in what looks to be the first wave of fallout over legislative votes to limit gun rights. In an era in which recall efforts are booming, from governor’s offices down to town councils and school boards, the Colorado efforts will serve as the first test of gun-rights groups’ ability to punish elected officials who expanded gun control laws after last year’s Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn., shooting massacres.

In Colorado, gun-rights activists wasted no time seeking recalls to oust state Senate President John Morse and three other Democratic lawmakers. The targeted lawmakers weren’t necessarily the main advocates for ratcheting back gun rights, but all come from districts with enough Republicans to give opponents hope they can boot out the Democrats and replace them with lawmakers friendlier to guns. Colorado is the only state outside the East Coast to have adopted significant statewide gun controls this year.

“Colorado seems to be the testing ground for some of the gun measures, so this has national implications,” said Victor Head, a plumber from Pueblo who is organizing a recall attempt against a Democratic senator.

Two of four recall efforts in Colorado already have evaporated from lack of support. But in Colorado Springs, Morse opponents are piling up signatures in gun shops and outside libraries and grocery stores. The National Rifle Association sent a political mailer saying it was coordinating the recall effort with local groups, though the local recall petitioners have denied that. The NRA did not return calls for comment on their involvement in the Colorado Springs effort.

Morse has mounted a campaign to urge voters not to sign petitions. In an indication of the national stakes, that push is largely funded by a $20,000 contribution from a national progressive group called America Votes. The Morse campaign said the donation came through the group’s local Colorado office.

The recall group’s main funding comes from a $14,000 contribution from a nonprofit run by a local conservative consultant, Laura Carno. She said that contribution was made possible by some out-of-state donors.

“People in other states that are further down this road, like New York and Massachusetts, are calling up and saying `What can we do to help?”‘ Carno said. “This isn’t what Colorado stands for.”

In an interview, Morse seemed resigned to facing a recall vote after signatures are verified. He believes national gun-rights supporters are using his district to make a national statement about the political peril officials face if they take on gun control.

“That’s what’s going on here. They want to take out the Senate president,” Morse said.

The organizer of the Morse recall effort, Anthony Garcia, didn’t disagree. Garcia doesn’t live in Morse’s district but in the northern Colorado town of Brighton. Garcia said Morse was targeted not just because of his votes for gun control but because he’s a prominent Democrat from a competitive district.

“It’s as much about saying Colorado is angry as it is about getting one guy out,” Garcia said. “Legislators need to know when citizens are outraged that they can’t ignore the people.”

Immediate accountability seems to be a common thread in recall attempts, said Joshua Spivak, who tracks recall elections nationwide at the Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform at Wagner College in New York. Technology makes it easier to organize, Spivak said, and modern-day voters watching political activity in real time on Twitter and TV aren’t content to wait until another election to show their displeasure when they feel ignored.

Spivak said at least 169 officials at all levels of government faced recalls last year, up from 151 the year before. The number this year could go even higher, he said.

Technology isn’t the only explanation.

“The other reason,” Spivak said, “is that they succeed.”

Most recalls actually fail, as in the case last year of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican who survived a recall election after attacking collective bargaining rights for state employees. But compared with re-election campaigns, when incumbents face up to 75 percent likelihood of winning, Spivak said recall elections have a much lower rate of success for incumbents.

In Colorado last year, seven recall efforts made it to ballots, all local races, Spivak said. Of those seven, two officials were ousted and two more resigned.

Nationwide, 108 recalled officials last year lost or left office after a recall. That makes the recall a powerful tool — and one likely to be used more often, Spivak said.

Back in Colorado Springs, a couple of Morse opponents defended the recall attempt as the best way for citizens to keep their representatives accountable.

“I believe in gun rights. And he didn’t listen. He’s supposed to represent the people, and when he doesn’t do that, what are supposed to do? Nothing?” asked Bianca McCarl, a 40-year-old merchandiser who is supporting Morse’s recall.

Assuming the Morse recall goes to ballots, with an election to be held by late summer, the incumbent holds a slight party registration advantage in the district. He believes most voters liked his gun votes.

He’s counting on the support from voters like Joan Muir, a retiree who placed a pro-Morse sticker on her car bumper after seeing other cars carrying messages calling for his ouster. In an interview, Muir said she was dismayed by the recall campaign.

“I live here. I’m for gun control,” Muri said. “I don’t care for guns, period, so they don’t speak for all of us when they say Morse didn’t listen to the people.”

Published May 28, 2013 / Associated Press

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Ethics, Religion

Mormon Mom Jailed in Mexico after Aunt’s Funeral

May 27, 2013 By Editor 6 Comments

mormon_mother_mexicoAn LDS husband and wife from Goodyear, AZ (Phoenix) traveled to Mexico last week on a chartered bus to attend her aunt’s funeral.

During the return trip the bus was was stopped at a military checkpoint near Hermosillo on Wednesday, and Mexican military personnel ordered all of the passengers out of the bus. After two hours of waiting, Yanira Maldonado was informed by authorities that they found marijuana tucked under the seat assigned to her. She was taken into custody for smuggling drugs, and hauled away to a Mexican jail to await arraignment before a judge this morning.

Family member Brandon Klippel said Gary and Yanira Maldonado were the only U.S. citizens on the bus – and if drugs were truly found on board, they were already there when the couple sat down.

“You hear all of these horror stories about Mexico and you think it’s just something in the movies, right?” said Klippel. “You don’t believe it’s something that could happen to someone you know. But, when it happens to your brother and your sister – it’s hard, it’s tough to take.”

The Mormon couple, with seven children and two grandchildren between them, became quite frantic when officials first told Mr. Maldonado that the drugs were found under his seat, and placed him under arrest. After arresting Gary Maldonado, Mexican officials said they’d made a mistake – that the marijuana was actually found beneath Yanira Maldonado’s seat and an empty seat next to her’s.

The couple’s 21-year-old daughter, Anna Soto, said, “If you would’ve known my mom, if you would’ve met her – you would know she had nothing to do with it.”

Mr. Maldonado tried desperately to get his wife freed, and hired a local attorney to represent her. Brandon Klippel reports, “His attorney had talked to the prosecuting attorney there and came back to him and said, ‘You know how it works in Mexico, right? He said, ‘no I don’t.’ He [attorney] said, ‘well, if we bribe the judge – then he’ll let you go.'”

Klippel said after Gary Maldonado frantically scraped together $5,000 to free his wife Thursday, he was told it was too late–apparently, news of the arrest had focused too much attention on the case to allow for the customary bribes to judges.

Yanira Maldonado has been transferred to a holding facility in Nogales.

“When he [Gary] got there they said, ‘we don’t have any record of her at all,'” said Klippel. “He panicked. He told me terror struck him. And he thought, for that period of time, that he’d never see his wife again.”

“Yanira saw me from a distance and she just started like jumping up and down and gave me a big hug and we just cried,” said Gary Maldonado, who was finally able to visit with his wife on the morning of their wedding anniversary.

Klippel said the reunion was a major relief for the couple – especially after what Yanira had been through in the past 24 hours.

“She had a rough night,” he said. “Their interrogation included putting her in a non-air-conditioned room and waking her up several times in the middle of night – trying to get her to sign documents that she said she couldn’t read.”

He said Yanira Maldonado maintains her innocence and believes those documents were probably admission of guilt statements.

“In Mexico, I guess you’re guilty until proven innocent,” said Klippel. “So, it’s just been a real nightmare for them.”

Klippel said the Mexican Consulate is working this case and that Sen. Jeff Flake is in contact with the family, in an effort to bring Yanira Maldonado home.

Typically, a defendant in Mexico has 72 hours after the arraignment that to prove her innocence–then she’s in for the long haul.

Gary Maldonado said they have a woman and her son who can testify they saw the couple enter the bus without any packages – and, he’s hoping the charter bus company Tufesa will have surveillance video they can also use as evidence.

Senator Flake’s office is waiting to hear back from the Mexican Consulate and the U.S. Embassy’s Office and released a statement in the case, “Senator Flake is personally monitoring the situation and he has had multiple conversations with the deputy Mexican ambassador.”

Federalist Press recommends that readers call their senator or representative and demand that this American mother and wife be released immediately.

A Facebook page has been set up to support Yanira Maldonado

PUBLIUS

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Dem Unions Split from President on ObamaCare

May 26, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

Obamacare_UnionsLabor unions that have solidly backed President Obama are splitting with him over ObamaCare — with one calling for the “repeal or complete reform” of the president’s signature health-care law.

Union leaders argue insurance costs for millions of workers will increase under the president’s health-care plan so they might have to drop their existing plan, despite Obama promising the opposite.

Their primary concern is the multi-employer or so-called Taft-Hartley plans that cover unionized workers in retail, construction, transportation and other industries that frequently use seasonal and temporary employment.

The union leaders say the roughly 20 million people covered by the plans will likely have higher premiums because the Affordable Care Act does not include tax subsidies for them.

However, workers seeking coverage in the upcoming, state-based marketplaces for insurance, known as exchanges, can qualify for subsidies.

Union leaders are now hearkening back to what Obama repeatedly said starting in 2009: “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.”

Joe Hansen, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, wrote in a recent op-ed that that scenario “is not going to be true for millions of workers now” and the realization “makes an untruth out of what the president said.”

The plans are jointly administered by unions and smaller employers that pool resources to offer continuous coverage, even during periods of unemployment.

The union plans were already more costly to run than traditional single-employer health plans. And the Affordable Care Act only added to the cost by mandating essentially all plans cover dependents up to age 26, eliminate annual or lifetime coverage limits and extend coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

“We’re concerned that employers will be increasingly tempted to drop coverage through our plans and let our members fend for themselves on the health exchanges,” said David Treanor, director of health care initiatives at the Operating Engineers union.

Other unions expressing their concerns include the hotel workers union UNITE HERE, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, according to The Hill newspaper.

They are joined in such concerns by at least two congressional Democrats, House Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer, Maryland, and retiring Montana Sen. Max Baucus.

Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, recently said implementing the law could be a “train wreck.”

The bulk of the law is scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2014.

Bob Laszewski, a health care industry consultant, said the real fear among unions is that many labor contracts are already very expensive and now employers are going to have an alternative to very expensive labor health benefits.

“If the workers can get benefits that are as good through ObamaCare in the exchanges, then why do you need the union?” Laszewski said. “In my mind, what the unions are fearing is that workers for the first time can get very good health benefits for a subsidized cost someplace other than the employer.”

However, Laszewski said it was unlikely employers would drop the union plans immediately because they are subject to ongoing collective bargaining agreements.

Labor unions have been among the president’s closest allies, spending millions of dollars to help him win re-election and help Democrats keep their majority in the Senate. The wrangling over health care comes as the 2014 elections near and union membership steadily declines amid attacks on public employee unions in state legislatures in Wisconsin and elsewhere across the country.

Union officials have been working with the administration for more than a year to try to get a regulatory fix that would allow low-income workers in their plans to receive subsidies. But after months of negotiations, labor leaders say they have been told it won’t happen.

A Treasury Department spokeswoman declined to discuss the specifics of negotiations but said the law helps bring down costs and improve quality of care.

In addition, union officials also reportedly met privately this month with Senate Democratic leaders to discuss the issue.

Unions say their health care plans in many cases offer better coverage with broader doctors’ networks and lower premiums than what would be available in the exchanges, particularly when it comes to part-time workers.

Unions backed the health care legislation because they expected it to curb inflation in health coverage, reduce the number of uninsured Americans and level the playing field for companies that were already providing quality benefits. While unions knew there were lingering issues after the law passed, they believed those could be fixed through rulemaking.

“In the rush to achieve its passage, many of the act’s provisions were not fully conceived, resulting in unintended consequences that are inconsistent with the promise that those who were satisfied with their employer-sponsored coverage could keep it,” Kinsey Robinson, president of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers, said last month. “I am therefore calling for repeal or complete reform of the Affordable Care Act.”

Published May 25, 2013 / FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Two Arrested as London Muslim Terror Probe Expands

May 23, 2013 By Editor 1 Comment

london_terror_attackBritish police have made two further arrests and searched multiple properties as they widened their investigation into Wednesday’s fatal hacking to death of a British soldier in broad daylight on a busy London street by two Muslim terrorists.

Read yesterday’s story of the brutal attack

The two arrests, of a man and a woman — both 29 — on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, raises the possibility that the gruesome attack was not a so-called “lone wolf” killing as once thought.  Earlier it had been reported that the attackers were known to both UK authorities and a radical jihadist group well before the shocking attack that has stunned the United Kingdom and risked inflaming tensions between communities.

The two men, who were captured on cellphone video covered in blood and spouting jihadist rhetoric moments after the attack, have not yet been named, although Scotland Yard confirmed that they remained hospitalized in stable condition after being shot by armed police at the scene. But the killers, who wielded a machete and a cleaver and were dubbed “sickening individuals” by an incensed Prime Minister David Cameron, were already on the radar of security services, according to the BBC.

And Anjem Choudary, the leader of radical Islamist organization al-Muhajiroun — a group banned under anti-terrorism laws in the UK — has told Reuters that he knows one of the reported suspects. Michael Adebolajo, named by the BBC as one of the attackers, attended a number of the organization’s demonstrations, lectures and activities according to Choudary, although he claimed not to have seen him for about two years.

Reuters reported that the two men were British citizens of Nigerian descent. Police in Lincolnshire, in eastern England, said a property was being searched in connection to the attack, and that a search warrant had been obtained but would not provide details about the search.

The Ministry of Defense has named the slain soldier as 25-year-old Drummer Lee Rigby, of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

In a statement made outside his Downing Street office after having chaired a meeting of the British government’s COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Room A) emergency committee, British Prime Minister David Cameron refused to comment about whether security forces had prior knowledge of the suspects. However, he firmly condemned the attack in Churchillian terms, stating: “We will never give in to terror, or terrorism, in any of its forms.”

Additionally, the Conservative Prime Minister emphasized that “there is nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act,” and that the fault lay solely with the attackers. He also noted that more Muslim lives have been lost in terrorist acts than any other religion.

President Obama, in a statement Thursday afternoon, condemned the attack in strong terms, and reaffirmed the relationship between the US and the UK, stating: “The United States stands resolute with the United Kingdom, our ally and friend, against violent extremism and terror.”

Prime Minister Cameron also praised the bravery of Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, a cub scout leader and mother of two, who got off a bus and tried to reason with the attackers after she tried to help the victim lying on the street.

The 48-year-old tried to keep talking to the two attackers before police arrived at the scene near the Royal Artillery Barracks in the neighborhood of Woolwich.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Loyau-Kennett said that when one of the attackers told her that they wanted to start a war in London, she responded: “It is only you versus many people. You are going to lose.”

Saying she wanted to stop one of the suspects from attacking anyone else, she asked him if he “did it” and what he wanted.

Loyau-Kennett said she saw a crashed car and the victim lying on the street and tried to help him since she had been trained in first aid. She had determined the man was dead by the time the attackers confronted her.

She said “a black guy with a black hat and a revolver in one hand and a cleaver in the other came over” and excitedly warned her to stay away from the body.

“I asked him why he had done what he had done,” The Guardian quoted her as saying. “He said he had killed the man because he [the victim] was a British soldier who killed Muslim women and children in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was furious about the British Army being over there.”

She told The Daily Telegraph that the suspected terrorist was “in full control of his decisions” and did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

When the man told him he was going to kill police when they arrived, she asked him if that was reasonable and tried to keep him engaged.

Then she spoke to the other attacker, who she described as quiet and shy.

“I asked him if he wanted to give me what he was holding in his hand, which was a knife, but I didn’t want to say that,” she said. “He didn’t agree and I asked him: `Do you want to carry on?’ He said: `No, no, no.’ I didn’t want to upset him,” she is quoted as saying in The Guardian.

Loyau-Kennett said she was not scared and that the armed men did not seem to be drunk or on drugs. She said she was trying to keep them occupied so they didn’t get more agitated.

She re-boarded her bus shortly before police arrived, watching from the vehicle as police shot and wounded the two unidentified suspects, who are both receiving treatment in the hospital.

“The officers shot them in the legs, I think” she told The Guardian.

The British government’s COBRA emergency committee met Thursday after Prime Minister David Cameron said there were “strong indications” it was an act of terrorism, and two other officials said there were signs the attack was motivated by radical Islam.

One of the attackers went on video to explain the crime — shouting political statements, gesturing with bloodied hands and waving a meat cleaver.

Images from the scene showed a blue car that appeared to have been used in the attack, its hood crushed and rammed into a signpost on a sidewalk that was smeared with blood. A number of weapons — including butchers’ knives, a machete and a meat cleaver — were strewn on the street.

Footage — obtained by ITV news and The Sun newspaper — showed a man in a dark jacket and knit cap walking toward a camera, clutching a meat cleaver and a knife. Speaking in English with a British accent, he apologized that female passers-by “have had to witness this” barbarity, saying that “in our land our women have to see the same.”

He gave no indication what that land was as he urged people to tell the government to “bring our troops back.” British troops are deployed in Afghanistan and recently supported the French-led intervention in Mali.

“We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you,” the man declared. “We must fight them as they fight us.” The camera then panned away to show a body lying on the ground.

Scotland Yard confirmed that counterterrorism officers were leading an investigation into the attack. Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said the two men had been arrested and urged Londoners to remain calm. Both men were hospitalized, one in serious condition.

Late Wednesday, riot police fanned out in Woolwich as about 50 men waving the flag of the far-right English Defense League gathered, singing nationalistic songs and shouting obscenities about the Quran.

Meanwhile, Muslim groups quickly condemned the attack, calling for the police to calm tensions. The Muslim Council of Britain called it a “barbaric act that has no basis in Islam,” adding that “no cause justifies this murder.”

Britain has been at the heart of several terror attacks or plots in recent years, the most deadly being the 2005 rush-hour suicide bombings when 52 commuters were killed. More recently, Parviz Khan was convicted in 2008 of plotting to kidnap and behead a British Muslim soldier in Birmingham.

Some extremists have lashed out at Britain’s involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. Recently, groups have also criticized Britain’s assistance in the French-led mission to Mali to root out Islamic extremists in the north.

Published May 23, 2013 / FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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IRS Official Waived Rights to 5th by Making Statement of Innocence, Headed Back to Testify

May 23, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

Lerner_IRS_FifthHouse Republicans are considering trying to haul back into the hearing room the embattled IRS official who refused to testify Wednesday, claiming she may have inadvertently waived her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent by delivering an opening statement.

Lois Lerner, the head of the exempt organizations division which oversaw the controversial targeting of conservative groups, caused confusion on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning when she — according to some lawmakers — tried to have it both ways. She pleaded the Fifth, saying she would refuse to answer questions from a House committee probing the IRS program. But before she did so, she delivered a defiant opening statement declaring she had done nothing wrong.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, questioned whether she had “effectively waived” her rights, but ultimately dismissed her from the hearing room. But Issa and others are now strongly considering trying to call her back.

“If you could do it the way she wants to do it, then every defendant would come, say ‘I didn’t rob the bank, and I’m not going to answer the prosecutor’s questions,'” Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., told Fox News. “So we’d all in life like to get out our version without having to answer anyone else’s questions. It’s just not fair. And I don’t think it’s legal.”

Issa made clear by the end of Wednesday’s hearing that he was strongly considering calling Lerner back.

“I must consider this, so although I excuse Ms. Lerner, subject to a recall, I am looking into the possibility of recalling her and insisting that she answer questions in light of a waiver,” Issa said.

He said for that reason, the hearing would stand in recess, but not be adjourned.

In her opening statement, Lerner asserted her innocence.

“I have not done anything wrong,” she said. “I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations, and I have not provided false information to this or any other congressional committee.”

Lerner is represented by lawyer William W. Taylor, who is noted for winning a dismissal of all charges against former IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn in a high-profile sexual assault case.

It’s unclear whether Lerner can avoid another round of questioning by the committee.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the top Democrat on the committee who was as tough as any Republican on the IRS witnesses Wednesday, said he thought Lerner was still in her right to refuse to answer questions.

“I’d like to see (hearings) run like a federal court. Unfortunately, this is not a federal court and she does have a right,” Cummings said Wednesday. “And we have to adhere to that.”

Former IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman, who stayed to testify Wednesday, endured a tough round of questioning for the second day in a row. Lawmakers were visibly frustrated as he struggled to explain why he didn’t notify Congress after learning of the practice last year.

But lawmakers are itching to question Lerner, having aired a string of complaints about her own failure to notify Congress.

Lerner touched off the public controversy when, at an American Bar Association conference this month, she apologized for the IRS’ practice of targeting conservative organizations for additional scrutiny. It was the first time the agency acknowledged the practice.

She said she hadn’t revealed the information sooner, because she was never asked. But just two days before the ABA conference, Lerner was specifically asked about the investigation.

Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., who had asked her about it, later called her answer evasive.

“The bottom line is you cannot lie to Congress, and you cannot be evasive, you cannot try to mislead Congress,” he said.

Published May 23, 2013 / FoxNews.com

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DOJ Seized Phone Records for Fox News Reporter, and Parents

May 23, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

james-rosenNewly uncovered court documents reveal the Justice Department seized records of several Fox News phone lines as part of a leak investigation — even listing a number that, according to one source, matches the home phone number of a reporter’s parents.

The seizure was ordered in addition to a court-approved search warrant for Fox News correspondent James Rosen’s personal emails. In the affidavit seeking that warrant, an FBI agent called Rosen a likely criminal “co-conspirator,” citing a wartime law called the Espionage Act.

Rosen was not charged, but his movements and conversations were tracked. A source close to the leak investigation confirmed to Fox News that the government obtained phone records for several numbers that match Fox News numbers out of the Washington bureau.

Further, the source confirmed to Fox News that one number listed matched the number for Rosen’s parents in Staten Island.

Rosen’s father, attorney Myron Rosen, told FoxNews.com he found the records seizure to be “downright ludicrous.”

“My son and his wife call us all the time, and we talk about grandchildren,” he said. “We don’t talk about nuclear proliferation.”

He continued: “The fact that they had our phone records, it shows how crazy they are, how desperate.”

The government began to push back Wednesday on some of the information circulating about the case. The office of U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen Jr., who is prosecuting the case, stressed in a statement Wednesday that his office “did not wiretap the phones of any reporter or news organization” or “monitor or track the phone calls of any reporter’s parents.”

“We take seriously our obligations to follow all applicable laws, federal regulations, and Department of Justice policies when grand jury subpoenas are issued for phone records of media organizations, and strive to strike the proper balance between the public’s interest in the free flow of information and the public’s interest in the protection of national security and the effective enforcement of our criminal laws,” the statement said.

Asked about the documents, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told Fox News earlier that he “can’t comment on an ongoing criminal investigation.”

The documents filed in October 2011 appear to show exchanges that match the specific locations of Fox News’ White House, Pentagon, State Department and other operations. The last four digits of each of the phone numbers listed are redacted in the government filing.

Among the numbers listed were several that start with the area code and exchange, 202-824 — which is an area code and exchange for the Fox News Washington bureau.

The phone information was included in a long list of numbers, email addresses and other details that prosecutors shared with defense attorneys shortly after the alleged leaker was indicted. The document said the government had already obtained a trove of material from the defendant, Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, including his passport applications, State Department badge records, emails, computer and hard drive.

Click to read the documents.

Meanwhile, the White House Correspondents’ Association spoke out on incidents involving two news organizations. The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of phone records from the Associated Press and obtained a search warrant for the personal emails of Fox News’ James Rosen. The information about the phone records was uncovered Tuesday.

In the latter case, an FBI agent also claimed in an affidavit that Rosen was possibly a criminal “co-conspirator.”

Though no charges were brought against Rosen, the White House Correspondents’ Association said no journalist should even face that threat for doing their job.

“Reporters should never be threatened with prosecution for the simple act of doing their jobs,” the WHCA said in a statement Tuesday. “The problem is that in two recent cases, one involving Fox News’ James Rosen and the other focused on the Associated Press, serious questions have been raised about whether our government has gotten far too aggressive in its monitoring of reporters’ movements, phone records, and even personal email.”

The statement went on: “We do not know all of the facts in these cases, so we will just say this in general: Our country was founded on the principle of freedom of the press and nothing is more sacred to our profession. So we stand in strong solidarity with our colleagues who have been scrutinized. And in terms of the administration, ultimately what will matter more in all of these cases is action not words.”

Earlier, Carney said President Obama believes reporters shouldn’t be prosecuted for doing their jobs. The association said it agreed.

The WHCA’s board is led by Fox News’ Ed Henry.

The statement comes after court documents showed the Justice Department obtained a portfolio of information about Rosen’s conversations and visits to the State Department. This included a search warrant for his personal emails.

In an affidavit, an FBI agent claimed there’s evidence the Fox News correspondent broke the law, “at the very least, either as an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator.”

Michael Clemente, Fox News’ executive vice president of news, defended Rosen in a statement issued Monday afternoon.

“We are outraged to learn today that James Rosen was named a criminal co-conspirator for simply doing his job as a reporter,” Clemente said. “In fact, it is downright chilling. We will unequivocally defend his right to operate as a member of what up until now has always been a free press.”

In the case involving Rosen, a government adviser was accused of leaking information after a 2009 story was published online which said North Korea planned to respond to looming U.N. sanctions with another nuclear test.

Rosen said Monday that “as a reporter, I always honor the confidentiality of my dealings with all of my sources.”

The Department of Justice said in a statement that “leaks of classified information to the press can pose a serious risk of harm to our national security and it is important that we pursue these matters using appropriate law enforcement tools.”

The U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia also said the government, before seeking approval for the search warrant, “exhausted all reasonable non-media alternatives for collecting this evidence.”

Click for more from The New Yorker.

Published May 23, 2013 / FoxNews.com / Fox News’ Bret Baier and FoxNews.com’s Judson Berger contributed to this report.

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IRS Official Who Refused to Testify Facing Scrutiny Over Scandal, Past

May 23, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

irs_official_pleasds_fifthThe IRS official who refused to testify at a House hearing Wednesday has become a key focus of the congressional investigations into the IRS practice of singling out conservative groups.

Now under the protection of her lawyers and the Fifth Amendment, Lois Lerner is facing a maelstrom of controversy.

Members of Congress are calling her evasive, and question why she didn’t reveal the program sooner — plus her history at the Federal Elections Commission is coming under scrutiny.

Lerner touched off the public controversy when, at an American Bar Association conference earlier this month, she apologized for the IRS’ practice of targeting conservative organizations for additional scrutiny. It was the first time the agency acknowledged the practice.

“They used names like Tea Party or patriots … and they selected cases simply because the application had those names in the title,” she admitted.

She said she hadn’t revealed the information sooner, because she was never asked. But just two days before the ABA  conference, Lerner was  specifically asked about the investigation.

Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., asked her if she could “comment briefly on the status on the IRS investigation into these political not-for-profits.”

She said: “Well there’s a questionnaire that began this discussion and there’s also a questionnaire out there that is seeking info from 501 c3,4,5 organizations.”

Crowley later called her answer evasive.

“The bottom line is you cannot lie to Congress, and you cannot be evasive, you cannot try to mislead Congress,” he said.

In the 1990’s, Lerner also served as chief of enforcement at the Federal Elections Commission.

Under her direction, the FEC undertook the largest enforcement action in its history — suing the Christian Coalition for violating campaign laws. The Christian Coalition won, but in one deposition, FEC lawyers asked a defendant if televangelist Pat Robertson prayed for him.

James Bopp, the Christian Coalition’s lawyer, said he was “shocked and appalled” by that.

“Both political activity and religious activity are specifically protected by the First Amendment,” he said.

When Bopp learned years later that Lerner had been promoted to an IRS position, he became concerned.

“She was in effect being promoted for what she had done at the Federal Election Commission and now was going to be expected … to replicate that at the IRS and now we know that’s exactly what happened,” he said.

Lerner is represented by lawyer William W. Taylor, who is noted for winning a dismissal of all charges against former IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn in a high-profile sexual assault case.

Lerner said at Wednesday’s hearing that she had done nothing wrong.

“I have not done anything wrong,” she said. “I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations, and I have not provided false information to this or any other congressional committee.”

By Doug McKelway / Published May 23, 2013 / FoxNews.com

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New Poll: Obama Ratings Dip, Voters Say Government ‘Out of Control’

May 22, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

obama_irsAfter a week of revelations about government spying on reporters and the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservatives, most voters feel “like the federal government has gotten out of control and is threatening the basic civil liberties of Americans.”

At the same time, a new Fox News poll finds disapproval of President Obama’s job performance is above 50 percent for the first time in a year, his honesty rating is at a new low and half of voters already think he’s a lame-duck.

More than two-thirds of voters — 68 percent — feel the government is out of control and threatening their civil liberties.   About one quarter disagree (26 percent).

Nearly half of Democrats (47 percent), as well as large numbers of independents (76 percent) and Republicans (87 percent) feel Uncle Sam is taking liberties with their liberties.

Those who identify with the Tea Party movement, one of the groups targeted by the IRS, are among those most likely to say things are out of control and civil liberties are being threatened:  92 percent of Tea Partiers feel that way.

Six in 10 Americans say the Justice Department “went too far” when it seized the phone records of reporters working at the Associated Press (AP) without prior notice.  That’s almost twice as many as the 31 percent who think the actions were “justified” because the government was looking for leaks about a terrorist plot.

Most Republicans (77 percent) and a majority of independents (62 percent) feel the Justice Department went too far.  Nearly half of Democrats agree (45 percent), while almost as many say the government was justified (44 percent).

The recent controversies have taken a toll on the president’s standing with voters.

Overall, 45 percent of voters approve of the job Obama’s doing, down from 47 percent last month.  Just over half — 51 percent — disapprove of his performance, up from 45 percent last month.  This is the first time disapproval of Obama has topped 50 percent since April 2012.

The increase in disapproval of Obama is driven mainly by independents (+ 7 percentage points) and Republicans (+8 points).  Disapproval among Democrats remained mostly unchanged (15 percent).

The poll also finds more voters questioning Obama’s honesty.  Some 49 percent think Obama is honest and trustworthy today.  That’s down from 51 percent last July — and the first time in a Fox News poll that less than half of voters said Obama was honest.  Obama’s highest honesty rating was 73 percent in April 2009, when he had been in office about 100 days.

A record number also now thinks Obama is not honest: 48 percent in the new poll, up from 46 percent last summer.

Nearly half of voters now consider Obama a lame-duck president.  Less than a year into his second term, 49 percent of voters say Obama is a lame-duck, including 25 percent of Democrats.

Almost as many voters — 47 percent — say Obama still has the power to get things done.

Views on Obama’s leadership closely track his job performance rating.  Forty-five percent rate his leadership skills positively:   “excellent” (15 percent) or “good” (30 percent).  Another 19 percent say “only fair.”

More than twice as many voters rate Obama’s leadership skills as “poor” (36 percent) as rate them as “excellent” (15 percent).

Many more voters disapprove (40 percent) than approve (28 percent) of the job Eric Holder is doing as attorney general.  A third are unable to rate him (32 percent).  Approval of Holder is down eight points from 36 percent in May 2010, when voters were last asked about his performance on a Fox News poll.

Holder is the head of the Justice Department.  He has recused himself from the current AP investigation.

Which of the current Obama administration scandals is the most troublesome to voters?  The largest number says the IRS targeting of conservative groups (32 percent), and that’s closely followed by Benghazi (27 percent).  About one in five say the Justice Department seizing the phone records of reporters concerns them the most (21 percent).

Even if voters had known before the election what they know now about the Obama administration controversies, the consensus is he still would have won:  62 percent say Obama would have still won re-election, while 33 percent think Romney would have won.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,013 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from May 18 to May 20.  The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

By Dana Blanton / Published May 21, 2013 / FoxNews.com

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Disgraced Ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner Announces Bid for NYC Mayor

May 22, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

Anthony_WeinerFormer Congressman Anthony Weiner has announced he is running for mayor of New York City, almost two years after resigning over a Twitter scandal.

In a video released Tuesday night, Weiner announced his candidacy for the election in November 2013, with his wife, Huma Abedin, aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and their young son Jordan, by his side.

Sources tell the New York Post the video is authentic, but said it was supposed to be released later Wednesday. The video vanished from Weiner’s website and YouTube page early Wednesday.

The married Democrat resigned from Congress in 2011 after tweeting a lewd picture of himself and lying about his account being hacked. He later admitted trading inappropriate messages with several women.

Weiner touts his New York City roots in the video, describing how he grew up a “middle-class kid in Brooklyn.” He says he wants to work to make the middle-class lifestyle more attainable for more New Yorkers, and references some of his accomplishments from his time in Congress, such as getting help for Sept. 11 first responders.

“Look I made some big mistakes,” Weiner says in the video. “And I know I’ve let a lot of people down. But I’ve also learned some tough lessons. I’m running for mayor because I’ve been fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it my entire life. And I hope I get a second chance to work for you.”

The website also provided a link to Weiner’s “action plan” for the city.

“These ideas are diverse, but what binds them is the help they offer to the middle class and those struggling to make it there,” the introductions read. “Part of being a New Yorker is looking at problems and figuring out a better way. I put these ideas on the table to start the dialog for a better way for our great city.”

Anthony-Weiner-SextingWeiner acknowledged he was considering a bid for mayor in a lengthy interview with the New York Times Magazine in April.

He told the magazine his committee has dropped more than $100,000 on polling and research, as was previously shown in campaign finance reports.

Weiner said his pollster was telling him he’d be the “underdog” in a race.

“I am a bit of a polarizing case,” Weiner said.

The Democrat is jumping into a crowded field for September’s primary. He’s arriving with some significant advantages, including a $4.8 million campaign war chest, the possibility of about $1.5 million more in public matching money, polls showing him ahead of all but one other Democrat — and no end of name recognition.

In seeking a second chance from the public, Weiner will have to overcome some voters’ misgivings. In a recent NBC New York-Marist Poll poll, half said they wouldn’t even consider him, though the survey also showed that more registered Democrats now have a favorable than unfavorable impression of him.

Weiner can expect opponents to hammer at his prior prevaricating, and he said in a recent interview on the RNN cable network that he couldn’t guarantee that no more pictures or people would emerge.

And while he might welcome attention to his policies rather than his past, they also have attracted some criticism. About a dozen young people recently demonstrated outside his Manhattan apartment building to denounce his proposal to make it easier to suspend disruptive public school students; “(hash)Weiner: You ask for a second chance in (hash)NYC2013 but deny students a second chance,” read one sign, using Twitter’s beloved hashtag marks.

Since leaving office, Weiner has put his government experience to work as a consultant for various companies.

His Democratic opponents include City Councilman Sal Albanese; Public Advocate Bill de Blasio; Comptroller John Liu; City Council Speaker Christine Quinn; the Rev. Erick Salgado, a pastor; and former Comptroller Bill Thompson.

Republican contenders include billionaire businessman John Catsimatidis, former Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joseph Lhota and homelessness-aid organization head George McDonald. Former White House housing official Aldolfo Carrion Jr., a Democrat who recently dropped his party affiliation, is running on the Independence Party line and also interested in the Republican nomination.

Published May 22, 2013 / FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Gender

DOJ Seized Phone Records of Numbers Tied to Fox News

May 22, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

studiob_reporter_dojNewly uncovered court documents show the Justice Department seized phone records associated with several Fox News lines as part of a leak investigation — a revelation that comes as the White House Correspondents’ Association spoke out against the administration’s monitoring of reporters.

Documents filed in October 2011 appear to show exchanges that match the specific locations of Fox News’ White House, Pentagon, State Department and other operations. The last four digits of each of the phone numbers listed are redacted in the government filing so it is impossible to know the full numbers. The seizure was ordered in addition to a court-approved search warrant for Fox News correspondent James Rosen’s personal emails.

Among the numbers listed were several that start with the area code and exchange, 202-824 — which is an area code and exchange for the Fox News Washington bureau. The phone number for Rosen’s parents also falls within one of the exchanges listed in the document, though other numbers could fall within that exchange.

The phone information was included in a long list of numbers, email addresses and other details that prosecutors shared with defense attorneys shortly after the alleged leaker was indicted. The document said the government had already obtained a trove of material from the defendant, Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, including his passport applications, State Department badge records, emails, computer and hard drive.

Asked about the documents, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told Fox News he “can’t comment on an ongoing criminal investigation.”

Click to read the documents.

The case is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald Machen Jr.

Meanwhile, the Correspondents’ Association spoke out on incidents involving two news organizations. The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of phone records from the Associated Press and obtained a search warrant for the personal emails of Fox News’ James Rosen. The information about the phone records was uncovered Tuesday.

In the latter case, an FBI agent also claimed in an affidavit that Rosen was possibly a criminal “co-conspirator.”

Though no charges were brought against Rosen, the White House Correspondents’ Association said no journalist should even face that threat for doing their job.

“Reporters should never be threatened with prosecution for the simple act of doing their jobs,” the WHCA said in a statement Tuesday. “The problem is that in two recent cases, one involving Fox News’ James Rosen and the other focused on the Associated Press, serious questions have been raised about whether our government has gotten far too aggressive in its monitoring of reporters’ movements, phone records, and even personal email.”

The statement went on: “We do not know all of the facts in these cases, so we will just say this in general: Our country was founded on the principle of freedom of the press and nothing is more sacred to our profession. So we stand in strong solidarity with our colleagues who have been scrutinized. And in terms of the administration, ultimately what will matter more in all of these cases is action not words.”

Earlier, Carney said President Obama believes reporters shouldn’t be prosecuted for doing their jobs. The association said it agreed.

The WHCA’s board is led by Fox News’ Ed Henry.

The statement comes after court documents showed the Justice Department obtained a portfolio of information about Rosen’s conversations and visits to the State Department. This included a search warrant for his personal emails.

In an affidavit, an FBI agent claimed there’s evidence the Fox News correspondent broke the law, “at the very least, either as an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator.”

Michael Clemente, Fox News’ executive vice president of news, defended Rosen in a statement issued Monday afternoon.

“We are outraged to learn today that James Rosen was named a criminal co-conspirator for simply doing his job as a reporter,” Clemente said. “In fact, it is downright chilling. We will unequivocally defend his right to operate as a member of what up until now has always been a free press.”

In the case involving Rosen, a government adviser was accused of leaking information after a 2009 story was published online which said North Korea planned to respond to looming U.N. sanctions with another nuclear test.

Rosen said Monday that &quotas a reporter, I always honor the confidentiality of my dealings with all of my sources.&quot

The Department of Justice said in a statement that “leaks of classified information to the press can pose a serious risk of harm to our national security and it is important that we pursue these matters using appropriate law enforcement tools.”

The U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia also said the government, before seeking approval for the search warrant, “exhausted all reasonable non-media alternatives for collecting this evidence.”

Filed Under: All Stories, Elections, Ethics, Foreign

‘Violent Confrontation’ Prompts FBI Agent to Shoot Boston Bombing Associate

May 22, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

boston-bombersDEVELOPING: A man who was fatally shot by an FBI agent in Florida knew one of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings, a friend of the victim said Wednesday.

FOX 35 News OrlandoFBI Agent Dave Couvertier said in a statement that an unidentified agent encountered Ibragim Todashev, of Orlando, while conducting official duties.

“The agent, along with other law enforcement personnel, were interviewing an individual in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing investigation when a violent confrontation was initiated by the subject,” the statement read. “During the confrontation, the individual was killed and the agent sustained non-life threatening injuries. As this incident is under review, we have no further details at this time.”

Khusen Taramov, who was at the scene and identified himself as the victim’s friend, said Todashev, 27, knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the 26-year-old former amateur boxer suspected in the April 15 bombings that killed three and injured more than 260, MyFoxOrlando.com reports.

The early Wednesday shooting occurred at an apartment complex near Universal Studios in Orlando, the Associated Press reports.

Taramov said he and Todashev had no connection with the Boston Marathon bombings, but the FBI had been questioning them since the attacks.

“He used to talk on the phone with him [Tsarnaev],” Taramov said of his friend. “They talked last time a month ago. After the bombing, I couldn’t believe it. The FBI kept asking, ‘What’s the connection?’ But there is no connection … no connection.”

An FBI agent was interviewing Todashev regarding his connections to Tsarnaev and other extremists. He was originally cooperative, but was shot after attacking the agent, NBC News reports.

Taramov said Todashev had planned to soon return to Chechnya, but recently canceled his plane tickets instead.

“Me and him and my friends, we knew this was going to happen. That’s why he wanted to leave the country,” Taramov said. “But he canceled the tickets. The FBI’s been pushing him, ‘Don’t leave, don’t leave.’ So he decided to stay.”

Taramov said he was questioned by the FBI earlier Tuesday but was allowed to leave, MyFoxOrlando.com reports. When he came back, he found out that Todashev had been shot dead, he said.

“The FBI knows what happened,” Taramov said.

Messages seeking additional comment from FBI officials were not returned. Police officials in Boston told FoxNews.com they had no information regarding the shooting.

An FBI post-shooting review team has been dispatched from Washington, D.C., and expected to arrive in Orlando within 24 hours, Couvertier said in a statement.

Todashev was arrested on May 4 by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, according to court records. He was charged with aggravated battery causing great bodily harm. Additional details were not immediately available.

Published May 22, 2013 / FoxNews.com

 

Filed Under: All Stories, Elections, Ethics, Foreign, Religion

Top IRS Official to Plead The Fifth

May 22, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

Lois-LernerWASHINGTON –  Lois Lerner, the director of the IRS division that singled out conservative groups, is expected to invoke the Fifth Amendment Wednesday when she appears before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Fox News has learned.

That means Lerner, head of the exempt organizations division, probably won’t answer any questions on what she knew about IRS agents going after Tea Party-related groups. That also means she probably won’t say why she sat on the information for so long before it became public.

Lerner’s attorney William Taylor III asked committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., in a letter if she could skip Wednesday’s hearing since she would be pleading the Fifth.

Taylor argued in the letter that forcing Lerner to appear “would have no purpose other than to embarrass or burden her.”

Late Tuesday, the House oversight committee released a statement saying Lerner was still under subpoena and would be required to appear in the morning.

“Chairman Issa remains hopeful that she will ultimately decide to testify tomorrow about her knowledge of outrageous IRS targeting of Americans for the political beliefs,” committee spokesman Ali Ahmad said in a statement.

Other former or outgoing IRS officials have already testified, and will continue to give their testimony on Wednesday. But Lerner, who is the official who first acknowledged the IRS program, has faced significant scrutiny.

Since the Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into the IRS scandal and the House committee indicated it would question Lerner about why she provided incomplete information to the committee at least four times last year, Taylor wrote that his client would be invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

The House committee is also scheduled to hear from Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Neal Wolin, among others, as the search for someone who will claim responsibility continues.

On Tuesday, outgoing IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, was back in the hot seat as he testified for the second time in two weeks on Capitol Hill.

Miller expressed regret for the agency’s decision to use a planted question to go public with the IRS’s practice of singling out conservative groups.

It was one in a series of missteps that have not only publicly marred the reputation of the IRS but also called into question what the White House knew about the scandal and when they knew it.

“We’re not looking for people to be evasive but we want people forthright and straightforward with us,” Rep. Joseph Crowley, a Democrat from New York, told Fox News.

While Crowley did not go so far as to say Lerner should be let go, he did say, “the bottom line is that you cannot lie to Congress, be evasive or mislead. You must answer the question and not mislead Congress.”

Separately, two Tea Party-related groups filed lawsuits against the IRS this week.

On Tuesday, Texas-based True the Vote claimed it was unfairly targeted by the IRS and demanded in court documents the government admit its mistake, grant the group tax-exempt status and pay for damages totaling more than $85,000.

On Monday, the NorCal Tea Party Patriots filed the first federal suit against the national tax agency. Like True the Vote, the northern California group says the IRS violated its constitutional rights when it held up its applications for tax-exempt status.

The NorCal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Cincinnati,  seeks group status for “all conservative and libertarian groups targeted for additional scrutiny” between March 2010 and May 2013. It’s also seeking unspecified monetary damages for the alleged violation of its constitutional rights and the costs associated with trying to comply with IRS demands.

The lawsuit is being backed by Citizens for Self-Governance, a group launched by Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler.

Meckler claims that IRS agents also demanded massive amounts of disclosure of information not authorized by the Internal Revenue Code or any other federal law. The suit alleges that the tactic was used to delay or dissuade conservative groups from going through with their applications.

The IRS acknowledged that employees at its Cincinnati office had targeted conservative groups, creating massive amounts of paperwork or rejecting applications altogether.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram and Fox Business Network’s Rich Edson contributed to this report.

 

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Ethics, Religion

Poll: Majority Think White House Knew About IRS-Out of Control

May 21, 2013 By Editor Leave a Comment

obama-biden-rahm-emanuelVoters are concerned about the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative political groups for unfair treatment, and over half think the White House either knew it was happening or — worse yet — was actually behind the operation.

That’s according to a Fox News poll released Tuesday.

The IRS recently admitted it targeted tea party and other conservative groups for extra scrutiny when the groups sought tax-exempt status.

Most voters think the White House was involved in the IRS scandal in some way:  37 percent think the administration knew it was going on but didn’t initiate the policy, while another 29 percent believe the White House directed the IRS to go after those groups.

About a quarter (24 percent) says the White House had absolutely nothing to do with what the IRS was doing.

Almost all of those who identify with the Tea Party movement think the White House was involved:  58 percent think the administration intentionally had them targeted, and 31 percent believe that while the White House knew about the unfair treatment, it wasn’t behind it.

Confidence in the IRS has dropped significantly.  The poll finds 42 percent of voters have “a great deal” (7 percent) or “some” (35 percent) confidence in the agency.  That’s down from 62 percent who had at least some confidence in the IRS in May 2003 (the last time the Fox News poll asked Americans to rate the IRS).

Seventy-eight percent of voters are concerned that certain groups have been singled out, including 50 percent who are “very” concerned and 28 percent “somewhat” concerned.

Even more — 84 percent — are worried individual Americans could receive the same unfair treatment (61 percent “very” and 23 percent “somewhat” concerned).

The poll asked about three current Obama administration controversies.  A 32-percent plurality says the IRS scandal is the worst, followed by Benghazi (27 percent) and the Justice Department seizing the phone records of reporters (21 percent).

Democrats (26 percent) and independents (28 percent) are more than twice as likely as Republicans (11 percent) to say the Justice Department controversy is the worst.

The IRS scandal tops the list for both Republicans (39 percent) and Democrats (28 percent).  Still, Republicans are more likely to pick it as the most troubling by an 11-point margin.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,013 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from May 18 to May 20.  The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

By Dana Blanton / Published May 21, 2013 / FoxNews.com

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion

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