IRS

How the IRS's Nonprofit Division Got So Dysfunctional

May 17, 2013, 5:55PM

The exterior of the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington, Friday, March 22, 2013.

by Kim Barker and Justin Elliott, ProPublica

The IRS division responsible for flagging Tea Party groups has long been an agency afterthought, beset by mismanagement, financial constraints and an unwillingness to spell out just what it expects from social welfare nonprofits, former officials and experts say.

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IRS

The Seven Questions That Got The IRS In Trouble

Eric Lach | May 15, 2013, 11:32AM

David Ficke, of Maryland Heights, Mo., attends the "Gateway to November" rally hosted by the St. Louis Tea Party and Tea Party Patriots on Sept. 12, 2010, at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

Tucked inside the the government report that found the IRS used inappropriate criteria to identify tax-exempt applications to review is a list of seven questions.

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IRS

IRS Official's Admission Baffled Audience At Tax Panel

Eric Lach | May 14, 2013, 4:27PM

Lois Lerner, head of the IRS' tax-exempt organizations division, in a screen grab from an undated speech posted online.

The fateful question came from a tax lawyer, in a room filled with dozens of them. It came at the end of a Friday morning panel, on the second day of the American Bar Association tax section's big annual meeting at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Washington D.C. The moderator had announced that it would be the panel's last question.

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Campaign Finance

State Officials Organize To Fight Dark Money

Eric Lach | May 3, 2013, 12:34PM

Gary Winuk, an attorney for the Fair Political Practices Commission, talks with FPPC chairwoman Ann Ravel after a hearing in Sacramento Superior Court regarding an $11 million political contribution from an Arizona nonprofit called Americans for Responsible Leadership, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012.

If you're looking for people fighting dark money in federal elections, look down.

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501(c)4s

Arizona Dark Money Group Hit With Lawsuit Over Robocalls

Eric Lach | February 14, 2013, 6:05AM

Kirk Adams, former Arizona Speaker of the House, speaks at a campaign rally during his run for Congress in August. Adams is now a part of the dark money group Americans for Responsible Leadership.

Americans for Responsible Leadership, the Arizona dark money group that tangled with California's campaign finance watchdog agency last fall, has been slapped with a lawsuit in Colorado, where a woman claims she received robocalls from the group in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

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Dark Money

Privatization Group Tied To California Dark Money Millions

Eric Lach | February 6, 2013, 6:05AM

California Gov. Jerry Brown with local politicians and school administrators, held a rally in support of Prop 30.

An engineering trade organization that advocates for privatizing government work has been tied to the group behind the $11 million dark money donation that prompted a legal showdown in California last fall.

The $400,000 that can now be traced back to a group called the American Council of Engineering Companies in California (ACEC-CA) may not be the biggest of disclosures, but when it comes to dark money in politics, any transparency at all is a revelation.

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