IRS's 'Secret Research Project'

"The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) improperly obtained donor lists from nonprofit groups as part of a 'secret research project' being run by Lois Lerner and other officials," reports the Daily Caller.

IRS official David Fish revealed the “secret research project” in a June 27, 2012 email to Lerner’s direct subordinate Holly Paz, according to emails released Thursday by the nonprofit group Judicial Watch, which obtained the emails in a pending Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

“Joseph Urban [IRS Technical Advisor, Tax Exempt and Government Entities] had actually started a secret research project on whether we could, consistent with 6104, argue that [REDACTED],” Fish wrote.

“Joe was quite agitated yesterday when I told him what we were doing. (He was involved when the initial question was raised, but we didn’t continue reading him in),” Fish continued. “At one point he started saying that this was a decision for Steve Miller–I told him we were already doing it, and that I didn’t know whether Lois had already talked to Nikole [Flax, former IRS Chief of Staff to IRS Commissioner Steve Miller] about this. Would not be surprised if he already started working on Lois.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” Paz replied. “The decision was made by Steve, based on advice from P and A. [Procedure and Administration].”

Lois Lerner and Nikole Flax, who were both part of the “secret research project,” both suffered computer crashes that allegedly wiped out their emails, according to the IRS.

The Daily Caller has also put together short bios of the first 7 IRS employees whose computers 'crashed' — in Washington DC and Cincinnati, Ohio — and how they are linked in the scandal.

In a related story, the Daily Caller's Connor D. Wolf reports that another email has surfaced which reveals Lois Lerner ignored political expenditures by labor unions.

In 2007, Lois Lerner responded directly to a complaint that some major labor unions reported completely different amounts of political expenditures when filing with the IRS and the Department of Labor.

At the time of the email, Lerner was the Director of Exempt Organizations at the IRS.

Lerner wrote, “We looked at the information you provided regarding organizations that report substantial amounts of political activity and lobbying expenditures on the DOL Form LM-2, but report little to no political expenditures on the Form 990 filed with the IRS.”

“We believe this difference in reporting does not necessarily indicate that the organization has incorrectly reported to either the DOL or the IRS,” Lerner concluded.