The IRS scandal whose exposure led them to apologize to such people as “tea party” political groups has fostered some speculation as to why these conservative groups in particular were unfairly awarded such intense scrutiny. Patrick Howley of the Daily Caller, for instance, exposed that supposedly “apolitical” IRS Exempt Organizations Division director Lois G. Lerner isn’t so apolitical as the mainstream press would have us believe, but is in fact married to attorney Michael R Miles, a partner at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, working in their Washington D.C. office. The connection is supposed to incriminate the Obama administration as Sutherland has “Strong Obama connections.”
To support the claim of strong connections, Howley quotes a few news releases the firm made, as well as referencing their work on the website workerclassification.com which relates to Obama’s work resolving employee misclassification.
But as Overlawyered responded, the connection is tenuous, and Sutherland, as an organization, probably has an equal share of Republican connections, as lawyers within the firm have donated $41,700 to Romney, in comparison with $35,412 to Obama. As Overlawyered concludes, the claim that Sutherland has “strong Obama connections” is certainly overstated, and while this is indeed a formidable scandal, nothing so quick, clean, and neat as Obama’s signature on the deeds can incriminate his organization on the matter. Sutherland indeed seems to have done a lot with and for the Obama administration, but it isn’t so one-sided as all that.
To hell with the apologies. These wannabe tyrants need to be investigated thoroughly, prosecuted if necessary and sent to prison if convicted.
Wrong. The “strong connections” were based on three accusations, which were laid out in the first paragraph: 1) the law firm hosted an Obama campaign event in their offices (you left that out, why?), 2) they praised Obama’s policy work (which you’re right to point is completely forgivable considering it effects their business, but it’s noteworthy), and 3) because one of their former partners left to become an ambassador for the Obama Administration. There is no accusation of impropriety on the part of the firm; it’s simply the type of connection that comes-up when investigative journalists actually do their job. We could clear this up by just asking Lois what her connections were…