[Hoot Gibson]

The corruption that has been running rampant within the IRS is not confined to that agency and these kind of practices have been common within the federal government for many years.

However, Lois Lerner could be the poster girl...hag for the corrupt politicization of the federal government. I watched an interview of Al Salvi this morning and his story should scare every American citizen. Lois Lerner and Dick Durbin should be wasting away in jail cells somewhere.

If any of you left wing partisan hacks think that I am saying this problem begins and ends with Democrats, I recall the same type of tactics being employed by MSHA during the administration of George H. W. Bush. This is a symptom of big, oppressive governments everywhere. When the government has access to unlimited funds and an unlimited supply of lawyers, innocent people will be victimized by those in power. The fact that it is extremely difficult to fire people like Lois Lerner or to defeat corrupt politicians like Dick Durbin or John McCain in a Senate election ensures that these practices will continue to spread, regardless of the outcome of the current investigations.

Incidentally, Mr. Salvi won his case against the FEC. After he won, an FEC official told him that , "We never lose a case. You will be hearing from us again," according to Salvi.

[INDENT]

LERNER INTRIGUE GOES BACK TO '96 DURBIN/SALVI U.S. SENATE RACE

CHICAGO - The IRS scandal may have its roots in Illinois politics. Specifically, the 1996 U.S. Senate race between Democrat Congressman Dick Durbin and conservative Republican State Rep. Al Salvi.

More than a decade before his 2010 letter to IRS officials urging the agency to target conservative organizations, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin's political career crossed paths with Ms. Lerner when she was head of the Enforcement Division of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), and directly involved in the 1996 Illinois U.S. Senate race.

Soon after the IRS story broke, Al Salvi told Illinois Review that it was IRS official Lois Lerner who represented the FEC in the 1996 Democrat complaint against him. According to Salvi, Lerner was, without question, politically motivated, and went so far as to make him an offer: "Promise me you will never run for office again, and we'll drop this case."

Salvi declined her offer. In fact he ran for Illinois Secretary of State in 1998.

But when he saw Lerner plead the Fifth Amendment before Congress last week, he recognized her. "That's the woman," Salvi said. "And I didn't plead the Fifth like she did."

[/INDENT]