september 2010 when lerner wrote of tax exempt social welfare groups known at 501 c 4s. she said, my guest is those who political activity never pay the tax on the activity, and we surely should be looking at that. wouldn t that be a surprising turn of events? my object is not to look for political activity, more to see whether self-declared c4s are really acting like c4s. so lerner did direct her unit to find out if social welfare groups were really into social welfare. no mention of conservatives, no mention of the tea party, no mention of messing around for democratic benefit. if you needed further evidence that lerner was not looking to target the right, issa also cites lerner s e-mail the next day. quote, we need to be cautious so it isn t per se a political project, more a c4 project that will look at levels of lobbying and political activity along with exempt activity.
citizen united applies to tax exempt rules. council and judy need to be on this one, please. sinsi should probably not, all in caps, have these cases. on the advice of my counsel i respect my fifth amendment right and refuse to answer. why would you say the tea party is dangerous? i respect my fifth amendment right and will not answer. you e-mail about issuing a c4 project and wrote we need to be