The Lost Lois Lerner Emails and the IRS Tea Party Controversy

For those tired of following the partisan coverage of the controversy surrounding the IRS’s processing of exemption applications filed in the last election cycle, especially the special scrutiny given applicants with conservative-sounding (like “Tea Party”) names, the following brief, matter-of-fact story appearing in the Los Angeles Times, which addresses lost emails from Lois Lerner, may be helpful.  Here are the opening two paragraphs of the story:

A year after the Internal Revenue Service was found to be targeting conservative groups and others seeking tax-exempt status, the scandal has erupted again with disclosures that the agency lost thousands of emails from a former official at the center of the controversy.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen disclosed June 13 that emails sent by Lois Lerner, the former director of the IRS division that oversaw tax-exempt groups, were lost when her computer hard drive crashed in mid-2011. This week, Koskinen told Congress that eight other hard drives from potential recipients had crashed as well.

The story then poses and answers the following questions:

What’s so important about Lois Lerner’s emails?

What happened to the emails?

So wasn’t there a backup?

Is there anything else the agency can do to recover the emails?

Why are Republicans claiming foul play?

When did the IRS learn about the lost emails?

What has Lerner said about all this?

What’s the White House involvement?

 JRB