The American Spectator

Reader Mail

A Neck Brace for Teddy

1.18.06 @ 12:01AM

BARRETT RAPPORT
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. & Brian McGuire's Cisneros Report Stirred Worries of Democrats:

Anybody notice that the timing of the "one-two" Al Gore and Hillary swipes at Bush were designed to beat the news cycle before this report was released? Anybody want to place a bet that this was just mere coinidence?

Lord, I am starting to get as paranoiac as a Democrat...
-- Cookie Sewell
Aberdeen, Maryland

Your article on Special Counsel David Barrett's report was quite interesting. One point in the twelfth paragraph caught my attention. It's stated that in 1997 John Filan sent a memo to the IRS Chief Inspector. Gary Bell was the Chief Inspector at that time. Because of the sensitivity of the matter, he likely would have referred it to Valerie Lau, who was the Treasury Inspector General.

Lau had no investigative experience and had reportedly received the appointment because her mother was a major contributor to the Clinton campaign. As you may recall, she got into trouble in 1996 and 1997 because of her involvement in the FBI Filegate controversy and for two procurement contracts her office awarded. Some of the more blatant acts committed included opening investigations on two Secret Service agents who refuted White House claims that outdated Secret Service lists led to requests for FBI files on prominent Republicans. It's likely that John Filan's complaint ended up in the "black hole" of the Treasury IG. Thus, in addition to the tax case being fixed in Washington, the complaint that it was fixed probably received similar treatment in the Treasury Department.

A National Journal article on Valerie Lau, dated January 12, 1998 will provide additional details. Written by Annys Shin, it's here.

When the Inspection Service was removed from the IRS and became the Treasury IG for Tax Administration, Gary Bell left the organization. He is presently Director, Office of Refund Crimes, IRS Criminal Investigation Division, Washington, DC.

I spent thirty-four years in the IRS Inspection Service, the last twenty-six as a mid-level manager. Please see an article I had published in the November 3, 1997 issue of Insight on the News (available online) regarding my experiences dealing with corruption in the IRS and the Treasury Inspector General's office. For further information on those experiences, please see the books Unbridled Power by Shelley Davis and A Law Unto Itself by David Burnham.
-- Stan Welli
Aurora, Illinois

DEAN WITHDRAWAL
Re: Steve Hornbeck's Howard Dean Usurped:

What a great way to start my day, laughing like a crazy person -- Dean maybe. The first time I saw the new President on 24, I said my gosh, they have gotten Gore. Anyway wonderful article.
-- Elaine Kyle

Mr. Hornbeck has just succinctly described what ails the Democrat Party. Their "public face" is Ted Kennedy -- no more needs be said than the name, the image is clear; Joseph Biden -- America's last angry (in every way) incompetent; Howard Dean -- incompetent mentally, and herded by Democrats armed with tranquilizer dart guns lest he bite those around him; and the formerly Ed Sullivan-ish Albert Gore, Jr, the Prince of Tennessee, presently transmogrified into a crazed man with the apparent personality of wounded rhinoceros in heat.

And just for grins, standing in the wings lest any of these crazed mental patients self destruct, we have Ms. Clinton who coined the phrase "culture of corruption" and perfected the conduct required to qualify for that culture; and Congressman Murtha who had some time ago slipped, quietly round the bend, and only now has become so addled that he wants America to know he is now nuts, thus affirming his leadership status in his party.

This is not politics -- this is a Hunter S. Thompson novel!!
-- Jay W. Molyneaux
Wellington, Florida

ROE? OH NO!
Re: David Yerushalmi's Jurisprudence, Certainty, and the Alito Hearings:

Mr. Yerushalmi's article was a little gem of real insight. And he certainly doesn't overstate the danger to the rule of law posed by the likes of Biden et al, who view the Constitution as a kind of trophy which has been placed in the permanent custody of the Democratic Party. Watching Ted Kennedy's big salt lick of a head spewing green gobs of slander at hizzoner was an infuriating experience.
-- David Carter

Letter to the Editor

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