The Internal Revenue Service just agreed to pay a $50,000 settlement to the National Organization for Marriage after admitting it was wrong to put out for public viewing some of the group’s confidential information about donors.
The NOM, an advocacy group that promotes traditional marriage, sued the IRS in 2013 after finding that its 2008 tax form — containing private information that included donor names — was leaked. The gay rights group, Human Rights Campaign, published the private information in 2012, Breitbart reported.
The Department of Justice served as the defense team for the IRS.
IRS spokesman Bruce Friedland declined to comment about the court result, saying he was prohibited from releasing a public statement because of privacy laws, Breitbart reported. But NOM was happy.
John Eastman, who chairs NOM, said he was grateful the taxing agency was finally held accountable and that the court fight had been “long and arduous,” Breitbart reported.
“Thanks to a lot of hard work, we’ve forced the IRS to admit that they in fact were the ones to break the law and [that they] wrongfully released this confidential information,” he said, Breitbart reported.
House Ways and Means chairman David Camp, meanwhile, sees the case as yet another example of how the IRS targets conservative groups. He also found it contemptible that the Justice Department was involved in the defense process and said that agency had long ago lost credibility with the American people in terms of upholding the rights of conservative groups and causes, Breitbart reported.
“While the administration prefers to sweep this under the rug, it is time that the American people have a special prosecutor into this matter so the full truth can come out,” Mr. Camp said.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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