Has IRS Supervisor Holly Paz Been Stealth-Fired?

And why the stealth?

Head to the link for evidence of her firing (including the word from a source). Here's why she might have been fired:

As the director of Rulings and Agreements, Paz served as the first line of management in Washington, D.C., that oversaw both the tax-law specialists who provided guidance to agents in Cincinnati reviewing tea-party applications and the Determinations Unit in Cincinnati charged with processing those applications. Paz has served in that position since January 2011, reporting directly to Lois Lerner, with the exception of a four-month period between October 2011 and January 2012 when she reportedly was on maternity leave. Lerner, the director of the IRS’s Exempt Organizations division was on May 23 placed on paid leave.

Paz became the subject of controversy when, in an interview with the House Oversight Committee, she revealed that she participated in an IRS internal investigation about the agency’s discrimination against tea-party groups and was aware of its findings, which emerged a year before the inspector general’s report and reached similar conclusions. Paz, however, did not notify Congress of those findings.

Lawmakers have also raised eyebrows at the fact that Paz was present when members of the inspector general’s team interviewed her subordinates during the course of their investigation. In a May 23 Oversight Committee hearing, chairman Darrell Issa expressed his astonishment, saying he was “shocked” to find that Paz “participated in virtually every one of the interrogations or interviews with her own subordinates.” He added: ”In those, of course, one of the questions the IG had to ask was, ‘Did anyone tell you to do this?’ If that question was asked, their own superior was in the room.”

But all of the other malefactors involved were permitted to resign with full benefits or were put on administrative leave with full pay. Why the firing here?

Perhaps because she talked too much.

Just yesterday the committee interviewed Holly Paz, the director of exempt organizations, rulings and agreements, division of the IRS,' Issa said. 'While a tremendous amount of attention is centered about the Inspector General's report, or investigation, the committee has learned from Ms. Paz that she in fact participated in an IRS internal investigation that concluded in May of 2012 - May 3 of 2012 - and found essentially the same thing that Mr. George found more than a year later.'

That is, she wasn't just guilty, she was guilty and talking. And it's the last that's the real sin.

posted by Ace at 11:57 AM

| Access Comments