[POLITICO] Steven Miller is breaking his silence about the scandal that's engulfing the Internal Revenue Service.
Miller, the acting IRS commissioner, is quickly emerging as the focus of fury in Washington after an agency official acknowledged last week that conservative groups seeking nonprofit status were targeted for extra screening if their applications included words such as "tea party" or "patriot."
In an op-ed published Tuesday in USA Today, he said the agency was simply trying to manage the explosive growth in applications for 501(c)(4) status that started pouring in to the IRS in 2010.
"The Internal Revenue Service recognizes that we should have done a better job of handling the influx of applications by advocacy groups," Miller wrote.
He denied that politics played a role in the targeting practice.
"Mistakes were made, but they were in no way due to any political or partisan motivation," he wrote. "We are -- and will continue to be -- dedicated to reviewing all applications for tax-exempt status in an impartial manner."
The passive voice erupts again. "Mistakes were made" by somebody, somewhere, perhaps, but not the speaker, no, no, certainly not! They're just "made," kinda like earthquakes happen. |