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Townhall
Finance
No
Better for Obama Next Week, Either
by Marita Noon
It’s
been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week at the
White House—and it isn’t looking like next week will be any better. You
probably know about Obama’s trifecta of troubles: the Benghazi story
about the
attack that killed four Americans and the aftermath that falsely blamed
a
YouTube video that “continues to smolder on the far-right side of the
dial,”
the IRS targeting conservative groups for extra scrutiny while giving
liberals
a pass, and, the one that got the mainstream media engaged: the “broad
and
potentially chilling probe” conducted by the Justice Department on
journalists’
phone calls at the Associated Press (AP).
The
place in which the President finds himself has been compared
to that of Nixon on May 17, 1973, about which US News and World Report
states:
“The scandal and cover-up came to define and destroy Richard Nixon's
presidency. It’s too early to tell if the scandals plaguing President
Barack
Obama … rise to a similar level.”
It
may be too early to tell whether the three scandals will
“define and destroy” Barack Obama’s presidency—but they do reveal a
propensity
to massage the message and reward their friends while destroying their
enemies.
And, there are more than the trifecta of troubles that make this point,
there’s
a six-pack of scandals.
In
addition to the three-widely covered stories, there are three
more with the same characteristics.
EPA
Favors Friendlies
We
see favoritism in the EPAs treatment of friendly groups vs. a
“concerted campaign to make life more difficult for those deemed
unfriendly.” A
few days ago, the Washington Examiner reported on the Competitive
Enterprise
Institute’s (CEI) review of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests
to see
how equally the agency applies its fee waiver policy. The results are
shocking.
Chris
Horner, Senior Fellow at CEI, told me: “The IRS and EPA
revelations are near-identical uses of the state to enable allies and
disadvantage opponents. Granting or denying tax-exempt status can make
or break
a group. The same is true with FOIA fee waivers being tossed like Mardi
Gras
beads at greens, and denied to opponents of a bigger regulatory state.
Fees for
FOIA document productions can run into the six-figures.”
We’ll
be hearing more about the EPA friendlies scandal. On Friday,
May 17, Senator Vitter’s office sent a letter to EPA Acting
Administrator Bob
Perciasepe requesting “your prompt attention to this matter as we
investigate
EPA’s process for granting FOIA fee waivers.” The letter was signed by
David
Vitter, Ranking Member, Committee on Environment and Public Works, U.S.
Senate;
Darrel Isa, Chairman, Committee on Government Oversight and Reform,
U.S. House
of Representatives; James Inhofe, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on
Oversight
Committee on Environment and Public Works, U.S. Senate; and Charles E.
Grassley, Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate...
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the rest of the article at Townhall Finance
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