Time: Thu Oct 02 21:08:00 1997
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Date: Thu, 02 Oct 1997 21:05:28 -0700
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From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: Whistle-Blower Decribes IRS Abuse (fwd)
<snip>
>
>September 27, 1997
>
>Whistle-Blower Decribes IRS Abuse
>
>ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
>WASHINGTON (AP) -- The star of the Senate's IRS
>investigation was a Houston woman who put her career on
>the line by describing, in vivid terms, something terribly
>wrong within the tax collection agency.
>
>"Many agents are encouraged by management to pursue
>tax assessments that have no basis in law from
>individuals who simply can't fight back," Jennifer Long told
>a stunned Senate Finance Committee hearing. "I do feel
>taxpayers' rights are being violated."
>
>The Houston-based revenue agent said in interviews this
>week her decision to go public evolved from grievances
>against her Houston office managers. But she believes her
>problems at work highlight broader abuses of power.
>
>A defining moment in her 15-year IRS career came last
>November, when Long said "management" -- she won't
>reveal names -- sent an IRS inspector pounding on her
>door, ostensibly to retrieve case files. Long, who
>sometimes works from her house when doing field audits,
>contends the only reason the inspector was sent was to
>harass her.
>
>"That scared me. That was intimidating," Long said. "I felt
>they were out of control. These people will stop at nothing."
>
>Long, a blonde 46-year-old speaking calmly and directly in
>her Texas accent, said the "grievances and targeting of
>me started because I clearly was not a person that could
>be bought into getting other employees or trying to get the
>taxpayers."
>
>"I would say ... that my testimony is more like protection for
>myself," she said. The employment grievance became so
>bitter that Long feared her managers "want to destroy my
>professional reputation."
>
>IRS spokesman Henry Holmes in Houston said federal
>worker privacy laws prevent him from commenting about
>10 grievances Long said she's filed against management
>since July 1996.
>
>"She is free to say what she wants about her own
>personal situation," Holmes said.
>
>Long testified Wednesday, under oath, without her identity
>concealed. A former agent and five current ones
>addressed the committee the following day from behind
>cloth screens, their voices electronically scrambled.
>
>In her testimony, Long charged the IRS inspection division,
>which investigates employee wrongdoing, has been "used
>as a tool by management to harass and intimidate its
>employees." In addition, Long charged IRS management
>with "fabricating evidence against the taxpayer" to run up
>tax bills. She said he heard that in some cases friends of
>management were made off-limits for audits.
>
>IRS officials said they couldn't comment directly on the
>allegations but described them as extremely serious.
>Acting IRS Commissioner Michael Dolan ordered the
>agency's inspector general to investigate, as did Sen. Phil
>Gramm, R-Texas, saying Long described criminal
>behavior.
>
>While the committee found Long to be a compelling
>witness, few details about her background were revealed
>at the hearing. Tense and visibly worn, she refused
>reporters' requests for comments outside the hearing
>room.
>
>A day later, relaxing at an outdoor cafe in Washington's
>trendy Dupont Circle neighborhood, Long discussed her
>career, passion for world travel, foreign language skills and
>hobby of country dancing. And she spoke of her decision
>to testify.
>
>"I don't think I would have come forward unless they sent
>inspectors to my house," Long said.
>
>She wrote a lengthy letter to then-IRS Commissioner
>Margaret Richardson complaining about the Houston office
>management. After no response, she contacted her
>congressman, Rep. Bill Archer, chairman of the tax-writing
>House Ways and Means Committee. He's a Republican
>who wants to "tear the IRS out by its roots" in favor of a
>national sales tax.
>
>"When Jennifer Long contacted congressman Archer, (he)
>... saw it looked like a serious case, and it was worth
>taking the highly unusual step of contacting the IRS
>commissioner himself," Archer spokesman James Wilcox
>said Saturday.
>
>After an exchange of letters, the IRS' chief inspector sent a
>letter to Archer in March that "defended the actions of Ms.
>Long's superiors," Wilcox said.
>
>How will her colleagues react when she returns to work
>Monday? Long laughed and said she expects people will
>be uncomfortable just to be seen with her, but she expects
>friends will remain.
>
>"There have been some people who have stuck with me
>through thick and thin through this," she said. "I mean,
>there are some very good, good, honorable people at the
>IRS."
>
> All contents Copyright 1997 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
>
<snip>
===========================================================================
Paul Andrew Mitchell, Sui Juris : Counselor at Law, federal witness 01
B.A.: Political Science, UCLA; M.S.: Public Administration, U.C.Irvine 02
tel: (520) 320-1514: machine; fax: (520) 320-1256: 24-hour/day-night 03
email: [address in tool bar] : using Eudora Pro 3.0.3 on 586 CPU 04
website: http://supremelaw.com : visit the Supreme Law Library now 05
ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best 06
Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone 07
Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this 08
_____________________________________: Law is authority in written words 09
As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice. We shall 10
not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal. 11
======================================================================== 12
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