IRS Accused of 'Culture of Intimidation'

A political hit squad? You don't say.

The Internal Revenue Service had a culture of targeting some organizations that went beyond the extra scrutiny given to Tea Party groups, said Representative Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Suggesting a pattern, Camp at a hearing today cited gift-tax audits of donors of a group that supported the war in Iraq, the release of confidential information from other groups and questions to more Republican-leaning groups.

"Americans were affected by the culture of political intimidation and discrimination that was cultivated by this targeting," Camp, a Michigan Republican, said as he opened the Ways and Means hearing. "For simply exercising their First Amendment rights—the freedoms of association, expression and religion, the IRS singled them out."