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Barber on Vulnerable Dems Urging the IRS to Target Conservative Groups

February 14, 2014

Vulnerable Democrats up for reelection are urging the IRS to continue its targeting of conservative groups, a move the Washington Free Beacon’s Ellison Barber finds unsurprising given Democrats fragile hold on the Senate majority. A recent report from House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) showed that 100% of the groups selected for audit by the IRS were right-leaning.

"Republicans need to have a net gain of six seats [to retake the majority]," Barber told Fox News Friday. "That’s a pretty reasonable thing that may happen. So given that, I don’t think it's surprising they are trying to push back now."

Barber noted that while the Democrats have called on the IRS to stop conservative groups, their criticism does not extend to groups that support Democratic candidates. "You don’t hear [Senate Democrats] talking about Organizing For Action. You don’t hear them going after Priorities USA," Barber said.

Barber cited some liberal Super PACs’ withdrawal from the 2014 elections as a contributing factor to Democratic angst at conservative groups.

"Maybe one of the motivating reasons why some of these Democrats are angry is because they don’t have the same support by 501(c)(4)s," Barber said. "When they did have it in 2012 they didn’t seem to have a problem."

Published under: IRS