The Internal Revenue Service acknowledged Friday that conservative groups that included the words "tea party" or "patriot" in their applications for tax-exempt status were singled out for further review during the election, the Associated Press reports:
The Internal Revenue Service is apologizing for inappropriately flagging conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status.
Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS unit that oversees tax-exempt groups, said organizations that included the words "tea party" or "patriot" in their applications for tax-exempt status were singled out for additional reviews.
Lerner said the practice, initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati, was wrong and she apologized while speaking at a conference in Washington.
Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Rob Portman (Ohio), pressed the IRS last year in March on whether Tea Party groups were drawing higher levels of scrutiny during the review process.
