Acting IRS head named as Tea Party rallies on scandal

AN 'INTRUSIVE' AUDIT

At the rally on Thursday, Tea Party speakers described how the increased scrutiny prevented them from participating in the democratic process - in some cases by delaying their groups' applications until after the 2012 elections had passed and in other cases through overly intrusive questioning by IRS agents that some Tea party groups say led them to give up their organizing efforts.

"The IRS just keeps asking questions. Our audit has been so intrusive," said Susan McLaughlin of the Liberty Tea Party in Liberty Township, Ohio. McLaughlin said her group had been waiting for three years to win tax-exempt status.

Republicans in Congress vowed to conduct a thorough investigation.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called on the IRS's internal watchdog to investigate whether the agency had leaked the donor list of the National Organization for Marriage, a conservative group fighting gay-marriage initiatives, to a rival group.

"This is what government intimidation and harassment looks like," McConnell said.

They may get some answers on Friday, when ousted IRS chief Miller testifies before the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee.

The man who will fill his shoes worked as a non-partisan civil servant in the White House budget office for Republican President George W. Bush before Obama asked him to take on the more partisan role of controller.

Werfel, 42, developed a track record of coolly responding to harsh questions from lawmakers as he testified several times this year about the "sequestration" budget cuts that kicked in after Congress and the White House failed to reach a larger deficit-reduction deal.

Werfel takes over a tax agency that is maligned by many Americans even in the best of times. Obama eventually will have to decide whether to ask the Democrat-led Senate to confirm Werfel to the job permanently or nominate another candidate who could win more support among Republicans.

"No one in their right mind would want the job right now," said Paul Streckfus, a tax journalist who used to work in the IRS division that is now at the center of the scandal.

As the furor has increased, some key IRS employees have pulled out of public events.

Lois Lerner, the IRS official who broke the news of the scandal last week, canceled plans to speak at a graduation ceremony for her law-school alma mater, Western New England University.

And in Washington, the IRS softball team canceled a scheduled match against the staff of Senator John Cornyn, the Texas Republican said on Facebook.