S.C. Hotline - South Carolina News, Opinion and Politics By Paul Gable

An unofficial committee of three local counties passed two resolutions Wednesday calling for new ownership for the Carolina Southern Railroad while acknowledging the railroad is essential for Horry and Marion counties in South Carolina and Columbus County, NC. Grandly calling itself the ‘Interstate Railroad Committee of North and South Carolina’, this group of public officials representing several communities and three counties across two states, with no legal basis, has finally come out of the closet with its true purpose. That purpose is to wrest ownership of the railroad from Ken Pippin and his family. Since when, in America, is it the purpose of one government or a group of governments to decide who should own a private business?

The post Carolina Southern Railroad Heist? appeared first on S.C. Hotline.

S.C. Hotline - South Carolina News, Opinion and Politics By Paul Gable

Rep. Trey Gowdy says he wants a “full throated outrage” from the president over the recent controversy at the IRS. “We’re not interested in retirements and forced ousters, we’re interested in people going to jail,” the South Carolina Republican told Fox News on Wednesday. Gowdy called the agency’s controversial questioning of tea party groups “huge,” and said that singling out minority viewpoints went against the founding principles of the nation. “Our framers went to great lengths to protect minority views,” he said. “What I want from (Obama) is a promise of swift, certain consequences for anyone who did it or had responsibility for overseeing it.” After a lengthy hearing on the Hill in which Attorney General Eric Holder answered questions on a variety of recent issues, Gowdy said he was happy about one thing he heard Wednesday. He said he was pleased to hear his colleagues on the other side of the aisle speak out about the IRS and Associated Press investigations.

The post Trey Gowdy wants to see IRS jail time appeared first on S.C. Hotline.

S.C. Hotline - South Carolina News, Opinion and Politics By Paul Gable

The initial story from the IRS regarding alleged targeting of conservative groups has fallen apart. These actions go well beyond one or several low level employees acting on their own. According to a report from the IRS Inspector General’s office, senior officials at the IRS knew about the targeting of conservative groups for over a year without doing anything about it. Every new revelation makes this whole caper seem more and more politically motivated regardless of what the Obama administration says. Yesterday we heard that at least one organization in South Carolina, the Laurens County Tea Party, was one of the many organizations having problems with the IRS. The group applied for tax-exempt status in 2010 and still has received no answer. Yesterday we also heard that the Justice Department had begun an investigation into the actions of the IRS. This would be the same Justice Department that performed warrantless searches on the phone records of several reporters at the Associated Press. If government officials don’t respect the laws of the United States and the provisions of the Constitution, who will?

The post IRS Story Unravels; Liberty Lost appeared first on S.C. Hotline.

S.C. Hotline - South Carolina News, Opinion and Politics By Paul Gable

Lancaster County TEA Party Meeting With Senator Lee Bright Gun Rights What you need to know to defend your freedom to protect yourself and your family 10:00 AM Saturday May 18th Rain or Shine Location Carolina Christian Academy 1850 Kershaw Camden Hwy (South end of the Lancaster 521 Bypass) Lancaster, [...]

The post Lancaster County TEA Party Gun Rights meeting appeared first on S.C. Hotline.

S.C. Hotline - South Carolina News, Opinion and Politics By Paul Gable

We now know that at least three IRS offices were involved in the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. The Washington Post reported today the IRS Washington, D.C. headquarters sent questionnaires to conservative groups asking about their donors and other areas of their operations while the El Monte and Laguna Miguel offices in California did the same with tea party affiliated groups. This takes the investigation of IRS activities well beyond the initial claim that some low level functionaries in the Cincinnati office were to blame. According to the article, an employee in the Cincinnati office told a lawyer representing one of the targeted groups that its application was “under review” in Washington. Interestingly, it was George W. Bush appointed IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman who told a Congressional committee in spring 2012 that no targeting was occurring. Shulman resigned in November 2012.

The post Investigating the IRS partie deux appeared first on S.C. Hotline.

S.C. Hotline - South Carolina News, Opinion and Politics By Paul Gable

The increasing revelations of the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative groups for increased scrutiny are the potential political scandal that Congress should be investigating. In addition to groups with the words “tea party,” and “patriot” being targeted for extra IRS scrutiny, we learned over the weekend groups criticizing the government and those seeking to educate people about the Constitution were also given extra scrutiny. It is now obvious that these acts were not the isolated, random acts of a couple of low level IRS employees as they were first characterized. The head of the IRS tax-exempt division was made aware of this activity as early as June 2011. Using the IRS for a political agenda was the second article of impeachment prepared against President Richard Nixon. It has been written that use of the IRS against political opponents goes back at least to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Use of the IRS or any other government agency to target political opponents by either party is absolutely unacceptable and investigations of such alleged activity and prosecution of those responsible should be pursued to the absolute maximum. The major question to be answered is what did President Barack Obama know and when did he know it?

The post IRS Abuse Allegations Need Real Investigation appeared first on S.C. Hotline.