The Treasury inspector general (IG) who outlined the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups aggressively defended his office from Democratic attacks on Thursday, saying he had never seen an independent auditor treated that way.
Democrats at a House Oversight hearing charged that Russell George, Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration, had examined the targeting too narrowly and missed the Internal Revenue Service’s treatment of liberal groups. George, Democrats contended, is also standing in the way of a requested document release.
George told lawmakers he was “disturbed” that his office was not, until recently, given documents that showed how liberal groups were scrutinized. But the former GOP staffer at the Oversight panel added at the end of a two-and-a-half hour appearance that he’d never seen lawmakers be so confrontational toward an inspector general.
“I have to admit, I’m a little concerned that this type of forum could have a chilling effect on the operations of inspectors general,” George said, adding that when he was at Oversight “we never treated an IG office like this.”
George also expressed concern that the lawmakers were questioning the integrity of members of his career staff who weren’t political appointees.