There's nothing to look at here, just move along ....

Although there are stories at Fox News and the Daily Caller, there appears to be almost no interest on the part of the establishment press in covering the Treasury Department's failure to report over 99% of its conference costs when Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn asked for an itemized listing a year ago.

The Politico, the repository for stories which cause Democrats and the left discomfort that the rest of the press would prefer to ignore ("Oh, the Politico did something with it, so we don't have to"), buried the item in a "Morning Tax" report Thursday. Writer Lauren French held off as long as she possibly could presenting how the $50 million in omitted IRS costs dwarfed the measly $500,000 which was reported

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2013/06/09/treasury-omits-all-irs-and-other-bureau-conference-costs-2012-response-c#ixzz2Vl3sY5mF

Coburn questions incomplete disclosure from Treasury

MORE MISSED DISCLOSURES. The inspector general audit detailing the nearly $50 million the IRS spent on conferences shocked members of Congress. But none more than Sen. Tom Coburn.

That’s because the Oklahoma Republican had already been told by the Treasury Department of each conference the department held from 2005 to 2012 — and that response did not mention any of the 200 IRS conferences included in the IG report.

The Treasury, responding from a 2012 request from Coburn, said it hosted only five conferences with more than 50 staffers and the cost for the events were under $500,000. Now Coburn is asking Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to explain the discrepancy.

“This information appears to be very relevant to the initial request, but we did not receive it. In light of these reports, it appears that the response provided by Treasury was inaccurate and incomplete.

... I have attached my initial letter for your review. In light of recent events, I request your department re-examine its files and ensure that it has shared with me all date responsive to my initial request,” wrote Coburn, the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The senator has also asked the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to review “why the IRS conference data was omitted from the response.”


Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2013/06/09/treasury-omits-all-irs-and-other-bureau-conference-costs-2012-response-c#ixzz2Vl4MrXmq

Coburn's original April 16, 2012 letter (at Page 3 in the document embedded here) asked for, among other things:

a)"Total cost of agency travel related to conferences."
b) "The number and a full listing of all conferences attended by your employees during each fiscal year."

People who think like government-employed weasels might contend that Coburn didn't frame his requests properly. Item a) could be nuanced to only include the Treasury Department's own conferences but none of those held by its "bureaus" which "make up 98% of the Treasury work force": The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, The Bureau of Engraving & Printing, The Community Development Financial Institution Fund, The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, The Financial Management Service, The Inspector General, The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, The Internal Revenue Service, The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the U.S. Mint.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2013/06/09/treasury-omits-all-irs-and-other-bureau-conference-costs-2012-response-c#ixzz2Vl4dVDDC

You know what is the saddest thing of all? We will have all these hearing on Benghazi and the IRS mess and Prism and all the other stuff and NOTHING WILL COME OF IT. It will be business as usual. Things are so out of control in the government that I almost think change is impossible. Remember that hope and change thing? We got change all right! How's that change workin' for ya'????