Scrutinizing the IRS

The Washington Post is running an article entitled, "Acting Director of IRS Resigns."  The article begins, "President Obama said on Wednesday that the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Steve T. Miller, would resign, marking the administration’s first action in response to the disclosure that the IRS had targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny."  The article also refers to other challenges that the Administration is currently confronting, including Benghazi, and the eavesdropping on journalists. 

Questions for Discussion: 
1. If you were the head of an organization how would you decide when to fire somebody or to ask for their resignation? What variables should go into this type of decision? 

2. The article states, "Also Wednesday, the White House signaled it would support a renewed effort by lawmakers to pass a “media shield law” that gives new protections to journalists facing subpoenas." How much should journalists be protected from subpoenas?  What are the challenges in determining how much they should be protected? 

3. The President of the United States is currently facing numerous challenging issues.  Think of a time when you have faced numerous challenging issues.  What issues did you face?   What did you do in order to resolve these issues? Do you think that the President will be able to resolve the issues that he is facing?  Why or why not? 

4. The article states that the President said, "his administration would work closely with the multitude of congressional investigations that have been launched in the wake of the IRS controversy, but cautioned that lawmakers should not allow 'politics' to influence their thinking. He also suggested he might pursue a revamp of the laws governing political advocacy groups so they are less vague and 'we can have confidence they are applied in a fair and impartial way.'"  What does it mean to "allow politics to influence...thinking..."?  In what ways might citizens be effected if office holders did allow politics to influence their thinking? 

5. If you were investigating the IRS's attempt to make it more difficult for conservative leaning organizations to attain tax exempt status, what questions would you ask?  Why would you ask these questions? To whom would you want to ask your questions?  Why would you want to ask these specific people the questions?