
Gov. Christie's hyper-political aides ordered traffic jams in neighborhoods near the perpetually backed-up George Washington Bridge to annoy the mayor of Fort Lee. And they may have canceled meetings with the mayor of Jersey City because he wouldn't endorse Mr. Christie. Oh my.
The Christie bonfire has burned for a week. In that same week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the FBI found nothing in the IRS's targeting of conservative political groups that warrants criminal charges.
This conclusion struck lawyers Jay Sekulow and Cleta Mitchell as fairly amazing. Both represent conservative groups targeted by the IRS, and they say the FBI only recently got in touch with a few of their clients.
Thus, two of the most powerful public institutions in the U.S.—the FBI and the IRS—have concluded no harm, no foul, and the memory hole swallows the Obama administration's successful kneecapping of the GOP's most active members just as they prepared to participate in the 2012 presidential campaign. Many—ruined or terrified by the IRS probes—shut down. Mr. Obama won.
One may be thankful that corners of the U.S.
judiciary remain intact and unintimidated. Late last week, a judge in
Wisconsin slowed down what was essentially a Democratic prosecutor's
star-chamber investigation of conservative groups that supported
Republican Gov. Scott Walker. A special prosecutor armed with subpoena power had been poring
over the groups' finances, while a gag order stopped the groups from
saying they were his targets.
On Friday, a court quashed some of the subpoenas for lack of probable
cause. That's good, but don't expect to see Friends of Scott Walker
going on offense any time soon. Legal pistol-whippings by state
prosecutors can have that effect, win or lose.
Worth noting is what the IRS's political audits and the attempted takedown of
the pro-Walker groups have in common: Both took place essentially out
of public view.
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