Politico has the story, but they don't extensively quote the email exchange, to the extent the Wall Street Journal does.
Here is the Lerner email exchange with colleagues, which is grabbing headlines ...
“I was cautioning folks about email and how we have had several occasions where Congress has asked for emails and there has been an electronic search for responsive emails — so we need to be cautious about what we say in emails,” she wrote to Maria Hooke, the director of business systems planning for the tax-exempt division. “Someone asked if OCS conversations were also searchable — I don’t know. … Do you know?”
[Instant] messages are not set to automatically save as the standard; however the functionality exists within the software," the IRS official wrote back. "My general recommendation is to treat the conversation as if it could/is being saved somewhere, as it is possible for either party of the conversation to retain the information and have it turn up as part of an electronic search."
"Perfect," Ms. Lerner replied.
8 comments:
I don't think the left really cares about this, and it wouldn't care even if a smoking gun led directly to Obama (which it undoubtedly does).
The Tea Party is a front for bigots, according to the left.
And bigots deserve whatever they get. There are no rules when it comes to punishing the bigots.
Not a single Democrat has come forward to denounce this attack on our fundamental rights. Not a single IRS employee has come forward to blow the whistle.
So, it looks more and more like Waterghazi.
It ain't the crime anymore, it's the cover-up that gets ya.
PS It still looks as though the IRS used a lot of emails.
"We need to be careful what we say in e-mails. Is this stuff searchable?" says the IRS.
Yeah- that's not suspicious.
"To date OCS conversations are not specifically identified as part of the Electronic Data Request (EDR) for information.."
"Perfect"
The EDR referred to here was from the IRS IG. The Oversight Committee got involved later and initially asked only for emails but followed up with more inclusive requests.
My Grandmother could run a better investigation - and she's dead.
When I was working at a civil/environment Eng. consulting company as a draftsman, I remember they kept a copy of all the projects documents at an offsite archive for 10 years after final submission.
I believe they had to do that in order to protect themselves against liability claims and to comply with the laws.
We appear to have no such protections in the public sector.
"We need to be careful what we say in e-mails. Is this stuff searchable?" says the IRS.
That, if only indirectly, contradicts the statements of the top IRS Commissioner testimony the "he saw no evidence of wrongdoing."
IM's may not be part of a current EDR, but the EDR is set by your legal counsel. They have a responsibility to capture any related evidence that might used in an investigation. Case in point: Ex-BP Worker Is Found Guilty of Obstruction in Gulf Spill
His obstruction? "Mr. Mix deleted a string of more than 200 text messages in October 2010 despite notices from BP that he and others must retain all information about the well."
BP legal told this guy not to delete all messages, including on his cellphone. This guy deleted messages. Apparently the IRS doesn't have such stringent guidelines. And apparently the federal prosecutors who went after Mr. Mix are not interested in pursuing Lois Lerner.
How dumb does a broad have to be not to realize that if emails are buried in a computer, IMs are, too?
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