Are the DOJ and IRS in Cahoots?

It seems confidential tax records of several political candidates and campaign donors were improperly accessed by government officials, but guess what? The Justice Department didn't want to know. The Washington Free Beacon reported Monday it declined to prosecute any of the officials involved, even in one willful violation of the law.

This isn't rumor. It was observed and reported by an IRS watchdog. In fact the Treasury Deparment didn't even deny it.

In a July 3 letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George acknowledged that since 2006, government officials had illegally accessed tax records of candidates and donors in four instances.

George concluded that in three of the cases access was inadvertent, but in the fourth, "we presented evidence of a willful unauthorized access to the Department of Justice, but the case was declined for prosecution.

Grassley wants answers. He wants to know why Justice declined to prosecute in the case of willful unauthorized access.

Any agency with access to tax records is required to act with neutrality and professionalism, not political bias, he said in a statement. The Justice Department should answer completely and not hide behind taxpayer confidentiality laws to avoid accountability for its decision not to prosecute a violation of taxpayer confidentiality laws.

IRS investigators also are looking into two allegations that the IRS targeted for audit candidates for public office, George wrote to Grassley.

The identities of the victims have not been released.