Democrat leaders are already instructing their members to protect Lois Lerner this week by voting against holding her in contempt. Actually, they probably don’t care so much about her, just what she knows about how this targeting began:
POLITICO – House Democratic leaders are urging their members to vote against holding former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner in contempt, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said on Monday.
The Maryland Democrat said leadership would oppose the contempt vote, which is scheduled to reach the House floor this week, on grounds that it is “political messaging.”
Lerner, who retired from the IRS last fall, was responsible for the agency division that targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny as they sought a tax exemption. She has repeatedly refused to answer questions from House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa’s panel, prompting the contempt vote.
“We’re going to express our opposition certainly to the Lerner [vote],” Hoyer said.
Speaker John Boehner has previously said Lerner would face a contempt vote as long as she refused to testify and Republicans are hoping a court will determine that she waived her Fifth Amendment right not to self-incriminate after giving a short speech before the Oversight Committee last May.