Treasury to probe oversight of ACORN and similar groups

The Treasury Department has agreed to conduct a review of IRS oversight of the community organizing group ACORN and similar organizations, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Thursday.

Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, announced that the Treasury Department's inspector general had agreed to an investigation called for by Issa and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

"In response to your request, [the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration] is initiating a review of the IRS's oversight of tax-exempt Section 501(c)(3) organizations and Section 527 organizations and will review internal IRS referral processes with regard to nonprofit fraud investigations," Treasury Inspector General J. Russell George wrote to Issa in a letter.

George added that the Treasury is currently conducting an audit of the IRS's work to make sure groups like ACORN publicly disclose their activities.

The letter did not specifically say the Treasury would be investigating ACORN itself, but rather a broader look into the IRS's enforcement of rules for a number of groups.

A Treasury Department spokeswoman said that the agency will not comment on current or pending investigations into ACORN itself.

Issa and Collins both praised the Treasury's decision to launch an investigation into the matter, hailing it as a preliminary step into increasing federal scrutiny of the group.

“The lack of an appropriate firewall between ACORN’s charitable activities and its political arm has raised significant questions regarding the appropriateness of their status as a taxable nonprofit corporation and their management of federal dollars,” Issa said. “Cutting ties with ACORN is a good first step for the federal government, but since they have been the recipients of taxpayer dollars, we have an obligation to investigate to discover whether or not those dollars were misused in anyway.

“I am heartened by the agreement of the Treasury Department’s Inspector General to examine the troubling financial questions that have been raised about ACORN,” Collins said. “This is the first step in the right direction toward much-needed transparency.