Lois Lerner's Emails: The Congressional Response

As reported in the first installment of this ongoing saga, "Lois Lerner's Emails are Available with One Phone Call," I reached out to an old family friend who quite fortunately is the junior United States senator from the great state of Georgia, Johnny Isakson (R).

I was not surprised to receive a fairly prompt reply. I was however surprised to receive a personal staff reply:

McGuire, Monica (Isakson) June 26, 2014 2:47PM

To: David Peavy Jr.

Subject: Your 6/20 Email to Senator Isakson

Hello Mr. Peavy,

First, Senator Isakson thanks you for your June 20 email.

He read and acted on your email, sharing your suggestion directly with U.S. Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA-49). Senator Isakson asked me to let you know to expect communication from Rep. Issa’s office to follow up on your suggestion.

If you have questions or if I may be of assistance, please feel free to contact me via email or phone, 202 224-3643.

All the best,

Monica M. McGuire

Tax Policy Advisor

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson

131 Russell Senate Office Building | Washington, D.C. 20510

I was very pleased to know that my original email was actually acted upon. All I've ever gotten out of my congressman, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), is an auto-generated form letter about how he cares about my issue. But this sounds like we are making progress. And rightfully so as Isakson has frequently commented on social media regarding Lerner's dog-ate-my-homework excuse.

Photo credit: Shutterstock 

And sure enough the very next day I received an email from the senior counsel of the Oversight Committee:

Brewer, David June 27, 2014 4:42PM

To: David Peavy Jr.

Subject: IRS Investigation

Mr. Peavy,

I am writing on behalf of the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa. As you probably know, Chairman Issa has been leading the effort in Congress to get to the bottom of the IRS abuses and the missing Lois Lerner e-mails. Senator Isakson spoke with Chairman Issa about your e-mail to the Senator, and Mr. Issa asked that I reach out to you. I’m happy to speak with you about the Committee’s investigation and what we may do to retrieve the missing e-mails. Please feel free to reach me at 202-225-5074.

Best,

David

David Brewer

Senior Counsel

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

Rep. Darrell E. Issa, Chairman

In the past week I have left messages for both McGuire and Brewer, but have yet to hear back. I have also been contacted by Isakson's Deputy Press Secretary, Marie Gordon. She left me a message to the effect that she had an update for us from Isakson. I have returned her call, but have yet to speak with her personally.

Hopefully soon, following our Independence Day holiday, we can get past the phone tag and push this issue forward.

So how can you, the loyal Blaze reader, help this cause? Simple: Make a few calls and send a few emails.

• Call and email your Congressional representative here.
• Call and email BOTH of your senators here.
• Call and email Oversight Committee Chairman Issa here and 202-225-3906.
• Call and email Oversight Committee Senior Counsel Brewer at 202-225-5074

Gang, this is how We the People are going to get this done!

With a cursory look at history people think Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein brought down the Nixon Administration over Watergate. Well, that's not entirely accurate.

Woodward and Bernstein and many other members of an actual functioning press got so many Americans upset over blatant criminal activity that they called their Congressional representatives. They in turn ordered the General Accounting Office to audit the president's books. It was that action that really caused the Irvin Committee to investigate, call witnesses, ask for the emails... I mean the tapes, and you know what happened next.

So this is how this gets done. It has worked recently with anti-gun legislation and bad telecommunications legislation.

I try never to speak for anyone other than myself, but some of you are perhaps wondering what to say when you call. First principles, be polite and respectful. You're speaking to a staffer. In general they are good, hardworking people, who have a very deep love of our Republic.

A simple concise message may look something like this:

"You and I both know the IRS computer crash is story just doesn't ring true. We know all those emails are archived elsewhere. I suggest my Senator / Representative encourage their colleagues in other government agencies to dig them up and hand them over to the Oversight Committee. This issue alone is serious enough for me to vote for another candidate in the next election. Sincerely & respectfully..."

Given what just happened to Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), it is a safe bet that if calls and emails start flooding in with this type of sentiment, We the People just might be reading Lerner's emails by the time school starts this fall.

But that only works if YOU make the call.

Dave welcomes your questions and commentsOn twitter: @davepeavyFacebook: /i> Email: davepeavy@gmail.comPhone: 512-638-1180

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