by Chris Bodenner
A report from Michele's homestate paper:
Bachmann appears to have represented the IRS only twice in cases tried in U.S. Tax Court — both small cases — according to a search of judicial records by attorney Melissa Wexler, a research expert at Westlaw, a major provider of computerized records. One was a win against a White Earth Indian Reservation resident named Marvin Manypenny, who contended that part of his modest income was not taxable under treaty rights. [… The other] was a 1990 IRS win against a blue-collar Gateway Foods worker from La Crosse, Wis., who didn't file a tax return for several years. The most he ever made during those years was $23,470 and his six-year tax deficiency was estimated by the IRS at $13,500, records show. The taxpayer, who lived with his parents for lack of money after a divorce, represented himself in court.
The WaPo denounces Bachmann's most recent rhetoric against her former employer:
"I went to work in that system because the first rule of war is ‘know your enemy,'" Ms. Bachmann told a crowd in South Carolina on Thursday.
As Post blogger Greg Sargent pointed out, this was a change from the explanation that Ms. Bachmann normally offers for her résumé. In the past, she has said that her four years as an attorney representing the IRS gave her insights into the tax code and why it must be reformed. The notion that from the start she was infiltrating a system she considered to be "the enemy" seems to be a new spin.
But our objection to her statement goes beyond the fact that it may not be true and beyond the bellicose language. We find it disturbing that someone seeking to lead this country and become its government’s CEO would view any of its agencies as the enemy and government service as honorable only if it takes the form of undercover opposition.
The Dish 