IRS Suspends 2 Over Ethically Dubious Party

The plot has thickened around not one but both of the scandals embroiling the IRS. In Ridiculous-Conference-Gate news, the agency has suspended—and intends to fire—two managers who violated ethics rules by accepting improper gifts. Among those gifts: $1,162 worth of free food, which was used to throw a lavish after-hours party in their hotel suites, the Washington Post reports. One of the managers is the director of implementation oversight for ObamaCare; the other is in the small business division.

Meanwhile, in Tea-Party-501(c)(4)-Gate (we've got to get some better scandal names around here), two Cincinnati IRS employees are saying that the effort to single out Tea Party groups came straight from Washington. One man told congressional investigators that a local manager had told him to run a search for "tea party" because "Washington, DC, wanted some cases," according to a transcript obtained by the Wall Street Journal. He handed those cases off to another woman, who testified that she asked DC for help—and became "essentially a front person" for a Washington IRS official. (More IRS stories.)