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May 30, 2013

IRS chief visited White House more than any other cabinet member

By Rick Moran

Former IRS commissioner Doug Shulman visited the White House at least 157 times during the Obama administration, according to logs obtained by the Daily Caller.

An analysis by The Daily Caller of the White House's public "visitor access records" showed that every current and former member of President Obama's Cabinet would have had to rack up at least 60 more public visits to the president's home to catch up with "Douglas Shulman."

The visitor logs do not give a complete picture of White House access. Some high-level officials get cleared for access and do not have to sign in during visits. A Washington Post database of visitor log records cautions, "The log may include some scheduled visits that did not take place and exclude visits by members of Congress, top officials and others who are not required to sign in at security gates."

The White House press office declined to comment on which visits by high-ranking officials do and do not get recorded in the visitor log, but it is probable that the vast majority of visits by major cabinet members do not end up in the public record.

Nevertheless, many visits by current and former cabinet members are in the logs, and the record depicts an IRS chief uniquely at home in the White House.

Attorney General Eric Holder, President Obama's friend and loyal lieutenant, logged 62 publicly known White House visits, not even half as many as Shulman's 157.

Former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, to whom Shulman reported, clocked in at just 48 publicly known visits.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earned a cool 43 public visits, and current Secretary of State John Kerry logged 49 known White House visits in the same timeframe, when he was still a U.S. senator.

Shulman has more recorded visits to the White House than HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (48), DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano (34), Education Secretary Arne Duncan (31), former Energy Secretary Steven Chu (22) and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates (17) combined.

The Daily Caller's analysis includes current, former and presently-nominated members of Obama's Cabinet.

After Shulman, Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank (86), Asst. Attorney General Thomas Perez (83) and Penny Pritzker (76) -- Obama's nominee for Commerce Secretary -- have the most publicly known White House visits.

Incredible. And what does Shulman say about the topics that were discussed at those meetings?

"Um, the Easter Egg Roll with my kids," Shulman replied. "Questions about the administrability of tax policy they were thinking of; our budget; us helping the Department of Education streamline application processes for financial aid."
How many dozens of visits did Shulman have after he found out about the IRS targeting of conservative groups?

"Is it really believable that someone who had a Wall Street career before coming to Washington five years ago was so politically naïve that he didn't see the potential for scandal in that information and give the White House a heads-up?" Commentary's John Steele Gordon wondered Tuesday.

If you were the head of an agency that was doing something you know your boss would approve of - if only in private - wouldn't you brag about it to him and get a good chuckle about the discomfort visited upon your boss's political enemies?

Give Shulman immunity and let him tell a congressional committee what he told the president about the IRS scandal - and when he told him.


Related Articles from American Thinker:

Former IRS commissioner Doug Shulman visited the White House at least 157 times during the Obama administration, according to logs obtained by the Daily Caller.

An analysis by The Daily Caller of the White House's public "visitor access records" showed that every current and former member of President Obama's Cabinet would have had to rack up at least 60 more public visits to the president's home to catch up with "Douglas Shulman."

The visitor logs do not give a complete picture of White House access. Some high-level officials get cleared for access and do not have to sign in during visits. A Washington Post database of visitor log records cautions, "The log may include some scheduled visits that did not take place and exclude visits by members of Congress, top officials and others who are not required to sign in at security gates."

The White House press office declined to comment on which visits by high-ranking officials do and do not get recorded in the visitor log, but it is probable that the vast majority of visits by major cabinet members do not end up in the public record.

Nevertheless, many visits by current and former cabinet members are in the logs, and the record depicts an IRS chief uniquely at home in the White House.

Attorney General Eric Holder, President Obama's friend and loyal lieutenant, logged 62 publicly known White House visits, not even half as many as Shulman's 157.

Former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, to whom Shulman reported, clocked in at just 48 publicly known visits.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earned a cool 43 public visits, and current Secretary of State John Kerry logged 49 known White House visits in the same timeframe, when he was still a U.S. senator.

Shulman has more recorded visits to the White House than HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (48), DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano (34), Education Secretary Arne Duncan (31), former Energy Secretary Steven Chu (22) and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates (17) combined.

The Daily Caller's analysis includes current, former and presently-nominated members of Obama's Cabinet.

After Shulman, Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank (86), Asst. Attorney General Thomas Perez (83) and Penny Pritzker (76) -- Obama's nominee for Commerce Secretary -- have the most publicly known White House visits.

Incredible. And what does Shulman say about the topics that were discussed at those meetings?

"Um, the Easter Egg Roll with my kids," Shulman replied. "Questions about the administrability of tax policy they were thinking of; our budget; us helping the Department of Education streamline application processes for financial aid."
How many dozens of visits did Shulman have after he found out about the IRS targeting of conservative groups?

"Is it really believable that someone who had a Wall Street career before coming to Washington five years ago was so politically naïve that he didn't see the potential for scandal in that information and give the White House a heads-up?" Commentary's John Steele Gordon wondered Tuesday.

If you were the head of an agency that was doing something you know your boss would approve of - if only in private - wouldn't you brag about it to him and get a good chuckle about the discomfort visited upon your boss's political enemies?

Give Shulman immunity and let him tell a congressional committee what he told the president about the IRS scandal - and when he told him.


Related Articles from American Thinker: