The Greater Boston Tea Party is greatly distressed to learn that a department of the federal government, in its oversight of our tax system, has routinely targeted for intimidation and harassment citizen activist organizations, based on their conservative political ideology. As citizens and newcomers to the arena of policy advocacy, we feel this betrayal of the public’s trust is worthy of immediate investigation followed by swift disciplinary action. Any and all employees of the IRS suspected to have participated in, condoned or failed to report such activity should be suspended from performing their duties.

That President Obama has labeled these practices “outrageous” is encouraging. He well understands how swiftly political winds can shift. The trust we have instilled in our government is only preserved if the power of that government is leveled evenly and equally. We are disappointed and feel betrayed by the government we expect to act neutrally and transparently in its bureaucratic functions.

The Greater Boston Tea Party, while operating as a 501c3 organization, has delayed filing our application to be recognized as such by the federal government. The process is complicated, expensive and arduous. That it has been made more so by the agency reviewing the applications is, frankly, ironic, considering many of the targeted applicants advocate for less government oversight of our daily activities both private and public.

Again, we are encouraged by President Obama’s strong condemnation and his call for accountability in the scandal. We can only hope that part of the effort at combating this culture of oppression will include instruction of government employees in the constitutional rights of the citizenry.

This behavior matters to every American. No department of government at any level has the power or authority to target individuals or organizations based on ideology. We will be contacting Massachusetts’ federal representatives and asking for leadership on investigating and eliminating practices of political prejudice and oppression at all levels of government.