FLASHBACK: Romney donor vilified by Obama campaign, then subjected to 2 audits



Just months after being slimed by President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign, Mitt Romney supporter and businessman Frank VanderSloot was informed that he was going to be audited not only by the Internal Revenue Service, but by the Labor Department as well.

VanderSloot’s saga was told by columnist Kimberley Strassel in the Wall Street Journal last July.


In April 2012, VanderSloot, who served as the national co-chair of Mitt Romney’s presidential finance committee, was one of eight Romney backers to be defamed as ”wealthy individuals with less-than-reputable records” in a post on the Obama campaign’s website. The post, entitled “Behind the curtain: a brief history of Romney’s donors,” singled out VanderSloot for being a ”litigious, combative and a bitter foe of the gay rights movement.”

Two months later, the IRS informed VanderSloot he and his wife were going to be audited, Strassel reported. Two weeks after that, VanderSloot was notified by the Labor Department that it was going to “audit workers he employs on his Idaho-based cattle ranch under the federal visa program for temporary agriculture workers,” reported Strassel.

“Did Mr. Obama pick up the phone and order the screws put to Mr. VanderSloot?” she asked. “Or—more likely—did a pro-Obama appointee or political hire or career staffer see that the boss had an issue with this donor, and decide to do the president an unasked-for election favor? Or did he or she simply think this was a duty, given that the president had declared Mr. VanderSloot and fellow donors ‘less than reputable’?”

VanderSloot’s tale is more relevant in light of the admission Friday by IRS official Lois Lerner that the agency gave extra scrutiny to non-profit tea party groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their name that applied for tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(4) of the tax code. While Lerner said the agency’s actions were inappropriate, she claimed it was not the result of political bias.


Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/13/flashb.../#ixzz2TAUQtUC5

May 10, 2012

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424...2560038208.html

By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL

Trolling for Dirt on the President's List

First a Romney supporter was named on an Obama campaign website. That was followed by the slimy trolling into a citizen's private life.

Three weeks ago, an Obama campaign website, "Keeping GOP Honest," took the extraordinary step of publicly naming and assailing eight private citizens backing Mr. Romney. Titled "Behind the curtain: a brief history of Romney's donors," the post accused the eight of being "wealthy individuals with less-than-reputable records." Mr. VanderSloot was one of the eight, smeared particularly as being "litigious, combative and a bitter foe of the gay rights movement."

About a week after that post, a man named Michael Wolf contacted the Bonneville County Courthouse in Idaho Falls in search of court records regarding Mr. VanderSloot. Specifically, Mr. Wolf wanted all the documents dealing with Mr. VanderSloot's divorces, as well as a case involving a dispute with a former Melaleuca employee.

Mr. Wolf sent a fax to the clerk's office—which I have obtained—listing four cases he was after. He would later send a second fax, asking for three further court cases dealing with either Melaleuca or Mr. VanderSloot. Mr. Wolf listed only his name and a private cellphone number.

Some digging revealed that Mr. Wolf was, until a few months ago, a law clerk on the Democratic side of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

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Mr. VanderSloot acknowledges that "when I first learned that President Obama's campaign had singled me out on his 'enemies list,' I knew it was like taping a target on my back." But the more he's thought it through, "the public beatings and false accusations that followed are no deterrent. These tactics will not work in America." He's even "contemplating a second donation."

Still. If details about Mr. VanderSloot's life become public, and if this hurts his business or those who work for him, Mr. Obama will bear responsibility. This is what happens when the president makes a list.

Quote: Cedric wrote in post #3

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C'mon, this one's goin' nowhere with the LIV crowd.

They probably figure this guy deserves everything he gets and more.

His last name is VanderSloot!

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Complain, complain, complain.

Has anyone considered that we should quit complaining and instead consider ourselves fortunate?

Fortunate, you say? Fortunate, indeed!

Why, in most regimes and dictatorships around the world, when one opposes the tyrant in chief, he or she can expect a midnight visit, imprisonment, or even worse.

Obama and his cabal, by contrast, only go after our wallets.

We're fortunate, indeed.

Quote: Rufus T Firefly wrote in post #6

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Complain, complain, complain.

Has anyone considered that we should quit complaining and instead consider ourselves fortunate?

Fortunate, you say? Fortunate, indeed!

Why, in most regimes and dictatorships around the world, when one opposes the tyrant in chief, he or she can expect a midnight visit, imprisonment, or even worse.

Obama and his cabal, by contrast, only go after our wallets.

We're fortunate, indeed.

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