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OTTAWA Aggravation is building for two freshman legislators from North Central Illinois.

The La Salle County TEA party on Tuesday hosted Jerry Long (R-Streator), who represents the 76th district that includes parts of La Salle, Bureau and Putnam counties and David Welter (R-Morris), who represents the 75th district that includes the eastern part of La Salle County, at the Pitstick Pavilion in Ottawa. They told attendees what they saw during the budget negotiations at the end of the legislative session.

When we went down there, in our minds, we were thinking budget, budget, budget, Welter said, Instead, he said there was no urgency or discussion the first several months in Springfield to get a budget done.

Long said he felt a similar tone when he first went to Springfield.

When a budget was proposed in July, both representatives voted against it and the included tax hike.

Long said people dont realize that government in Springfield is run by committee, and because Democrats control the legislature they also have all of the committee chairs. It makes it hard for Republicans to get out legislation of their own, he said.

From the clerks office, to committee, to the subcommittee, if they dont like it they can bury it, he said. Long said he filed a complaint once about a piece of legislation he wrote that wasnt being moved through the right committees. He said it got moved to another committee and was buried there.

As state representative I wanted to go down and make a change, Long said. I knew I was going against a wall. I just didnt know the wall was so big.

When they were in Springfield in June for the special session, Welter said his own form of protest was to not vote for anything that wasnt a budget bill.

The two also took questions from the audience, and gave their thoughts on a number of issues.

Long: This is a very strong union district, Thats why Im a shoo-in in this district. Im OK with the unions, but our union people need to wake up and realize that as long as we walk on down the path of having insane policies toward business, were going to chase our jobs right out of here.

Long: A lot of those representatives will find themselves being primaried. They made their decision for whatever reason. I disagree with their decision, but Im not going to pound on them.

Welter: They are going to have to answer to their voters, If you look at most of the Republicans that voted for that bill, they were in areas that were heavily state employees or college towns.

Long: Theyll never vote on it. Its a dead issue.

Welter: There is legislation that would bring Illinois in line with other states.

Long: I would like to consolidate social programs What Id like to do is put them under one roof and cut back on the manpower it takes to run each one of these social programs.

Kevin Solari can be reached at (815) 220-6931 or countyreporter@newstrib.com. Follow him on Twitter @NT_County.

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Local legislators talk to TEA party about their frustrations - LaSalle News Tribune

The IRS has finally agreed to a process for deciding on the last remaining nonprofit application that was snared in the Obama administrations tea party targeting, more than four years after the illegal singling-out of conservative groups for special scrutiny was first revealed.

In court filings this week, the IRS acceded to rules governing how the tax agency will decide whether to grant nonprofit status to the Texas Patriots Tea Party, which has been awaiting a decision for years.

The agreement doesnt mean the group will be approved, but it sets up a process for making a decision.

This does provide a path forward for TPTP, said Edward Greim, a lawyer representing the group, as well as hundreds of other tea party organizations that have banded together in a class-action lawsuit against the IRS. We will be watching the IRS closely to ensure that TPTP does in fact receive fair processing.

Nearly 500 groups applying for tax-exempt status from 2009 to 2013 were subjected to intrusive scrutiny by the IRS based on perceived political activity. Most of those groups came from the conservative side of the spectrum. Investigators said organizations with words such as tea party or patriots were automatically flagged.

Once singled out, groups faced intrusive questions about their political beliefs, their affiliations with fellow tea party organizations, how they came up with their names, and their members political activity and donation histories.

Of the groups targeted, the TPTP is the last one awaiting processing.

Applications for several other groups were processed late last year. One of them, the Tri-City Tea Party, won approval in April, and the Albuquerque Tea Party won approval this month. Albuquerque activists had been waiting more than seven years.

In the case of the TPTP, the sides had been arguing over the latest set of questions from the IRS the third iteration submitted late last year.

Under an agreement submitted to a federal court in Cincinnati this week, the TPTP will submit one final set of answers describing political candidates and educational speakers who have been invited to address the group.

The IRS agreed not to penalize the group for the words tea party in its name. The IRS also vowed not to consider the ideology of the groups members.

The IRS also said it will process the TPTPs application as of 2013, meaning it cannot deny the groups application because of the continuing fight over information.

The agreement was reached on the sidelines of the class-action lawsuit.

Judge Michael R. Barrett renewed his ban last week on release of testimony of Lois G. Lerner and Holly Paz, two former IRS employees who were at the center of the targeting controversy.

Each has been deposed in the lawsuit but complained that the release of their testimony would spark another round of threats to their safety.

Judge Barrett said that only attorneys and a small group of plaintiffs who are sworn to secrecy will have access to the transcripts.

A full trial is slated for February.

Meanwhile, two top House Republicans have asked the Justice Department to reopen a criminal investigation into Ms. Lerner.

The Obama administration cleared her of wrongdoing, saying that instead of being the problem, Ms. Lerner took steps to curtail the targeting when she learned of its full extent.

Continue reading here:
IRS finally agrees to clear last tea party case - Washington Times

Excitement was high at the annual Seniors Prom at the Sulphur Springs Senior Citizens Center, themed A Mad Hatters Tea Party. Many who attended dressed in outrageous costumes and had a lot of memorable fun. Al Bass was named Prom King and Odell Tarpley was named Prom Queen. It also happened to be Odells 93rd birthday! Terry Cunningham clowned around the provide the entertainment. Karon Weatherman, director of the Srs Center, organized the event.

Prom King Al Bass and Prom Queen Odell Tarpley

Terry Cunningham, professional clown entertainer

Author: Enola Gay

Has enjoyed working for KSST since 1989. Hosts the Good Morning Show with Enola Gay on weekday mornings from 6-9am, so 'start your day with Enola Gay'! Guest interviews during the Morning Show can also be seen in playback on Cable Channel 18 TV. Along with local country music fan Benny Potter, co-produces 1230 West, a Country and Western Swing radio show which airs weekly on Saturdays from 7-8am and repeats on Thursdays from 7-8pm. Also writes "At the Corral Gate", a column appearing weekly in The Millennium Shopper and in the Lifestyles section of ksstradio.com.

Continued here:
Senior's Prom was a Mad Hatter's Tea Party - KSST (press release) (registration) (blog)

As Senate Republicans wrestle with their path forward on repealing Obamacare, the GOP's grassroots is increasing pressure on wavering senators to make sure the law is killed.

"Our supporters want repeal of Obamacare," Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin told CBS News Chief Political Correspondent Major Garrett and CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris on this week's episode of "The Takeout."

And, unlike many lawmakers, tea party supporters seem to be unconcerned about what might replace Obamacare, should the Senate manage to rescind the law. At this point, after Mitch McConnell has so far been unable to come up with 50 Senate votes for a repeal, the tea party is getting nervous about whether the Senate can deliver.

"I want the Senate Republicans at the very least, the very least, to pass the 2015 repeal bill," Martin demanded. Repeal the main focus for the supporters of her group.

"They care far more about repeal than they do about replace," Martin said. "They've lost their doctors. Their insurance costs have gone up. The quality of the health care they have has been affected." Ninety-eight percent of her group's supporters want the repeal, Martin said.

Opposition to Obamacare, which Martin said has united the tea party since the law was signed by former President Obama in 2010, continues, even as public support for it has increased.

"They understand that the government control that we saw under President Obama has affected them very personally and very deeply and they want it gone," she said.

If, after seven years of promises, Republicans fail to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the GOP opponents of the bill can expect to lose their conservative supporters.

"They are very angry, they want to see the people who do not vote to repeal Obamacare, they want to see primary challenges to them, they don't want these people in office anymore," Martin said.

For more from Major and Steve's conversation with Jenny Beth Martin, download this week's podcast oniTunes,Stitcher,Google Play, orSpotify. Also, you can watch this week's episode onCBSNFriday and Saturday nights at 9pm ET/PT. New episodes are available via podcast every Friday morning.

Facebook,Twitter,Instagram: @takeoutpodcast

Email:takeoutpodcast@cbsnews.com

Produced by: Arden Farhi and Katiana Krawchenko

2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Tea party conservatives push Senate GOP for full ACA repeal - CBS ... - CBS News

It took eight years of frustration, court battles and waiting. It took the complete change of a presidential administration. And it took the persistent fighting of a top-level team of lawyers.

But the Albuquerque Tea Party now is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)4 organization, even though it was one of the hundredsof conservative groups obstructed by the agency under Barack Obama.

The American Center for Law and Justice, which has represented dozens of those groups in court fights, said the Albuquerque Tea Party now has its exempt status nearly eight years after originally filing its application.

This is a major victor for free speech, ACLJ said.

The legal team theObama administration had orchestrated a complex scheme to dump conservative and tea party nonprofit applicants into a bureaucratic black hole.'

The conspiracy to delay the conservative groups application for tax-exempt status, hindering their ability to raise funds, likelycame from the top, ACLJ said.

Your one-stop recourse for the best books on economics, from The American Dream Under Fire to End the IRS Before It Ends Us and Godonomics, is the WND Superstore.

Hundreds of documents have been uncovered in recent years that clearly establish that top IRS officials in Washington, including Lois Lerner and Holly Paz, knew that the agency was specifically targeting Tea Party and other conservative organizations.'

ACLJ said December would have marked eight years since the IRS cashed the application check of its client.

The IRS literally took their money and then ignored their application requesting tax-exempt status for eight long years. This is outrageous. No organization should ever be forced to wait that long for a determination, the legal nonprofit said.

The Obama administration called thescandal phony.

But ACLJ and its clients beg to differ.

As you may remember, the IRS constructed a special group to send all applications associated with the Tea Party to Group 7822. It was apparently designed as a special team developed to snare targeted organizations tax exemption applications in order to severely limit the impact of their advocacy on the 2012 elections, ACLJ explained.

The IRS was able to protect its politically targeted scheme by hiding its operations and activity behind the hundreds of layers of the bureaucracy festering within the IRS and with the cooperation of other government agencies.

When its application check was cashed by the government, ACLJ reported, the Albuquerque group was given a letter from the Department of the Treasury in Washington that their file was under review.

No explanation ever followed.

The ACLJ report said: To be clear, the IRS did not want to approve their application. Last year, the IRS proposed a denial of their application. We fought their denial, and we won. This result was long overdue. The targeting, the delay, and this type of unconstitutional discrimination should have never happened.

WND reported another such victory in Aprilwhen, after seven years,the Tri-Cities Tea Party obtained tax-exemptstatus.

Your one-stop recourse for the best books on economics, from The American Dream Under Fire to End the IRS Before It Ends Us and Godonomics, is the WND Superstore.

It was in 2013 when Lerner, then the director of the Exempt Organizations Unit of the IRS, admitted publicly that the IRS had been targeting conservative, Christian and tea-party groups, and ACLJ sued on behalf of dozens of organizations from more than 20 states.

While the IRS targeting scandal was just one of several dozen major controversies to plague the Obama administration, it was one of the more egregious, as the official weight of government power bludgeoned activist groups that wanted to participate in the political process.

Judicial Watch, the Washington watchdog that has for years been fighting to access IRS documents that reveal the extent of its discriminatory actions against Christians and conservatives, has asked President Trump to consider criminal counts against the much-feared federal agency.

Tom Fitton, the groups president, called for President Trump to reopen a criminal investigation.

Evidence has revealed the IRS agents would deliberately delay issuing a decision on organizations that were in conflict with Obamas agenda. That meant they couldnt obtain tax-exempt status, and they couldnt even appeal.

Among the IRS strategies was to ask inappropriate questions, such as what was the content of members prayers.

The IRS also was found to have been making inappropriate demands, such as that a conservative group denounce opposition to Planned Parenthoods abortion agenda.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled at one point that the IRS did, in fact, discriminate against tea party groups.

Back in April, a federal judge ordered the IRS to open its records to groups victimized by its obstruction tactics.

The order came in a case brought by ACLJon behalf of some of the targeted organizations.

ACLJ said in a report on its website the ruling stated the groups are entitled to seek additional information about the IRSs targeting scheme.

Like the D.C. Circuit, which previously rejected the IRSs position essentially a just trust us plea without the evidence necessary to back it up the district court rightly confirmed that the IRS may no longer hide behind its unsupported assertions but instead must turn over information about its discriminatory treatment of these organizations.

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Tea party wins 8-year battle with IRS - WND.com