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Jim McElhatton

jmcelhatton@washingtontimes.com

Jim McElhatton no longer works for The Washington Times.

Articles by Jim McElhatton

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, California Republican (Associated Press) **FILE**

Issa demands interview with IRS lawyer facing disbarment

The House's top investigator sent a letter Wednesday demanding answers from an IRS lawyer in the agency's Office of Professional Responsibility who is facing disbarment and whom a whistleblower has accused of losing IRS files on a party bus to Atlantic City.

September 3, 2014
The exterior of the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. The agency has been under fire for what critics say are politically motivated attacks against conservative organizations. (Associated Press)

IRS lawyer gave lecture on ethics despite license suspension

The head of the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility testified this year that she and her staff must be "impeccable," just weeks before she sent a top aide whose law license had been suspended to lecture tax lawyers on ethics.

September 2, 2014
Under Gina McCarthy, The EPA has been flexing its regulatory muscle, collecting more fines and hitting individuals with penalties for violating environmental rules. (Associated Press)

EPA investigator pushes for action on assault

A government investigator says that the Environmental Protection Agency continues to "coddle" a key figure in her stonewalled investigation into a controversial EPA office.

September 2, 2014
IRS Photo illustration

IRS ethics lawyer facing possible disbarment, accused of lying

A lawyer in the IRS ethics office is facing the possibility of being disbarred, according to records that accuse her of lying to a court-appointed board and hiding what she'd done with money from a settlement that was supposed to go to two medical providers who had treated her client.

August 26, 2014
Antwuan Ball was convicted for a $600 drug deal. His appeal, along with two co-defendants, is the latest challenge against a practice called acquitted conduct sentencing, which allows judges to dole out tougher sentences based on findings jurors rejected. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

Supreme Court may take up D.C. drug case

The Supreme Court will meet next month to decide whether to hear the appeal of a D.C. man serving 18 years in prison on a $600 drug deal — a case championed by civil liberties groups, who say it provides a case study in judicial overreach.

August 25, 2014
Critics say that redacted information about Treasury Department dealings with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may prove embarrassing to the Obama White House. (associated press)

Judge rejects Obama administration secrecy on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

A federal judge has issued a stinging rebuke to the Obama administration's recent attempt to shield documents from disclosure in a case that could yield important clues about the Treasury Department's relationship with mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

August 24, 2014
Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, called the actions of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office official Deborah Cohn "appalling and unbefitting a federal official" when she used her influence to find a job for a relative's live-in boyfriend, and then threatened to sue when the government was about to make her case public. He has demanded that Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker take "immediate action" to discipline Ms. Cohn. (Associated Press)

Congress fumes as idle federal workers went shopping, sent on private errands

The House's top investigator pressed the Commerce Department on Wednesday to take action on a telework scandal at the U.S. Patent and Trade Organization, where dozens of paralegals got paid while they went shopping, watched television and caught up on chores — all with the knowledge of supervisors.

August 20, 2014
Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen testifies under subpoena before the House Oversight Committee as lawmakers continue their probe of whether tea party groups were improperly targeted for increased scrutiny by the IRS, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, June 23, 2014. The IRS asserts it can't produce emails from several officials connected to the tea party investigation because of computer crashes, including the emails from Lois Lerner, the former IRS official at the center of the investigation. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

IRS data lapse first uncovered by private firm

Recent criminal charges against an IRS employee accused of storing personal information about more than 20,000 employees and contractors on his home computer network stemmed from the work of a research firm hacker who stumbled across the agency security flaw and reported it to the government.

August 19, 2014
David Brock, a former critic and later defender of Bill and Hillary Clinton, will head the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics. (associated press)

Clinton ally Brock will head ethics oversight watchdog

One of the nation's most prominent ethics watchdog organizations, which touted its willingness to expose political "scoundrels" regardless of party affiliation, will now answer to a Democratic operative and Clinton defender.

August 14, 2014
Aaron Alexis had a security clearance that gave him access to Building 197 at the Washington Navy Yard, where he killed 12 people last year. (FBI via Associated Press)

Background check firm hit by cyberattack

The federal government's biggest contractor for conducting background checks disclosed Wednesday that it's been hit by a cyberattack with all the markings of of a "state-sponsored attack."

August 6, 2014
President Barack Obama receives an update from FBI Director James Comey, left, and Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. in the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

FBI to hire firm to rate news stories about the agency

The FBI is hiring a contractor to grade news stories about the agency as "positive" "neutral" or "negative," but the agency won't say why officials need the information or what they plan to do with it.

August 3, 2014