Tea Party

WASHINGTON -- The ousted head of the Internal Revenue Service apologized to Congress on Friday for his agency's tougher treatment of tea party and other conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. He said they resulted from a misguided effort to handle a flood of applications, not political bias.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has taken the lead in writing a letter on behalf of Senate Republicans demanding President Barack Obama comply with congressional requests to investigate the Internal Revenue Services’ targeting of conservative Tea Party groups.

In a letter he penned with Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Hatch said the American people desire to know what actions will be taken to ensure full accountability of those at the IRS who made policy decisions to target alleged Tea Party groups.

“The public’s confidence in the IRS relies on fair and apolitical application of the law. Actions such as these undermine taxpayers’ ability to trust its government to fairly implement the law,” the letter states.

BOSTON -- The Republican Party seems as divided and angry as ever.

Infighting has penetrated the highest levels of the House GOP leadership. Long-standing geographic tensions have increased, pitting endangered Northeastern Republicans against their colleagues from other parts of the country. Enraged tea party leaders are threatening to knock off dozens of Republicans who supported a measure that raised taxes on the nation's highest earners.

WASHINGTON - The Republicans’ anti-tax tea party wing, which failed in its goal to defeat President Obama and the Senate Democratic majority, is rising to leadership positions in policy and activist groups that have guided the party’s direction for years.

SALT LAKE CITY — The Tea Party movement solidified its presence as a force within the Republican Party two years ago when it helped orchestrate the defeat of three-term Sen. Bob Bennett at Utah GOP’s nominating convention. But it fell short this weekend of doing the same to Sen. Orrin Hatch.

The different outcomes raise at least one question: Has the Tea Party lost some momentum or was it simply outflanked this time by Hatch, who had superior resources and tacked to the right on certain issues?

A national leader of Tea Party efforts, FreedomWorks, spent more than $700,000 through a super PAC to defeat Hatch. Yet, Hatch was able to easily advance to a primary and only fell 32 votes short of earning the nomination outright.

WOODS CROSS — Any notion that the Republican Party has been in power so long in Davis County that the results of elections are almost scripted, was turned on its ear Friday night in the party’s nominating convention.