Congress will grill Steven Miller, the ousted head of the IRS, over the latest scandal involving illegal audits of the Tea Party and other conservative groups that applied for non-profit status. While it is normal for the IRS to investigate organizations that apply for non-profit status, it appears that the IRS unfairly targeted the Tea Party and other conservative groups for audits. Congress will ask Miller when he knew about the practice and what he did once he knew. That seems to be the issue of every scandal; what did you know and when did you know it. Apparently, he knew as far back as May 2012.
I learned early in my military career that bad news never gets better with age; it only gets worse. A leader’s staff act as gatekeepers on the flow of information, ensuring the leader hears only what he needs to know and not useless trivia. However, in this case the information was not trivia but was
politically sensitive. Miller should have informed the president immediately. It is better to inform the leader early so there are no surprises. In fact, a policy of no surprises is the best policy. Even if not all the information is available, it is better to later update the leader and let the leader know that
things were taken care of or were different than first believed.
Failure to inform President Obama of this politically sensitive situation creates the appearance of a cover up or an attempt at a cover up (http://clicktotweeet.com/q14cW). If Miller had informed the president, and the President kept quiet about it, then Miller would still have a job and Congress would be grilling the President (http://clicktotweet.com/10tFmf)
I learned early in my military career that bad news never gets better with age; it only gets worse. A leader’s staff act as gatekeepers on the flow of information, ensuring the leader hears only what he needs to know and not useless trivia. However, in this case the information was not trivia but was
politically sensitive. Miller should have informed the president immediately. It is better to inform the leader early so there are no surprises. In fact, a policy of no surprises is the best policy. Even if not all the information is available, it is better to later update the leader and let the leader know that
things were taken care of or were different than first believed.
Failure to inform President Obama of this politically sensitive situation creates the appearance of a cover up or an attempt at a cover up (http://clicktotweeet.com/q14cW). If Miller had informed the president, and the President kept quiet about it, then Miller would still have a job and Congress would be grilling the President (http://clicktotweet.com/10tFmf)
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