>If the Feds work anywhere like State gov. does, you're expected to archive your email to your harddrive - and the emails are purged off the central server to reclaim space - and you are expected to purge anything older than 2 years so that open records requests don't bite you on the butt. So, while it does seem rather convenient, it is feasible that the only copy left was on the harddrive that crashed.
>
>
>>Hope they subpoena some I.T. managers to break through this hogwash
>>
>>
>>http://www.cbsnews.com/news/irs-lost-lois-lerners-emails-in-tea-party-probe/

Several I.T. administrators who are familiar with government regulations in this area (including a former Microsoft program manager) have come out and stated this is pure hogwash - that there are multiple levels of redundancy in backups of emails and other data, with requirements to store everything going back nearly 9 years.

Imagine if the IRS audited you for the years 2009 to 2011 - and you told them you had a computer crash that lost all pertinent information.

What is particular suspicious about this - the focus was on emails that Lerner sent to outside agencies (Dept of Justice, Federal Election Commission, specific Democratic Senators, etc). The IRS is claiming that it is those that have been lost - not any emails Lerner sent within the IRS. Well, by remarkable coincidence, it is those emails that are the most significant in demonstrating how deep the targeting went. This cannot be a matter of incompetence - this was intentional, plain and simple.

Bottom line - this is over. This administration used the muscle of the IRS to target conservatives/tea party members, in response to the Citizens United decision. If the House of Representatives had any moral courage, they would completely defund the IRS in the next round of appropriations. They have the power, but I doubt they have the courage.