How the IRS's Nonprofit Division Got So Dysfunctional  The IRS
division responsible for flagging Tea Party groups has long been
an agency afterthought, beset by mismanagement and financial
constraints.  | Sat May 18, 2013 6:00 AM EDT  This story first
appeared on the ProPublica website.   The controversy that
erupted in the past week, leading to the ousting of the acting
Internal Revenue Service commissioner, an investigation by the
FBI, and congressional hearings that kicked off Friday, comes
against a backdrop of dysfunction brewing for years.  Moves
launched in the 1990s were designed to streamline the tax agency
and make it more efficient. But they had unintended consequences
for the IRS's Exempt Organizations division.   Checks and
balances once in place were taken away. Guidance frequently
published by the IRS and closely read by tax lawyers and
nonprofits disappeared. Even as political activity by social
welfare nonprofits exploded in recent election cycles, repeated
requests for the IRS to clarify exa