Memories of an IRS audit when I was a candidate updated 11/14/22

 IRS audits: Andrew McCabe says his and James Comey's selections should be investigated - CNNPolitics

Trump Wanted I.R.S. Investigations of Foes, Top Aide Says - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

The report that Andrew McCabe and James Comey, two high-ranking DOJ, and FBI officials found themselves the target of a specially rare and demanding IRS audit after becoming at the top of Trump's enemies list, jogged my memory of something that happened to me as a candidate for Denver mayor over 40  years ago.  The misuse of the IRS to attempt to trip up or get revenge on a political opponent is a dirty trick as old as political dirt itself.

  I was in the middle of a campaign for Denver's  mayor., I was a woman upstart taking on an old-time machine politician that was mired in the mentality of the 1950s when Denver was still viewed as the Queen City of the Plains and a large cow town with the world's foulest air.  My campaign was gathering stream in a field of 11 candidates and was rattling the old guard'/s cages. The incumbent mayor had political alliances long-standing beyond Denver's borders.  Low and behold, I got hit with one of these extensive IRS audits.  I had just spent nearly seven years as the director of a District Attorney's office on consumer affairs and white-collar crime that was funded by federal law enforcement funds and was subject to frequent state and federal audits.  I ran my personal household expenses like I had the kept records in the office and receipts were bulging in my home files.  My campaign staff was anxiously awaiting my return from the bout with the IRS auditor.  I recall our small business records were on the hot seat and the IRS agent demanded a receipt for a $2.50 expenditure for spare keys.  I produced the receipt and, like those  FBI agents above, found out I had overpaid the IRS and was due a refund.  The campaign staff was relieved and I had the last laugh. I came in a respectable second but the coalition I put together and an epic snowstorm with the old mayor's inept handling of it helped Federico Peña to win the next election for mayor.  I had the honor of serving in his administration.  He "imagined a great city" and the modernization he began made it the thriving place it is today.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/07/politics/internal-revenue-service-inspector-general-probe-comey-mccabe/index.html