OHIO IRS CONNECTIONS

Some Ohio con­ser­v­a­tives who say they were tar­geted by the Inter­nal Rev­enue Ser­vice are head­ing to Wash­ing­ton as fed­eral inves­ti­ga­tions widen into the agency’s han­dling of tax-exempt appli­ca­tions.

Sev­eral activists on Wednes­day described IRS treat­ment they sus­pect was polit­i­cally moti­vated.

The Jus­tice Depart­ment is open­ing a crim­i­nal probe into improper han­dling of appli­ca­tions for tax-exempt sta­tus that seemed to focus on con­ser­v­a­tive groups, and sev­eral con­gres­sional hear­ings are planned.

Cincin­nati tea party leader George Brune­mann said a 2011 IRS income tax audit of him and his wife was trig­gered by tea party ties.