Elections

Pro-Gomez ad bashes Markey on IRS scandal

Patrick Howley Political Reporter
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The pro-Gabriel Gomez super PAC Americans for Progressive Action launched an ad blasting Ed Markey for voting to allow the IRS to implement Obamacare, marking one of the first instances of the growing IRS scandal being used in a state election.

Gomez, who currently trails Markey by seven points in the race to win John Kerry’s vacated U.S. Senate seat, hopes to benefit from the scandal currently plaguing the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress that have garnered criticism for impeding congressional investigations into the misconduct.

The new ad is part of a $700,000 ad buy Americans for Progressive Action has taken out to support Gomez in Massachusetts.

Watch:

“While Gabriel Gomez and Ed Markey both support health-care reform, Markey voted to let the IRS enforce it,” the ad states.

“Gabriel Gomez supports health-care reform that works for Massachusetts families. But not with the IRS in charge. Vote Gabriel Gomez for U.S. Senate, and keep the IRS out of health care reform,” the ad states.

The ad also refers dismissively to a negative attack ad the Markey campaign launched against Gomez last month, in which Gomez’s face was cropped next to an image of Osama bin Laden.

Sarah Hall Ingram, the IRS official in charge of the agency’s tax-exempt division when the IRS began improperly targeting conservatives in 2010, was later promoted to head the IRS division that oversees the implementation of Obamacare. Ingram received more than $100,000 in bonuses between 2009 and 2012.

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