Good to see both sides coming together on something important.

At IRS scandal hearing, Democratic Congressman Stephen Lynch says ‘there will be hell to pay’ if special prosecutor is needed to find truth

At the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee meeting on the scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups, Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., on Wednesday warned IRS officials to come clean or else.

Lynch, who recently lost the special U.S. Senate race primary in Massachusetts to Democratic Congressman Edward Markey, reacted strongly after Lois Lerner, the IRS official responsible for about 900 employees tasked with reviewing applications for tax-exempt status, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against incriminating herself.

“If this committee is prevented by obstruction or refusal to answer the questions that we need to get to the bottom of this, you will leave us no alternative but to ask for the appointment of a special prosecutor or appointment of special council to get to the bottom of this,” Lynch said as Lerner and former IRS chief Doug Shulman sat silent. “This is a very serious matter. We would like to handle it in this committee. But I watched the last hearing where the IRS had no names and no direction… and basically stonewalled the committee. That can’t continue. I hope that’s not the approach of the IRS going forward because there will be hell to pay if that’s the route we choose to go down.”