Paul Streckfus, Editor
1 – Old Business
In regard to Wednesday’s email update item on “Owens Protests Denial of Technical Advice,” Marc reported yesterday that he has received a favorable response to his February 15 letter to Diane Ryan, Chief, IRS Appeals, in which he sought technical advice over the objections of IRS case workers.
Monday’s email update on excerpts from Sarah Hall Ingram’s Feb. 5 remarks has drawn comments.
Former EO Branch Chief Connie Rosenberg had this to say:
“I think Sarah’s answer to the question about Service failure to publish formal guidance was quite truthful, if you parse it out carefully. What she said, in effect, was: we can’t figure out how to get publications out because we, collectively, can’t figure out how to stop tripping over each other. As Winston Churchill once said (whenever I’m not sure who said something, I always cite Churchill, and I’m usually right): the way to begin is to begin. The way to stop tripping over each other is to stop tripping over each other. Set up a formal procedure for initiating and clearing a publication; follow that procedure; establish due dates for movement at each stage of the process; appoint a high-ranking management official to monitor the due dates and insist that they be met, and provide consequences for the bureaucrat who fails to meet them; be prepared to deal with the consequences of actually making a decision. Those things are the jobs of management. It ain’t rocket science now, any more than it was 25 years ago, but it does take some guts.”