(Scott Sommerdorf | Tribune file photo) Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is leading a group of Republicans seeking a new line of inquiry in the IRS scandal -- one aimed at the release of confidential documents, including those from a group that spent $570,000 helping to re-elect the Utah senator.

Washington A group of Senate Republicans led by Sen. Orrin Hatch called for a new investigation into the Internal Revenue Service on Thursday, focused on the improper release of information on nine conservative groups, including one that supported Hatch in his 2012 re-election campaign.

Last December, the IRS gave the website ProPublica the applications of 31 politically active groups with tax-exempt status, but nine of them had not been approved or denied. By law, the applications are confidential documents until the IRS makes a determination.

"We believe that disclosure of applications that are still pending is a violation of the Internal Revenue Code and other related provisions, which could result in civil and criminal penalties," Hatch, R-Utah, wrote in a letter to the inspector general at the Treasury Department signed by all of the Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee.

ProPublica decided to release six of those nine applications, though it redacted financial information. One of them belonged to Freedom Path, a group with deep ties to Hatch that was created in January 2011 and spent at least $570,000 in support of the senators campaign for a seventh and, he has vowed, his final term in office.

Freedom Path operated as a tax-exempt social welfare organization as its application with the IRS was pending. That designation allowed it to withhold any public information on its donors and delay disclosure of its board of directors.

The IRS has still not ruled on Freedom Paths application and the group feels that it was among those targeted for extra scrutiny in a scandal that has already resulted in President Barack Obama firing the tax agencys acting commissioner, Steven Miller.

Freedom Path has yet to respond to a request for comment.

The groups board is comprised of a former Hatch employee and two political operatives who worked for the National Republican Senatorial Committee at a time when Hatch was the vice chairman. Freedom Path, which produced mailers and TV ads that supported Hatch and opposed his Republican challenger, also shared some vendors with the Hatch campaign, though they said no improper coordination took place.

Hatchs staff also said the senator was unaware of Freedom Paths problems with the IRS until it was reported in The Salt Lake Tribune and that the call for an expanded probe of the IRS is warranted in light of recent revelations.

Originally posted here:

Hatch wants IRS probe to expand, include Freedom Path