Ohio tea party turning IRS to advantage in Medicaid expansion battle

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Tea party activists in Ohio want to use a unique weapon to fight continued efforts to expand Medicaid: the Internal Revenue Service.

In a confidential email sent to fellow Ohio tea party leaders and obtained by The Associated Press, Tom Zawistowski (zah-wih-STOW’-skee) lays out a strategy for invoking a little-known IRS provision that allows citizens to challenge executive salaries and the non-profit statuses of charitable hospitals.

In a phone interview, Zawistowski calls it “hilarious” that tea party groups that came under extra scrutiny by the IRS are now using an IRS law to target others.

Zawistowski identifies the hospitals as big financial backers of expanded Medicaid. His email says tea party groups will “make Medicaid personal” by publicizing large salaries of those seeking federal money to help the poor.