Several hundred Tea Party members rallied at noon Tuesday on Fountain Square before marching to the John Weld Peck Federal Building. They held signs and chanted slogans like "you work for us" and "the IRS has got to go."
Dave Kern of Liberty Township says he came to protest the "outrageous actions" of the IRS in therecent scandal involving extra scrutiny of conservative groups applying for 501(c)(4) tax exempt status.
"(It's) not some so-called low-level worker at the IRS here in Cincinnati," he says. "It's impossible that this originated from them. But the person who authorized this from the top. That's where it should end up and they should be rightfully prosecuted and jailed. It's outrageous."
Kern says he also doesn't believe claims the White House administration didn't know what was going on at the IRS.
Standing before the crowd outside the Federal Building, Cincinnati Tea Party President Ann Becker said, "We want you to stand for the Constitution. We want you to stand for the individual rights of all citizens regardless of political background, political speech. We want you to stand for the individual. This isn't about party. This is about freedom."
Tea Party members say an apology isn't enough, they're calling for "concrete and transparent steps" to ensure something like this doesn't happen again.
For its part, the IRS says while its employees acted inappropriately they were not driven by political bias.
See more pictures from Tuesday's rally on our Facebook page.
