[XorNot]

Well for one thing, the Executive doesn't make laws - Congress does. The Executive has veto power. Which can't be used if the relevant bill never makes it to the Executive's desk.

The relevant bill hasn't, and I will my hat if it ever comes into existence and reaches the floor.

[001sky]

The executive implements laws, and has managerial discretion within the law as its written. To imply that from $1.8b a functional arm of the government doesn't have e-mail archives is absurd. The IRS is in the buseinss of doings audits. In 2011 this is well beyond a question of competence and into a question of willful negligence. Imgaine if this was put in front of a jury? This type of problem is so predictable, ignorance is no excuse.

[Spooky23]

You need something to happen to drive archiving. It's bureaucratic minutiae that the President doesn't give a hoot about until something bad happens. The CIO of the IRS doesn't wake up one morning and decide to start archiving stuff. The chief counsel probably wants to delete everything (except for his stuff)

Same thing in the private sector. Nobody outside of regulated industries like pharma archived email, ever until Enron. Everyone didn't start doing it until the Federal courts changed the rules of civil procedure several years ago.

[XorNot]

Great so who do you think is reponsible? The current executive? Previous executives under whom this would still have been a problem? The IRS head? Previous heads? Managers? Congress?

Again: my exact point was that the last thing anyone involved in this inquiry is going to do is actually pass specific legislation to address the actual problem, and mandate/authorize spending to do so. Instead we'll get calls for political bloodletting, for all the effectiveness of its name.

[nospecinterests]

Well then the obvious answer is to hold no one responsible. Especially the people who are currently, willingly, and knowingly violating Federal Law and their own policies..... sarcasm.

In reality, they will pass legislation, that will probably go way overboard and will budget 100 times more than is necessary in order to payoff some friend or group of friends (business as usual for Establishment Ds and Rs). Now mind you that the house will do this and because of the politics the Senate, led by the Majority Democrats, will promptly ignore it. Or they will pass it because it will benefit some friend of theirs and the President will sign it but decide to include a signing statement saying that they don't agree with any of it and that they will not implement it. Oh and they will put it as part of a large non-related omnibus package with a title talking about helping Homeowners Purchase Crop Dusters.