When confronted with its worst scandal in decades, the IRS broke virtually every public relations rule on the books.
The agency could have first informed Congress that it was improperly targeting conservative groups for additional scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status. It could have issued a comprehensive press release. It could have even leaked to a friendly media outlet to get out in front of the story.

The IRS did none of those things. Instead, it took the highly unusual step of planting a question in the audience at an obscure law conference to get the word out about the controversial program.

Crisis managers can only cringe at the fallout that's sent President Barack Obama into a defensive tailspin and his team scrambling to manage the fallout. The scandal would be tough to confront in the best of circumstances, but the agency's poor management of the story is being blamed for deepening the sense of crisis gripping Washington.
"If it's a minor league team, it'd be below single A. And you're insulting the minor leagues," said Lanny Davis, a former special counsel to President Bill Clinton who guided the administration through a series of second-term campaign finance scandals.
Davis called the decision by Lois Lerner, the director of the agency's nonprofit division who orchestrated the Q&A during an American Bar Association conference, an exercise in "upside down crisis management."
(Also on POLITICO: IRS scandal: Who knew what when?)
"Now this looks doubly manipulative — fake and you have a bad story," he said.
Members of the ABA told POLITICO they were blindsided that their public forum — normally a place for polite questions for government staffers — ended up being used to air some of the IRS's dirtiest laundry.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/irs-how-not-to-handle-a-scandal-91647.html#ixzz2Tx1GkoZX