Two important things happened on January 21st, 2009 that changed the course of my life and that of the American public. On that day my daughter was born and President Obama signed Executive Order 13489, commonly known as “Open Government and Transparency”.

Last year, June 13, 2009, Equifax Credit Agency notified me that I had an IRS Tax judgment on my credit report. In addition, the credit bureau informed me that my FICO score fell from around 780 to 680 due to the public record. I instantly knew that this was impossible since I haven’t been served any official notice or received any deficiency notices from the Internal Revenue Office.

I requested and received a fraud investigation conducted by Equifax. After a few weeks, I was notified that the bogus judgment was removed from my credit file and that my FICO score had been restored. Having worked in the information technology sector of the federal government for almost a decade, I am fully aware of the legal and financial damages that can arise out of tax judgments with regards to security clearances and contracts.

Since I am a “technology geek” for the federal government, I wanted to find out how many other citizens had bogus IRS tax judgments. Remember, the Presidential Directive from the Office of Management & Budget mandated that executive agencies make available to the general public information and records under the “Open Government” executive order. Fortunately, state governments followed this idea and made available their records and data.

So,… I put my technology training and experience to work and uncovered over 40,000 bogus IRS tax judgments filed against unsuspecting taxpayers in the Prince George’s County area of Maryland.

I am not sure if President Obama is aware of what he has inherited, however, I respect the President for wanting to give the American public the opportunity to see what is going on in our country.

On September 24, 2009, I filed a federal case against the IRS for violating my Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TBOR). The federal court agreed with the merits of the case but ruled that I had not fully “exhausted” the agency remedies. In other words, go back to the IRS and work out your issues. I didn’t think that the ruling was fair and I filed an appeal to the fourth circuit court of appeals. I wonder if the court is going to mandate that each of the 40,000 taxpayers go back to the IRS and try to work it out, or apply the Taxpayer Bill of Rights statute and rule in favor of the taxpayer whose rights had been violated.

I’ve learned that the court culture is something of a mystery. However, I have come to appreciate the law and the impact that it has on our daily lives. If it wasn’t for the “Open Government” executive order, I am doubtful that the tactics of the IRS would have ever been exposed. However, if the taxpayer is unable to enforce the ‘civil remedy’, then the law appears useless.

Kwame Gyamfi is a Candidate for U.S. Congress in the 4th District of Maryland and is seeking a federal remedy to protect the privacy rights and abuses of over 40,000 constituents. (www.kgforcongress.org)

A press conference is scheduled on August 27, 2010 in front of the U.S. District Court of District of Columbia  in support of a federal agency Writ of Mandamus that is being filed in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia. The ‘Writ’ called the ‘Schaefer Petition’ will seek an order from the federal court to enforce a provision of the Paper Reduction Act (‘PRA’) that mandates that the federal agencies of HHS and OMB office issue cease and desist (C&D) orders against state agencies and private collectors that utilize counterfeit federal documents that defraud unsuspecting citizens in the Welfare & Health Care industry. The PRA rule requires that once federal regulators have been made aware of counterfeit documents in the public domain, they are required by federal law to issue C&D orders so that the general public are protected against Welfare and Health care fraud.