Washington, DC - The Senate approved by unanimous consent last night Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus’ (D-Mont.) nomination of E. Edwin Eck II, Dean of the University of Montana School of Law, to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Oversight Board. Eck was raised in Lewistown, Mont., graduated from Carleton College, then went on to obtain a law degree from the University of Montana and an LL.M. in taxation from Georgetown University. He began teaching at UM in 1981 and was appointed Dean in 1995. Baucus, who helped create the IRS Oversight Board in 1998, encouraged the Montana law and tax expert’s nomination to the panel.
“The Senate did right by the American taxpayers when it put Ed Eck on the IRS oversight board," Baucus said. “A proven administrator and an outstanding tax expert, Dean Eck is exactly the type of person we had in mind to provide guidance and stability to the IRS when the Finance Committee created the Oversight Board. I know he’ll make Montanans - and all Americans - very proud."
Dean Eck has established himself as an expert in estate and charitable tax law and has worked to create a joint JD/MBA program and new certifications in environmental law and dispute resolution at UM. He established an initiative that allows law faculty to present programs around the state, reaching out to Montana’s most rural areas.
The IRS Oversight Board consists of nine members chosen without regard to party and assigned the task of supervising the IRS’s execution and application of the internal revenue laws. The Secretary of the Treasury and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue serve on the Board, and the remaining seven members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Dean Eck’s nomination was approved by the Senate Finance Committee in June.
Source: Ranking Member’s News
