Something we knew all along...

Monica Goodling and Kyle Sampson broke the law when they played politics in the hiring of career Justice Department attorneys You remember Tanya Harding Monica Goodling, the wingnut lawschool graduate who only hired staunch republicans, dedicated movement conservatives and wingnut religious freaks for career positions during her term as White House liason at the Justice Department.

Today's report singles out Goodling specifically for violating federal law and Justice Department policy by discriminating against job applicants who weren't good republicans and loyal bushies. While it doesn't suggest the two will face criminal charges, investigators did suggest that Goodling will at least lose her license to practice law - so there goes her hopes for a partnership with the whack-job Phelps daughter.


The hapless former AG, Alberto Gonzales, was found to be largely unaware of the illegal political litmus test two of his most trusted aides were applying when it came to hiring was largely unaware of the hiring decisions by two of his most trusted aides. Decisions made by those two aides weeded out Democrats and anyone perceived to be the least bit liberal. Goodling also rejected at least one lesbian job applicant.

Michael Mukasey, the man who replaced Gonzalez when he finally stepped down after a surreally stubborn summer of insisting he wouldn't go, made the obligatory remarks about being appalled, "I have said many times, both to members of the public and to department employees, it is neither permissible nor acceptable to consider political affiliations in the hiring of career department employees, and I have acted, and will continue to act, to ensure that my words are translated into reality so that the conduct described in this report does not occur again at the department."

Okay. But remember that I'm from Missouri. Don't tell me. Show me. Review every fucking one of the hires that these two placed in jobs by these clowns and determine if they are really suitable to the position. Applying and passing a political litmus test ought to imply a quid pro quo and that ought to reduce or eliminate the job protections enjoyed by most federal employees.

This is serious business. The Department of Justice is the department that can least stand to be politicized. Every person who finds him- or herself before the bar of justice should have confidence that they will receive a fair trial, and that their politics won't enter into it. It is antithetical to Justice that they destroyed that confidence when they turned Justice into "Just Us."