The Agenda of the Next Attorney General

On Day One of the next Attorney General's tenure, provided they're a Democrat, of course, they need to do one thing. Fire everyone the Republicans hired, whether it is legal or not, and base it on the fact that since partisanship was used to evaluate candidates, they are ineligible to continue working for the Federal Government. Issue a signing statement if someone complains. Claim Executive Privilege or the War Powers Act or something like that.

High-ranking political appointees at the Justice Department labored to stock a prestigious hiring program with young conservatives in a five-year-long attempt to reshape the department's ranks, according to an inspector general's report to be released today.

The report will trace the effort to 2002, early in the Bush administration, when key advisers to then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft moved to exert more control over the program to hire rookie lawyers and summer interns, according to two people familiar with the probe.

The honors program, which each year places about 150 law school graduates with top credentials in a rotation of Justice jobs, historically had operated under the control of senior career officials. Shifting control of the program to Ashcroft's advisers prompted charges of partisanship from law professors and former government lawyers who had worked under Democratic administrations.

[SNIP]

Critics in the department had argued that hundreds of high-quality applicants had been rejected because of their ties to left-leaning nonprofit groups or clerkships with Democratic judges and lawmakers, according to correspondence at the time. One Harvard Law School graduate said that when he applied for the honors program a few years ago he was warned by professors and fellow students to remove any liberal affiliations from his résumé.

If the newly-removed individuals want to re-apply, then let them re-apply and be considered just like everyone else.

You can't let this practice go unpunished. Fire every single unqualified person who was hired because of their affiliation to conservatives, and if they want to apply for their old jobs back, consider them based on their merits and hire them back if they are qualified.

There is no way--no way--the Republicans are going to allow a Democratic administration to function in this same way, so you might as well take the Liberty University hires and throw them out on day one before they can continue to infect the government like the viral strain of shitheadedness that they carry. Not unless we beat them down into a minority of 150 House members and 20 Senators. Even then, they'll still find a way to disrupt and obstruct in order to get their way.

--WS

GAO Auditors Thrown Out of Agriculture Department Headquarters

Nothing gets me more animated than the subject of agriculture. What used to be the single most important thing in this country--and the sole reason for its expansion and greatness in the early years of our founding--is now the province of agribusiness concerns and massive conglomerates.

The family farm has all but disappeared and has been replaced by urban sprawl, poor land management and rampant subsidies. What used to be an institution that would guarantee minorities successful enfranchisement in this country is an afterthought. The very idea that minorities could own land, borrow money, farm successfully, and reap the benefits helped raise the standard of living for countless minorities. Owning property is the key to establishing a class of people who have a vested interest in good government at the local, state and Federal level. And owning a farm is an act of faith in society.

The incompetence of the Bush Administration has now spread to an area where you would think there would be a minimal amount of insanity. After all, it's the Department of Agriculture. Most Americans don't even realize we still have a Department of Agriculture.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Agriculture Department abruptly ordered congressional auditors to leave its headquarters and told its employees not to cooperate with them.

"You are hereby instructed not to meet with any member of the (Government Accountability Office) today, or until this matter is resolved," Michael Watts, a top USDA attorney, wrote to employees Wednesday in an e-mail obtained by The Associated Press.

The auditors were seeking information for an ongoing audit on Agriculture's office of civil rights and its handling of discrimination complaints. Specifically, they were investigating allegations that the department had previously provided false information for the audit.

J. Michael Kelly, Agriculture's deputy general counsel, said the GAO investigators called the department Wednesday morning to say they were on their way to its headquarters and wanted to speak with a handful of specific employees.

The auditors refused to allow USDA lawyers to be present for the interviews, and after allowing one employee to talk, department officials stopped the interviews and told the investigators to leave the building, Kelly said.

"We are not interested in having our employees potentially put themselves at risk when they have not yet been advised of their rights and when we were not allowed to provide counsel," Kelly said. "We also pointed out to them that while they hold themselves out to be criminal investigators, GAO is an arm of Congress and has no authority to investigate violations of criminal law."

[snip]

John Boyd, a Virginia farmer who for years has criticized the Agriculture Department on civil rights issues, said the development shows that the department is not open about its handling of civil rights complaints.

"We think it's appalling that the USDA would go this far to obstruct civil rights," he said. "It's obvious that they have something to hide."

Hey--civil rights? Remember those? Now, why would the Bush administration have a problem making sure people aren't having their civil rights violated?

In March 2006, Bradley Schlozman was appointed interim U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Mo. Two weeks earlier, the administration was granted the authority to make such indefinite appointments without Senate confirmation. That was too bad: A Senate hearing might have uncovered Schlozman's central role in politicizing the civil rights division during his three-year tenure.

Schlozman, for instance, was part of the team of political appointees that approved then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's plan to redraw congressional districts in Texas, which in 2004 increased the number of Republicans elected to the House. Similarly, Schlozman was acting assistant attorney general in charge of the division when the Justice Department OKd a Georgia law requiring voters to show photo IDs at the polls. These decisions went against the recommendations of career staff, who asserted that such rulings discriminated against minority voters. The warnings were prescient: Both proposals were struck down by federal courts.

Schlozman continued to influence elections as an interim U.S. attorney. Missouri had one of the closest Senate races in the country last November, and a week before the election, Schlozman brought four voter fraud indictments against members of an organization representing poor and minority people. This blatantly contradicted the department's long-standing policy to wait until after an election to bring such indictments because a federal criminal investigation might affect the outcome of the vote. The timing of the Missouri indictments could not have made the administration's aims more transparent.

Apparently, we're going to have to turn over a lot of rocks in order to figure out whether or not each Federal agency has been protecting the Civil Rights of every American. Since they can't protect us from standing water, terrorism, religious bigotry, the chickenhawk Republican crime wave, or the mortgage industry, how much do you want to bet those rocks are hiding a whole lot we don't know?

It Really Is a Republican Crime Syndicate

Smile, you're under indictment.



Yes, that's Rep. Rick Renzi, state co-chair of the McCain's leadership team in Arizona, under indictment for damned near everything.

A 26-page federal indictment unsealed today accuses Renzi and two former business partners of conspiring to promote the sale of land that buyers could swap for property owned by the federal government. The sale netted one of Renzi's former partners $4.5 million.

A little newswatch for you--see if you can see where they identify any linkage to McCain in this article from MSNBC.comin this article:

Congressman charged in land deal

WASHINGTON - Republican Rep. Rick Renzi has been indicted for extortion, wire fraud, money laundering and other charges related to a land deal in Arizona.

A 26-page federal indictment unsealed in Arizona accuses Renzi and two former business partners of conspiring to promote the sale of land that buyers could swap for property owned by the federal government. The sale netted one of Renzi's former partners $4.5 million.

Renzi is a three-term member of the House. He announced in August that he would not seek re-election.

Today's indictment comes after a lengthy federal investigation into the land developing and insurance businesses owned by Renzi's family.

In April 2007, federal agents raided a Sonoita, Arizona business owned by Renzi's wife, Roberta.

You read that right--MSNBC.com continues to carry water for McCain and the pushback from the NYTimes story is having an effect, apparently. If a Clinton or Obama guy sneezes and gets indicted for it, regardless of who they are or where they are on the chain of command up to the candidate, you're going to hear about it. Not so with McCain, of course. Because McCain doesn't have lobbyists in his campaign--he has friends, of course. Friends like Rick Renzi. Who couldn't even serve three terms without using his office to line his pockets.

I guess it isn't news when, the day after McCain denies being involved in shady dealings with a lobbyist, a member of his home state Congressional delegation, a supporter of his at a very high level, and a man with who he's written legislation gets a kiss-of-death indictment. I guess McCain's "mentoring" of the three term Congressman ain't what it was cracked up to be.

And, bear in mind, the Republicans still control the fucking Justice Department. That Renzi was indicted at all, in lieu of the US Attorney scandal, says a lot.

Yes--there's ALWAYS a nice picture to go at the end of one of these posts...
























UPDATE by Blue Girl, Noon Central

There is a whole ‘nother level to the Rick Renzi story that hasn’t been addressed. Here is the part you haven’t heard, from beyonddelay.org

"In 2003, Rep. Renzi sponsored legislation (signed into law in November 2003) that earmarked hundreds of millions of dollars to his father’s business while, according to environmentalists, devastating the San Pedro River. The provision, which was added to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004, exempted the Army’s Fort Huachuca base in Sierra Vista, Arizona from maintaining water levels in the San Pedro River as called for in an agreement made in 2002 with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Rep. Renzi claimed he introduced the measure to prevent the closing of the Fort and to promote its enlargement. Environmentalists, however, concerned about the impact Fort Huachuca’s expansion may have on water consumption and the fate of the San Pedro River, argued that as the fort expands, so too would the local population, draining water from the river. Notably, neither the fort nor the river is located in Rep. Renzi’s district."

"A key beneficiary of Rep. Renzi’s legislation was ManTech International Corp., a Fairfax, Virginia based defense contractor where Rep. Renzi’s father, Retired Major General Eugene Renzi, is an executive vice president. General Renzi served at Fort Huachuca during his career in the military. ManTech had $467 million in contracts at Fort Huachuca with options for an additional $1.1 billion between 2004 through 2008. In addition, the company, which has an office in Sierra Vista, Arizona, was the largest contributor to Renzi’s 2002 congressional campaign and the second largest in his 2004 campaign."

And this is the analysis of bmaz at Watching Those We Chose:

This information is extremely critical to the Renzi equation, in spite of the fact that it is not what the superficial mainstream media are focusing on. Ft. Huachuca is not just a nice town near the fragile San Pedro River, it is an important, if not critical, military intelligence facility. Renzi's father is much more than a simple pass through for money on the land deals you are hearing about. Renzi's father is Gene Renzi, who is one of the owners and chief executives of a not so nice, and not so little, company by the name of ManTech International. www.mantech.com If you are not aware of ManTech, take a look at them. If you ever wondered what in the world was the general template for rogue security outfits like Blackwater Inc; here is your answer and more; and what is in the public domain is a mere fraction of what they appear to really have going on.

There has been a long running controversy over the groundwater/environmental contamination issue, with much of the effort being led by a firebrand local environmentalist by the name of Dr. Robin Silver and his group, the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity. Dr. Silver has been tilting at both Renzis for years, is tenacious, and is owed a debt of gratitude for pressing the case against Rick Renzi from the outset. It has long been rumored that there is much more than the groundwater/environmental bit going on the Renzi/ManTech front, and that giant digital fiber optic trunk lines carrying all types of critical information and data, including some highly secure, i.e. the kind that all the illegal and warrantless Total Information Awareness programs might would desire and require, are involved.

All of this is just a rumor, of course; there has never been any substantive confirmation, nor any hard evidence at all. Of course that is what you would expect if it is just a loony conspiracy theory; it is also what you would expect if the rumors were true. This much is known: Eugene Renzi is a very major, under the radar, VERY connected player in the absolute highest levels of intelligence gathering, data mining and analysis. With, and through, John Poindexter (Gene Renzi and Poindexter have an enduring, tight, decades long parallel path in Naval and Army Intel, with Gene Renzi reportedly being tasked or associated with Poindexter on spook type NSA programs during the Reagan/Bush41 years), Gene Renzi is said to be directly connected to Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld. There appears to be far more here than could have been imagined.

My imagination is ginned up. How ‘bout yours?

UPDATE II - PALE RIDER at 1:26 Eastern

I spent two months on Fort Huachuca--hated every minute of it.

What they have there is the training set-up for almost all of military intelligence--Army, Navy, USAF and Marines go there for schools. They do the UAVs there, they do some collection and they have a blimp that flies aloft most days to watch people crossing the border.

Much of what goes on there is not so hush-hush or significant, however. Misawa, Fort Meade, Fort Lewis, Hawaii, Denver, Fort Gordon and Lackland all have facilities that are probably a lot more significant than Huachuca.

UPDATE III - BLUE GIRL at 7:00 Central

If I had known that the congressman was indicted the day after his father's funeral, I might have worded my concerns about specious contracts and ManTech a bit differently. MG Eugene Renzi was laid to rest yesterday. The congressman's attorneys are decrying the timing and the crass nature of issuing an indictment today, before he has been allowed a decent mourning time.

And that attitude pisses me off...I would ask "why is he so special?" I knew someone in high school who ran afoul of the law and was in jail when his grandma passed away. He was allowed to attend the funeral...wearing orange and shackled, and he and his guards sat in the back of the church, alone. He was not allowed to speak to his siblings as they buried the grandmother who raised them. So I don't feel too sorry for a criminal republican who was indicted after the funeral, and not during. Who the hell does he think he is that he should get different rules than everyone else? That very notion makes me want some arrogant assholes head on a platter every time I witness it, no matter who is displaying it.

What Are You Watching This Sunday Night?

Might we make a suggestion?

I am advised by CBS News that their long-awaited feature dealing with the trial of former Alabama Governor Don E. Siegelman will air on the next 60 Minutes program, on Sunday, February 24.

This story is related to the politicization of the Justice Department--remember those days, when Gonzales ran things and no one knew what was really going on? What with all of those missing E-mails, and with Mukasey making sure no one holds the Justice Department accountable, we'll probably never know. People who have previewed or seen transcripts say that the 60 Minutes piece is going to wow some people.

Here's why the Don Siegelman case is so important:

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., May 31 — Alabama has a tradition of savage political warfare, but Don E. Siegelman’s fight to stay out of prison is reverberating all the way back to Washington.

Federal prosecutors here are seeking 30 years in prison for Mr. Siegelman, who was the Democratic governor of Alabama from 1999 to 2003 and was convicted last year of accepting $500,000 in bribes from the chairman of the HealthSouth Corporation.

Mr. Siegelman, who is scheduled for sentencing on June 26, says he was singled out by prosecutors with close personal ties to Alabama Republican leaders and to the Bush White House.

Mr. Siegelman’s defenders have tied his plight to the uproar in Washington over the Bush administration’s decision to dismiss eight United States attorneys, but they have produced no firm evidence of political interference.

Now they have an affidavit from a lawyer who says she heard a top Republican operative in Alabama boast in 2002 that the United States attorneys in Alabama would “take care” of Mr. Siegelman. The operative, William Canary, is married to the United States attorney in Montgomery, Leura G. Canary. Mr. Canary, who heads the Business Council of Alabama, was an informal adviser to Bob Riley, a Republican, who defeated Mr. Siegelman in 2002.

Earlier, Mr. Canary worked in the White House under President Bush’s father and has close ties to Karl Rove, Mr. Bush’s top political strategist.

In the affidavit, the lawyer, Jill Simpson, said Mr. Canary’s remark was made in a conference call with her and Rob Riley, Governor Riley’s son and campaign manager.

Ms. Simpson said Mr. Canary assured the younger Mr. Riley that “his girls would take care of” Mr. Siegelman before he had a chance to run for the governor’s seat in 2006 and identified “his girls” as Leura Canary and Alice Martin, the United States attorney in Birmingham.

Neither Mr. Canary nor Mr. Riley responded to requests for comment about Ms. Simpson’s affidavit.

In 2003, Ms. Canary recused herself from the investigation, after Mr. Siegelman’s lawyer accused her of conflicts of interest. She turned the case over to Louis Franklin, a career prosecutor who had served under Republicans and Democrats.

After a nine-week trial last year, a jury acquitted Mr. Siegelman on 25 counts and convicted him on 7, almost all tied to accepting money from Richard Scrushy, the former chairman of HealthSouth. Mr. Siegelman was not convicted of pocketing any money himself. Rather, a jury convicted him of persuading Mr. Scrushy to pay $500,000 to retire the debt of a political group that had campaigned to win voter approval for a state lottery.

Yes. That Scrushy:

Scrushy guilty of bribery in case involving ex-governor
Updated 6/30/2006

By Greg Farrell, USA TODAY
Richard Scrushy, the charismatic former chief executive of HealthSouth who was acquitted last year of masterminding a $2.7 billion fraud, was found guilty of bribery and related charges by an Alabama jury Thursday.

Scrushy, the only CEO to triumph over the Justice Department in the government's recent campaign against corporate fraud, was convicted of funneling $500,000 to former Alabama governor Don Siegelman in exchange for a seat on the state hospital regulatory board.

The jury convicted Siegelman and Scrushy of six charges of bribery, conspiracy and mail fraud. Siegelman was also convicted of obstructing justice. The two men face as much as 30 years in prison each. Both vowed to appeal.

Scrushy's conviction is yet another reversal of fortune for a man who's been riding a legal roller coaster for three years. Throughout the 1990s, Scrushy was a highly respected CEO who helped HealthSouth grow from a regional chain of hospitals into a Fortune 500 company.

So what does it all mean? Tune in and find out. It should be a hell of a show.

More Fun at the Justice Department

Here's an idea--why not impeach Attorney General Mukasey?

He won't give anyone a straight answer about waterboarding and he won't do anything about whistleblower complaints.

[By Paul Kiel]
It's hard enough to get the facts straight when allegations are made. But everything gets all the more complicated in the Bush Administration's hall of mirrors; it's all pots and kettles.

Consider this dust-up between the Office of Special Counsel and the Justice Department. In one corner, you have Special Counsel Scott Bloch, who heads an obscure little office that is charged with investigating whistleblower complaints, Hatch Act violations, and the like -- but who is himself being investigated for retaliating against whistleblowers and politicizing his office. Oh, and he used a tech service called Geeks on Call to scrub his hard drive at work (he says all the info was personal). In the other corner, you have the Justice Department, and well, you know all about that.

In a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey last week, Bloch charged that the Department was blocking his probe of politicization in the DoJ, his investigation of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias' firing (was it because of his Navy reserve service?), and a whistleblower complaint against former U.S. attorney Rachel Paulose. Eric Black, who reported on the letter last night, has helpfully posted a copy here (pdf).

The OSC, an independent executive branch agency that is not part of the Justice Department, had received a whistleblower complaint about Paulose from Assistant U.S. Attorney John Marti, who had stepped down from his position as Paulose's top deputy in protest against her degrading management style. As characterized by the Bloch letter of last week, Marti alleged that Paulose's management "by fear and intimidation" was disrupting the operation of the office.

While OSC proceeded to investigate those areas over which it has direct authority — specifically relating to prohibited personnel practices, or to the possibility that Paulose had retaliated against Marti for blowing the whistle on her — Bloch referred other matters — such as the allegation that Paulose had mishandled classified national security documents, and the belief that her management style was undermining the morale and efficiency of the office — to Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine last August for investigation.

In the letter, Bloch complains that 1) after the Justice Department launched its own internal investigation of the U.S. attorney firings and politicization in the Department last spring, they asked him to back off, and 2) the DoJ has refused to investigate a whistleblower complaint against Paulose.

Bloch's job, at least under the Bush administration, is to write investigatory reports which the White House will then ignore. Tellingly, Bloch complains in the letter that he's been trying to get White House counsel Fred Fielding on the phone for two months and had no luck.

An official from the Justice Department can't get Fred Fielding on the phone? Incredible.

And now that Paulose has been forced out of her position as a US Attorney, why won't Mukasey do anything about Bloch's attempts to find out how it all went wrong for Paulose (perhaps more prayer next time, and a row of trumpeters to blow a triumphant theme as doves are released would help the next time she is sworn in for a job for which she isn't qualified for.)

Mukasey is a disgrace and should be impeached.

Acquitted

Katherine Shields has been acquitted on the thin soup of a mortgage fraud charge that was filed by one of Gonzo’s replacement minions in an effort to derail her political career.

Bradley Schlozman, political hack and Loyal Bushie, amoral sleazebag and smarmy fuck extraordinaire – rode into Kansas City as an unconfirmed United States Attorney in March of 2006. He immediately set about meddling with the electoral process in an effort to influence elections and undermine Democrats in the Democratic strongholds of Jackson County/KCMO and St. Louis.

First, in a thinly disguised attempt to help Jim Talent retain his Senate seat against Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill, he filed the charges against four ACORN employees who falsified a couple of voter registration cards (no fraudulent votes were cast and would not have been, even if no charges had been filed.) Department of Justice guidelines state explicitly that charges should not be filed until after elections when the filing could influence the outcome (innocent until proven guilty and all that).

He ignored protocol because he wasn’t here to serve Justice. He was here to spurn Justice. He was here to use the Department of Justice to help the Republican party in the states Democratic strongholds. Period.

And while the outcry over the ACORN charges was still echoing off the tall buildings downtown, the bastard turned around and did it again! He filed a mortgage fraud charge against two-term Jackson County Executive Katherine Shields, and brought the specious charges against her while she was conducting a mayoral campaign.

As soon as the charges were filed, her campaign tanked. She finished the primary far back in the pack, after what started out a tight three-way race. The runoff was held six weeks later, and the contest was between former City Auditor Mark Funkhouser and Mayor Pro Tem Alvin Brooks. Our son was so pissed, he voted for her anyway, as a write-in candidate. My candidate prevailed and is now the Mayor of the city I have grown to love – but Schlozman’s tampering with the electoral process cheapens that victory to fire-sale prices.

And today, she and her husband were acquitted on all charges. The two other defendants, who originated the scheme, were found guilty.

Now…What will the future hold? Will she reclaim her place in Democratic politics on this side of the state? She was long considered an up-and-comer in the Democratic Party – that is, she was – before she was slandered, slurred and prosecuted for the crime of being a star in Democratic politics in the bluest part of a red state. It was just a given that she would be sent to Jeff City or Washington D.C. at some point in the near future to continue representing us at a higher level.

As she exited the courthouse after the verdict was announced, she was loath to speculate on what the future holds for her politically. Whatever the future holds for her, this blogger wishes her all the best, and congratulates her on the verdict. And prays to a God she doesn’t believe in that we have seen the end of political persecution of Democrats by the Department of “Just Us” in an attempt to help the whiny, sniveling, pathetic, hapless losers of the GOP.

Gonzo is still under the gun

Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine announced today that his office is investigating outgoing disgraced attorney general Alberto Gonzales to determine if he should face charges of perjury for lying in his testimony before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.

In a letter today to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), Fine said his office "has ongoing investigations" related to Gonzales's testimony on several key issues, including the prosecutor firings and allegations of improper hiring; the National Security Agency's Terrorist Surveillance Program; the FBI's use of national security letters; and allegations that Gonzales sought to improperly influence a witness who was under investigation by Congress and the Justice Department.

Gonzales's often contradictory remarks and his repeated assertions that he could not recall key events drew fire from lawmakers of both parties and contributed to his dwindling support on Capitol Hill.

Prior to todays acknowledgment, Fine would only confirm that he was looking into allegations that the Attorney General sought to influence the testimony of Monica Goodling before she appeared before Congress.

Earlier this month Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy had requested Fine expand the scope of his investigation to include Gonzales contradictory testimony. Today, Fine indicated that he was already on it, and so was the Office of Professional Responsibility. The two offices are jointly conducting an investigation into the illegal politicization of Justice.

Leahy issues a statement that he was "pleased" that Gonzales was being investigated, but indicated that the Congress would continue investigating Gonzales as well. "The current Attorney General is leaving, but these questions remain," Leahy said. "It is appropriate that the Inspector General will examine whether the Attorney General was honest with this and other Congressional committees about these crucial issues."

Fred Fielding Goes Long

Okay, buckle up and grab the dashboard. The route of Republican logic (snort at that oxymoron) we are about to traverse is as twisted a path as any Missouri two-lane blacktop.

White House Counsel Fred Fielding has sent along a letter ‘splainin’ why the White House is refusing to let Sara Taylor and Harriet Meyers testify if there is any record of the exchange.

Writes F²

"Obviously, there has been a lot of discussion back and forth in that regard. The position that the president took and conveyed to the committees and the offer of compromise did not include transcripts. The accommodation was designed to provide information, not to appear to be having testimony without having testimony. One of the concomitants of testimony, of course, is transcripts.

"As far as the debate goes, often cited is that a transcript is not wanted because otherwise there would be a perjury trap. And, candidly, as everyone has discussed, misleading Congress is misleading Congress, whether it's under oath or not. And so a transcript may be convenient, but there's no intention to try to avoid telling the truth." (emphasis added)

Perjury trap? Are they planning to lie?

I guess if you are a part of this freakshow, it’s better to be assumed a liar than to open your mouth to prove it.

Sara Taylor was overheard explaining to a friend at lunch that “orange makes me look sallow.”

How Very Soviet of Him

What, in the name of all that is sacred and holy, motivated Karl Rove to turn the Department of Justice into the enforcement arm of the Republican National Committee?

The answer is simple: He only cares about The Party. Principle and Country are obstructions to furthering his own petty political agenda. To his fevered, partisan brain, the Department of Justice was his to do with as he pleased. Screw you, screw me, screw the election process, screw the Constitution; and the hell with Justice being just. That sort of thing is for chumps and Democrats, and apparently Rove thinks the terms are synonymous. I can not wait for his come-uppance.

The wonderful Dan Froomkin has a terrific piece on the Washington Post website that pulls together information from different sources and paints a disturbing picture of the unprincipled, dishonorable and frankly un-American purely partisan political hack Rove.

Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein write in today's Washington Post: "Nearly half the U.S. attorneys slated for removal by the administration last year were targets of Republican complaints that they were lax on voter fraud, including efforts by presidential adviser Karl Rove to encourage more prosecutions of election-law violations, according to new documents and interviews. . .

"It has been clear for months that the administration's eagerness to launch voter-fraud prosecutions played a role in some of the firings, but recent testimony, documents and interviews show the issue was more central than previously known. The new details include the names of additional prosecutors who were targeted and other districts that were of concern, as well as previously unknown information about the White House's role. . . .

"New information also emerged showing the extent to which the White House encouraged investigations of election fraud within weeks of November balloting.

"Rove, in particular, was preoccupied with pressing [Attorney General Alberto] Gonzales and his aides about alleged voting problems in a handful of battleground states, according to testimony and documents.

Long-standing precedent was tossed aside and actual rules were broken as well. At least one woman was incarcerated in a federal prison because she worked for a Democratic governor that a US Attorney wanted to see unseated. (It did not happen.)

I live just a few blocks from ground zero in the attorney firing scandal. I sure as hell care that “some attorneys got fired.” Especially when one of those attorneys that replaced the fired prosecutors was put here to manipulate the electoral process in my own state.

Elections are sacred, and so is Justice. That’s just how it is supposed to be in America, damnit. Subvert that process, like Rove apparently has, and I can see an application of the gallows as appropriate.

One of Senator Bond’s Staffers Wanted Graves Gone…

A new twist to the U.S. Attorney scandal, specifically as the light of scrutiny shines on the Kansas City office, involves Senator Kit Bond’s office.

Senator Bond’s office revealed yesterday that Jack Bartling, former counsel to Senator Bond, had targeted Todd Graves for replacement in 2005, even contacting the White House counsels office to express this desire.

Problem is, the Senator wasn’t told a damned thing about it.

A spokeswoman for Bond said yesterday that the senator's former counsel, Jack Bartling, contacted the White House counsel's office in the spring of 2005, without Bond's permission. According to the spokeswoman, Bartling said that Graves's replacement "would be favored," because the prosecutor's wife and brother-in-law had stirred ethics complaints in Missouri.

Graves’ name later appeared on the original list of attorneys whose ouster was sought but who were not any of the eight forced out in the Purge. Two of the three whose names have been redacted had left of their own volition. Graves was one of the two.

Bond's communications director, Shana Marchio, said that, around the time Graves resigned, administration officials told the senator's staff that Bartling's prodding did not prompt the prosecutor's departure but that they had "their own reasons" for wanting him removed. Marchio said they did not specify the reasons.

Last night, Graves issued a statement that said: "This would be humorous if we were not talking about the United States Department of Justice. First, you tell me that DOJ staffers were making secret hit lists and my name was on one of them. Then, you tell me that a staffer for Missouri's senior senator had a hit list so secret that not even the senator knew about it."

Mr. Graves – if anyone had told me four years ago that I would be defending you, and missing John Ashcroft – I would have started the process for their involuntary commitment. But Ben Franklin summed up my sentiments nicely… For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.

I think this mess qualifies.

Where did this story go?

Why didn’t this story get more traction? What the hell? In last Wednesday’s Washington Post, Dan Eggen had a blow-the-lid-off story on Alberto Gonzales lying to a Federal Judge about the legality of a US Attorney living outside the district served – in this case living in Washington D.C. and representing Montana – and then, later that very day, slipping a provision into…wait for it…you know it’s coming…drumroll please…The PATRIOT Act!!!

Eggen writes: ".... [T]he episode, which received little notice at the time, provides another example in which Gonzales's statements appear to conflict with simultaneous actions by his aides in connection with U.S. attorney policies.... The measure also provides the second example in which the Justice Department sought to use the renewal of the Patriot Act antiterrorism law to assert tighter control over U.S. attorneys. Another provision sought by the Justice Department allowed Gonzales to appoint U.S. attorneys indefinitely without Senate input. Since repealed, it was central to the uproar over the prosecutor dismissals."

The Attorney General of the United States lied to a Federal Judge. That is reprehensible. It’s despicable. It’s akin to treason to so undermine a coequal branch of government.

It is another deliberate abuse of the "Patriot Act." This slipping in of clauses looks as if it was becomign routine. Both clauses served to consolidate unprecedented, unchecked power in the hands of the Justice Department that Karl Rove might use it as a tool of the RNC.

We have long since passed the point where Mr. Gonzales has any hope of redeeming himself, and Justice can simply not be considered just so long as he retains his post.

Seriously – if he does not resign, and the President does not ask for his resignation, Congress needs to impeach him.

And the very next day, after he is dealt with and ousted from office, they need to start the process to repeal that apostasy known as the "Patriot Act" that hasn't made us safer, but has instead been a political tool used to abrogate the rule of law and allow a Republican partisan political operative, in the form of one Karl Rove to take control of the Department of Freakin' Justice.

Why the hell aren't we in the streets with pitchforks and torches over this?



[Cross-posted from Watching Those We Chose]