Now see, the U.S. attorney thing was - IS - a big deal...

There are a few sites I haven’t been visiting lately because I was more than a little put-off by the blasé attitude of the site-owners toward the U.S. Attorney purge. When I ran up against posts that had a "who cares?" tone, my answer was "I do!" and I left. For the most part, I haven't been back to those sites. I don't seek out aggravation and annoyances. I'll venture back eventually. maybe once Gonzo is, well, gonzo...

Here is the thing about the Purge: It is a big deal. It always was a big deal. That it wasn’t a big deal to some people – people who I had always thought to be dedicated to the Constitution and the rule of law – just left a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I could not – can not – understand how anyone can just accept turning the Department of Justice into the department of “Just Us.” There is too much at stake. The very lynchpin of our Republic is in peril.

That is a big deal. Probably the biggest deal of my lifetime.

A big deal that is getting bigger.

The White House acknowledged yesterday that e-mails dealing with official government business may have been lost because they were improperly sent through private accounts intended to be used for political activities. Democrats have been seeking such missives as part of an investigation into the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

Administration officials said they could offer no estimate of how many e-mails were lost but indicated that some may involve messages from White House senior adviser Karl Rove, whose role in the firings has been under scrutiny by congressional Democrats.

A lot of White House staffers it seems have violated the Presidential Records Act by using those outside email accounts. (Those accounts are for political correspondence. Anyone else get an Irony Alert?) Not only did they circumvent the PRA, they also used those unofficial email accounts to discuss the political purge of the eight United States attorneys.

The nongovernmental accounts were accidentally discovered by Democrats when the Justice Department released hundreds of documents related to the prosecutor firings.

One exchange showed deputy White House political director J. Scott Jennings sending an e-mail titled "USATTY" to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' then-chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, from an address with a gwb43.com domain name.

"Does a list of all vacant, or about to be vacant, US Attorney slots exist anywhere?" Jennings wrote on Dec. 3 from his political account. Replied Sampson, a few minutes later: "My office. Want me to send to you tomorrow?"

Jennings had also communicated with Sampson and other Justice Department officials in August from his RNC-supplied address about how to install the administration's preferred replacement, onetime Rove aide Tim Griffin, for Arkansas U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins.

In one, Jennings passed on a strategy he said was suggested by Cummins, to have Griffin come on as an attorney in the Little Rock office until Cummins finalized his post-government plans. Jennings said the plan would "alleviate pressure/implication that Tim forced Bud out."

I have taken a few moments and communicated my concerns to both of my Senators, my Congressman and Representative Waxman’s Oversight Committee (contact information for every federal elected official is available in the left-hand sidebar – utilize it). It would probably be a pretty good idea if you did so too.

Gonzalez Caught Up in the Kerik Net

It has been two years since the nomination of Bernard Kerik to be the Homeland Security Secretary in Bush's second term collapsed amid rumors of corruption and financial impropriety. Now, with indictments imminent (and the possibility that the former NYC "Top Cop" will be an inmate in the near future) that nomination - and the unusual steps that were taken in an attempt to push it through in spite of the problems that quickly came to light - are being scrutinized once more.

Within days of the nomination, the background research into Kerik was revealing a lot of damning problems that would have prompted the withdrawal of the nominee in a normal administration. But as we know, this administration and *normal* aren't even in the same time-zone.

The administration instead hunkered down and tried to salvage the nomination anyway.

Alarmed about the raft of allegations, several White House aides tried to raise red flags. But the normal investigation process was short-circuited, the sources said. Bush's top lawyer, Alberto R. Gonzales, took charge of the vetting, repeatedly grilling Kerik about the issues that had been raised. In the end, despite the concerns, the White House moved forward with his nomination -- only to have it collapse a week later.

The revelations about the Kerik vetting process is probably about the last thing the embattled Attorney General needs as he prepares to face an angry Senate Judiciary Committee on April 17th. The facts plainly show that Mr. Gonzalez, then White House Counsel (preparing to face his own confirmation process as Bush's second-term Attorney General) exhibited extremely poor judgment and a willingness to push an unsuitable appointee in spite of it all.

And sadly, it's all of a piece where this crew is concerned. Read the Washington Post piece for the entire sorry tale...