The Bush-Gonzales U.S. Attorneys’ Massacre of 2006-2007
Updated below:
In case you are just getting up to speed on the firing of seven or more U.S. Attorneys by the Bush Justice Department – as Walldon notes, no thanks to such press outlets as PBS and its Newshour, which on March 6 as Senate and House hearings began completely failed to even mention them, and the New York Times on March 7, which stuck its story on page 14 – here are certain key facts you will want to keep in mind when the spinning starts in earnest. You be the judge of whether these media companies are meeting their obligations to the public or not
• U.S. Attorney David Iglesius in New Mexico received calls from Senator Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson asking whether an investigation was likely to result in an indictment of the Democratic candidate running against Wilson before the November election. According to the U.S. Attorney, Domenici slammed the phone down when he declined to respond to the question. Generally, this would be considered improper for a member of Congress to be involving himself or herself in an investigation by a U.S. Prosecutor for political reasons. Iglesius, a Republican appointed by GW Bush in his first term, was forced to resign shortly afterwards.
• A staff member for another Representative in Washington made a similar unrequited inquiry to his local U.S. Attorney who was later forced to resign.
• Several had been aggressive in going after lawbreakers of either party, including Republicans, even though they were all early Bush appointees. In San Diego, the Republican (Bush-appointed) U.S. Attorney there had brought down a prominent Republican member of Congress who had been tied into the Jack Abramoff scandal (Duke Cunningham).
• This kind of mass purge of U.S. Attorneys is unprecedented. Worth keeping in mind when Gonzales and his minion start reciting the “serve at the pleasure of the President” excuse.
• Although a Presidential appointee with Senate confirmation, the traditional process has been to allow the state’s Senators, regardless of party, to recommend to the President someone of stature in the local legal community who most likely is from the president’s political party. In other words, the process has been infused with a high degree of bipartisanship precisely to minimize politicization of this important office. Also worth keeping in mind when Gonzales and his minion start reciting the “serve at the pleasure of the President” excuse.
• The new interim U.S. Attorneys replacing those ousted were hand-picked by Gonzales from Bush’s inner circle. The most prominent example is Tim Griffin in Little Rock, until recently one of Karl Rove’s opposition researchers, believe it or not, with little connection to the Arkansas legal community. (Hmmm. Let’s see, opposition researcher for Karl Rove, extraordinary power of investigation, Little Rock, Hillary Clinton as a likely Democratic candidate for President. Probably just coincidence, though, don’t you think?)
• The blogworld, most likely Josh Marshall of “Talking Points Memo,” started and persisted in asking the questions that blew the issue open. The Mainstream Media, perhaps with the exception of the McClatchy news service, seemed to be uninterested until Marshall developed a critical mass of information.
• Justice initially said the firings were “performance-related.”
• In fact, all but one had positive job performance evaluations. The “performance-related” comment got them to talk where they had all been staying quiet before.
• When Iglesius made known the phone calls that he interpreted as improper pressure and interference, but refused to reveal the callers, Representative Wilson and Senator Domenici initially avoided responding to inquiries for several days. As all the others one-by-one denied any involvement absolutely, Domenici first said he had no comment, saying “I have no idea what he is talking about.” Wilson, although not expressly denying any knowledge as Domenici did, avoided an answer and said it was a “personnel matter” that should be taken to the Justice Department.
So, you be the judge. Does it look like the Bush Administration is trying to politicize the Justice Department throughout the country to an extent never seen before? Is that an extremely important subject that should be treated as extremely important by the American media? Or even though both the House and Senate are conducting public hearings and formal ethics charges may be filed against Domenici and Wilson, with the possibility of criminal obstruction-of-justice charges, are the New York Times and PBS (and who knows who else among the elite) justified in treating it as a minor news story, perhaps because it was dug up not through their efforts but by a puny blogger? If it is not important, why did Domenici and Wilson stonewall or lie about their involvement? Is an individual who actually made the call saying “I have no idea what he is talking about” actually lying about it? If not, in what way not? If not important, why did the Justice Department give a false reason for the firings?
Just asking.
Update:
I'm just going to break into this otherwise excellent post by KissWeb to add the story of John McCay, the U.S. Attorney from Western Washington state. Shortly after the governor's race in 2004, which was ultimately won by the Democrat by a very narrow margin, McCay received a call from the chief of staff of Congressman Doc Hastings (R-WA) inquiring about why he hadn't started an investigation of voter fraud in connection with that election. The Republicans in the State were frantic to find some way to overturn the election. Later, when McCay was interviewed by the White House for a judgeship in 2006, he was asked why he had mishandled the governor's election in 2004. Not long after that, he was fired and later informed that he had been passed over for the judgeship as well. -- Walldon
Update II:
TPM Muckraker informs us now that Sen. Pete Domenici has started to lawyer up. And, who did he retain? The answer is Duke Cunningham's defense attorney. Looks like things are going to get really interesting. -- Walldon
In case you are just getting up to speed on the firing of seven or more U.S. Attorneys by the Bush Justice Department – as Walldon notes, no thanks to such press outlets as PBS and its Newshour, which on March 6 as Senate and House hearings began completely failed to even mention them, and the New York Times on March 7, which stuck its story on page 14 – here are certain key facts you will want to keep in mind when the spinning starts in earnest. You be the judge of whether these media companies are meeting their obligations to the public or not
• U.S. Attorney David Iglesius in New Mexico received calls from Senator Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson asking whether an investigation was likely to result in an indictment of the Democratic candidate running against Wilson before the November election. According to the U.S. Attorney, Domenici slammed the phone down when he declined to respond to the question. Generally, this would be considered improper for a member of Congress to be involving himself or herself in an investigation by a U.S. Prosecutor for political reasons. Iglesius, a Republican appointed by GW Bush in his first term, was forced to resign shortly afterwards.
• A staff member for another Representative in Washington made a similar unrequited inquiry to his local U.S. Attorney who was later forced to resign.
• Several had been aggressive in going after lawbreakers of either party, including Republicans, even though they were all early Bush appointees. In San Diego, the Republican (Bush-appointed) U.S. Attorney there had brought down a prominent Republican member of Congress who had been tied into the Jack Abramoff scandal (Duke Cunningham).
• This kind of mass purge of U.S. Attorneys is unprecedented. Worth keeping in mind when Gonzales and his minion start reciting the “serve at the pleasure of the President” excuse.
• Although a Presidential appointee with Senate confirmation, the traditional process has been to allow the state’s Senators, regardless of party, to recommend to the President someone of stature in the local legal community who most likely is from the president’s political party. In other words, the process has been infused with a high degree of bipartisanship precisely to minimize politicization of this important office. Also worth keeping in mind when Gonzales and his minion start reciting the “serve at the pleasure of the President” excuse.
• The new interim U.S. Attorneys replacing those ousted were hand-picked by Gonzales from Bush’s inner circle. The most prominent example is Tim Griffin in Little Rock, until recently one of Karl Rove’s opposition researchers, believe it or not, with little connection to the Arkansas legal community. (Hmmm. Let’s see, opposition researcher for Karl Rove, extraordinary power of investigation, Little Rock, Hillary Clinton as a likely Democratic candidate for President. Probably just coincidence, though, don’t you think?)
• The blogworld, most likely Josh Marshall of “Talking Points Memo,” started and persisted in asking the questions that blew the issue open. The Mainstream Media, perhaps with the exception of the McClatchy news service, seemed to be uninterested until Marshall developed a critical mass of information.
• Justice initially said the firings were “performance-related.”
• In fact, all but one had positive job performance evaluations. The “performance-related” comment got them to talk where they had all been staying quiet before.
• When Iglesius made known the phone calls that he interpreted as improper pressure and interference, but refused to reveal the callers, Representative Wilson and Senator Domenici initially avoided responding to inquiries for several days. As all the others one-by-one denied any involvement absolutely, Domenici first said he had no comment, saying “I have no idea what he is talking about.” Wilson, although not expressly denying any knowledge as Domenici did, avoided an answer and said it was a “personnel matter” that should be taken to the Justice Department.
So, you be the judge. Does it look like the Bush Administration is trying to politicize the Justice Department throughout the country to an extent never seen before? Is that an extremely important subject that should be treated as extremely important by the American media? Or even though both the House and Senate are conducting public hearings and formal ethics charges may be filed against Domenici and Wilson, with the possibility of criminal obstruction-of-justice charges, are the New York Times and PBS (and who knows who else among the elite) justified in treating it as a minor news story, perhaps because it was dug up not through their efforts but by a puny blogger? If it is not important, why did Domenici and Wilson stonewall or lie about their involvement? Is an individual who actually made the call saying “I have no idea what he is talking about” actually lying about it? If not, in what way not? If not important, why did the Justice Department give a false reason for the firings?
Just asking.
Update:
I'm just going to break into this otherwise excellent post by KissWeb to add the story of John McCay, the U.S. Attorney from Western Washington state. Shortly after the governor's race in 2004, which was ultimately won by the Democrat by a very narrow margin, McCay received a call from the chief of staff of Congressman Doc Hastings (R-WA) inquiring about why he hadn't started an investigation of voter fraud in connection with that election. The Republicans in the State were frantic to find some way to overturn the election. Later, when McCay was interviewed by the White House for a judgeship in 2006, he was asked why he had mishandled the governor's election in 2004. Not long after that, he was fired and later informed that he had been passed over for the judgeship as well. -- Walldon
Update II:
TPM Muckraker informs us now that Sen. Pete Domenici has started to lawyer up. And, who did he retain? The answer is Duke Cunningham's defense attorney. Looks like things are going to get really interesting. -- Walldon
posted by KISSWeb | 3:12 PM
1 Comments:
Ooh, the one about Tim Griffin, in Arkansas, is really telling.
Of course, a la Whitewater, they'll probably dredge up stuff that doesn't matter or has precious little basis in fact, and still get more mileage out of it than will this present partisan obscenity.
Gonzalez must go.
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