Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: May 4, 2007 10:10:34 AM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Entire Fedl Govt Being Infiltrated by "Secret Agents of
Perpetual One-Party Rule
Justice probes hiring of prosecutors
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press, May 3, 12:01 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070503/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/
justice_prosecutors;_ylt=Ap882bPkJ1YUabIVjbKH0TOs0NUE
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is investigating whether its
former White House liaison used political affiliations in deciding
whom to hire as entry-level prosecutors in some U.S. attorney
offices around the country, The Associated Press has learned.
Such consideration would be a violation of federal law.
The inquiry involving Monica Goodling, a conservative Republican
who recently quit as counsel and White House liaison for Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales, raises new concerns that politics have
cast a shadow over the independence of trial prosecutors who
enforce U.S. laws.
Justice spokesman Dean Boyd confirmed Wednesday that the
department's inspector general and Office of Professional
Responsibility have been investigating for several weeks Goodling's
role in hiring career attorneys — an unusual responsibility for her
to have had.
Investigators are trying to determine whether Goodling "may have
taken prohibited considerations into account during such review,"
Boyd told the AP. "Whether or not the allegation is true is
currently the subject of the OIG/OPR investigation."
Three government officials with knowledge of the investigation said
Goodling appears to have sought information about party affiliation
while vetting applicants for assistant U.S. attorneys' jobs. The
officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing
investigation.
Goodling's attorney, John Dowd, declined to comment.
Separately, senators subpoenaed Gonzales on Wednesday directing him
to provide any e-mails related to presidential adviser Karl Rove
and the firings of eight federal prosecutors. In Jackson, Miss.,
Gonzales ended a news conference about the Virginia Tech shootings
after he was asked about being subpoenaed.
"I don't want to comment on it without going back and talking to
folks within the department," Gonzales said.
Additionally, new documents surfaced Wednesday showing that at
least four of the eight targeted U.S. attorneys reported being told
to stay quiet about their dismissals by Mike Elston, the top aide
to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty.
The documents also indicate that one of the fired prosecutors was
told by Associate Attorney General William Mercer that the
dismissals were to make room for others to gain experience so the
Republican Party would have a strong bench of candidates for
federal judgeships.
Gonzales — with President Bush's backing — has resisted calls for
his resignation in the controversy over the dismissals, which
Democrats say appear to have been politically motivated.
Last month, Goodling quit the Justice Department after refusing to
testify to Congress about her role in the firings of eight U.S.
attorneys. The House Judiciary Committee has voted to give Goodling
immunity from prosecution for her testimony — an offer that is
being reviewed by the Justice Department to make sure it does not
interfere with any criminal investigations.
Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said the new investigation
"suggests politics infected the most basic operations at the
Justice Department."
Goodling and Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' former chief of staff, also
had authority to hire or fire about 135 politically appointed
Justice Department employees who did not require Senate confirmation.
Asked if he had ever heard of the agency's White House liaison
getting involved in hiring of career prosecutors, Dennis Boyd, the
executive director of the National Association of Assistant United
States Attorneys, said: "No, never." Boyd, who is no relation to
the Justice Department spokesman, declined further comment.
The investigation of Goodling appears to focus on her role in
reviewing applications for trial prosecutors for offices headed by
temporary or acting U.S. attorneys who had not been confirmed by
the Senate. That responsibility is usually handled by the Justice
Department's executive office of U.S. attorneys.
Goodling had served in the executive U.S. attorney's office until
she was transferred to serve as Gonzales' counsel and primary White
House contact. The internal Justice investigation concerns
Goodling's review of job applicants only after she joined the
attorney general's office, the government officials said.
An official using political affiliation in choosing such applicants
would clearly violate traditional Justice Department policy and
practice, said Joe diGenova, who was the U.S. attorney in the
District of Columbia during the Reagan administration.
"There is no justification for it," diGenova said. "Politics should
play no role in the decision-making process of career prosecutors.
And if it does, that's clearly improper, and clearly a violation of
all of the traditional policies in the Justice Department."
Federal law also bars discrimination against employees or job
applicants on the basis of political affiliation.
Meanwhile, the House Judiciary panel released new statements from
three of the dismissed U.S. attorneys contending they received
calls from McNulty chief of staff Elston, admonishing them to keep
quiet. A fourth former U.S. attorney, Bud Cummins in Little Rock,
Ark., had made a similar accusation in an e-mail released in March.
"I believe that Elston was offering me a quid pro quo agreement: my
silence in exchange for the attorney general's," wrote Paul
Charlton, the former U.S. attorney in Arizona, according to
statements released by the House panel.
John McKay, former top prosecutor in Seattle, said he perceived a
"threat" from Elston during his call. And Carol Lam, who was U.S.
attorney in San Diego, said that "during one phone call, Michael
Elston erroneously accused me of 'leaking' my dismissal to the
press, and criticized me for talking to other dismissed U.S.
attorneys."
Elston's attorney, Bob Driscoll, said, "There certainly was no
intention to threaten anybody."
Daniel Bogden, the former U.S. attorney for Nevada, said he was
told he was being dismissed because the Bush administration had a
short window to get others into prosecutor jobs to bolster their
resumes. President Bush leaves office in January 2009.
Bogden said Mercer told him on Dec. 7, 2006, that the firings were
being carried out "so that the Republican Party would have more
future candidates for federal judgeships" <whose politically-
motivated legal rulings would determine the law of the land for
generations to come>.
Boyd declined to respond.
___
Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman in Washington and Emily
Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Miss., contributed to this report.
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