Report Finds Political Splits and Unprofessionalism in (Federal) Voting Agency
This article provides some insights into the fallout from not "cleaning house" after Bush/Cheney were ousted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/us/politics/report-finds-political-tension-in-voting-agency.html?_r=0
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s independent inspector general on Tuesday portrayed its voting rights section as torn by “deep ideological polarization” and “the harassment and marginalization of employees and managers” by both liberal and conservative factions dating to the Bush administration and continuing into the Obama era.
“The conduct that we discovered and document in this report reflects a disappointing lack of professionalism by some department employees over an extended period of time, during two administrations, and across various facets of the voting section’s operations,” said the report, issued by the inspector general, Michael Horowitz.
But while the report recounts “troubling” episodes and a “potential appearance of politicized decision-making,” it “generally did not substantiate the allegations we heard about partisan or racial motivations” or favoritism in enforcing voting rights laws in either administration.
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While some of the report covers familiar ground, it adds new details of mutual loathing, especially during the Bush era. Three conservative trial lawyers made “highly offensive and sexually inappropriate” comments about a liberal female staff member, while calling her “pro black.” And some liberal employees, incensed at the push to use division resources on reverse-discrimination cases, harassed colleagues working on such cases. At least three employees posted derogatory comments on the Internet about conservative colleagues.