Republican Lawmaker Urges 9/11 Panelist to Quit

[Judi Lynn]

Republican Lawmaker Urges 9/11 Panelist to Quit
Wed Apr 14, 2004 06:52 PM ET


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Republican lawmaker on Wednesday called on a Democratic member of the panel investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to step down due to a conflict of interest, but the commission's chief dismissed the request as "silly."

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the Republican chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, said commission member Jamie Gorelick, who served as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, should resign.

He said Gorelick had a conflict of interest because she had written a memo in 1995 establishing distinctions between intelligence that could be used for law-enforcement purposes and intelligence for national-security purposes.

The memo was made public on Tuesday by Attorney General John Ashcroft when he testified his Justice Department's actions against terrorism.
(snip/...)

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=4830242


Sensenbrenner

[Seldona]

1. Bah

When Cheney stops getting paid from Halliburton, who is the happy winner of over a billion in no bid contracts, then we can talk about her leaving for having written a memo.

Isn't that almost unbelievable?

The VP gets paid from a company that gets no bid contracts and cons think it is noithing.

But write a memo, and you better watch out.

How can anyone that full of shit sleep at night?

[MSgt213]

9. She wrote a memo clarifying existing law to FBI agents so they don't blow

cases in court. She did'nt invented the rules or set the rules as a Deputy AG. The Attorney Generals office has a direct interest in getting convictions in court. They have no interest in making sure the CIA looks good doing their job. The rules were there because of prior abuses going back to the Nixon administration. Hello!!! Remember Watergate.

[dusty64]

10. Well now that they've opened

that door, its time to highlight ALL the glaring conflicts of interest on the other side. Its about time that two started playing the game.

[Democat]

2. How about they get a real independent panel instead of Bush appointees?

If anyone should step down, it should be the partisan Bush defending Republicans on the panel.

Clinton gets Ken Starr and Bush gets his pals.

[jamesinca]

3. Maybe Scalia should head the commission

I think that would make it fair and balanced. Wait he is to busy passing judgment on a case involving Chenney his duck hunting partner. Maybe the head of Diebold should be on the commission, the guy who promised to deliver Ohio to Bush in '04. Wait he is busy fixing an election. Well I guess that leaves her, nobody else has an empty calendar.

I can think of one person that I would like to see on the panel... Howard Dean! That man would not back down or feel sorry for them.

[w4rma]

4. So, Gorelick should resign because she understands the subject too well?

Experienced enough to write a memo on the subject means too experienced to sit on a government panel on the subject. Maybe said Republican is worried that Gorelick might understand the subject well enough to dig deeper than he'd like?

[PaDUer]

23. Jamie was interviewed

two nites ago, said she is NOT stepping down. Of course they're worried, they want to rule the roost!

[OHdem10]

5. Is this the Republican's way

of publicly trying to do everything they can to discredit the commision. If the commission looks bad--then perhaps Bush looks better and maybe he American peoople will not take report seriously.
. Serious Republicans on Commission say Gorelick has been one of the best Comission members. Ashcroft could have lifted the wall --It was only a memo. His Deputy signed the memo for their term. If this was so serious why did he sign it???
From day one Fox News has had a steady drum beat going--Comission
is political. Desperation to help Bush. Now they have jumped on this.

If they can make the commission look bad--Bush looks better.

These Republicans are real political operators and never overlook an opportunity to help themselves.

[sniffa]

13. the handpicked commission Look bad?

how does it not make bush Look bad, since he picked it?

[74dodgedart]

17. You've got to wonder if they knew about this

when they appointed her. This way, they have an out if the committe looks like it isn't going their way...

[Mithras61]

18. As Kean noted...

they ALL have confluicts of interest, and recuse themselves from the portions where those conflicts lie. I think that the commission is as "for real" as it could be under the circumstances.

[saigon68]

6. Sensenbrenner a Multi-millionaire Fat Pig

He'd be a prison guard or cleaning toilets if he hadn't been born to wealth. $$$$$$$$$ </Oink>

[Judi Lynn]

8. Sensenbrenner's a rich bitch? Figures.

He could afford to spend a few bucks on some voice lessons.

You can alaways tell when he's on tv, even from another room, as his high-pitched, nasal screech could peel wall-paper.

He was even more vocal, unfortunately, during Bill Clinton's public flogging at the hands of the impeachment managers.

[calimary]

7. So how did this schmuck vote whenever Clinton asked for budgets etc.?

I've seen a few mentions on MSNBC taking note of this - when Clinton was in office, there was mostly a republi-CON-controlled House of Reps. That and the general mood of persecuting him and "wag-the-dog-ing" him helped complicate and sometimes frustrate his efforts to accomplish more. I wonder where this weenie stood when Clinton came to Congress asking for support?

By the way - note the sig line - TOLL FREE to call Sensenbrenner and ask HIM to quit!

[LeftHander]

11. SHeesh....tyah...

EEEs a Beeg payne in the aaass.
<eom>

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. If Gorelick goes, so do other panelists.

There's enough conflict of interests on this board to clear the table.

[slystone]

14. The issue is fairly crucial...

Her memo is an item central to the ability for agencies to communicate with each other. It is certainly a close enough call that the commission could consider it relevant. Just for the sake of sounding crazy...this is exactly when she should recuse herself. However, she should recuse herself from that discussion only. There are other areas that she could still serve on the commission. This is not to say that there aren't others with conflicts - there certainly are.

I am tired of the "well they do it too" argument. That is really for the elementary school playground. Besides, it a cyclical argument with no end. We need to start dealing with these items with at least a hint of legal clarity.

[Mithras61]

16. She HAS recused herself...

Thomas Kean, the Republican chairman of the panel, dismissed Sensenbrenner's request as "silly," noting Gorelick had recused herself from everything related to her previous role in the government.

She HAS recused herself on the issues that relate to her former position. Otherwise, she's well informed and a benefit to the commission (which is, I suspect, why Sensenbrunner wants her to step down).

[Rex]

15. Gee, the whole Republican party is a 'conflict of interest'.

Sensenbrenner looks like a pig in a wig.

[Catherine Vincent]

19. Mr. Piggy?

LOL!

[Snellius]

20. Maybe fathead Sensenbrenner should try to quit eating

That pork brain must have put on another 50 pounds since the impeachment hearings.

[powergirl]

21. THERE IS NO CONFLICTOF INTEREST

On Hardball, yesterday, Goherlick noted one of Ashcroft's deputies, restated that exact same memorandum that she had written- except it was on Ashcroft letterhead. And Ashcroft's office was ostensibly working under the same set or rules unitl 911. Also, when Goherlick wrote the memo, she was merely restating the law that has been effect since the Reagan administration. So, it was just another example of someone in the Bush Administration that opens their mouth before checking their sources. I wonder how fast Ashcroft will get his stupid memo declassified. DOOFUS ADMINISTRATION

[FlashHarry]

22. Republican commission member Slade Gorton said...

...that this was bullsh*t on Hardball the other night. He was effusive in his praise of Gorelick.