Says DOJ Sacrificed Homeland Security in the Name of Partisanship Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) today blasted the Bush Administration for what a Department of Justice report deemed the illegal use of political influence in the hiring process of US Attorneys. The report cites an example of a highly qualified U.S. Attorney from Western New York who Bush appointee Monica Goodling, the report says, passed over based on his and his wife’s political affiliation, giving the position to a far lesser qualified candidate who is a registered Republican.
“The war on terror has purportedly been the Bush Administration’s first priority - by passing over a highly qualified prosecutor for a prosecutor with lesser credentials and no counter-terrorism experience, they demonstrated that the war on terror is secondary to Republican cronyism on their priority list,” Congressman Higgins said. “The sustained pattern of gross misconduct that was permitted and even encouraged by this Administration and its Department of Justice leadership sacrificed our nation’s homeland security at the altar of partisan loyalty. Make no mistake, as a consequence of this deliberate and partisan misconduct, our nation was made less safe.”
In a letter to Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, Higgins called on Mukasey to use subpoena power to investigate whether political influence went beyond that of the officials examined in the report and the role of former Attorney General Gonzales in directing these policies, as well as to investigate whether former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Monica Goodling or other administration officials committed perjury when testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on May 23, 2007. Higgins has also demanded immediate structural reforms within the Department of Justice to ensure such violations may never occur again.
To Mukasey, Higgins wrote, “The public’s trust in this Administration and the Department of Justice has been shaken by this appalling report. As the head of this august agency it is incumbent upon you to take decisive action to restore that trust by aggressively investigating and prosecuting those who are responsible for it, and by acting decisively to institute safeguards to ensure that our homeland security is never again sublimated to such flagrantly partisan considerations.”
The full text of the letter is below:
http://amhersttimes.wnymedia.net/blogs/Higgins is a member of the Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee for National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations
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