Senators Ask DoJ for GOP/Dem Investigation Breakdown (Leahy, Whitehouse)

[babylonsister]

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003148.php

Senators Ask DoJ for GOP/Dem Investigation Breakdown
By Paul Kiel - May 3, 2007, 3:27 PM

Alberto Gonzales and others at the DoJ keep claiming that the department has pursued public corruption investigations regardless of the subject's political affiliation. Now we'll see if that's borne out by the numbers.

Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have requested an analysis from the Justice Department's inspector general breaking down public corruption investigations by the party affiliation of their targets. You can read their letter requesting the investigation below.

In February, we reported on a study by two professors that found the Justice Department investigates Democrats far more than Republicans. The study found that 79 percent of elected officials and candidates who’ve faced a federal investigation (a total of 379) between 2001 and 2006 were Democrats. You can see the study here.
http://www.epluribusmedia.org/columns/2007/20070212_political_profiling.html


May 2, 2007

The Honorable Glenn A. Fine
Inspector General
The Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001

Dear Inspector General Fine:

In his testimony at the Judiciary Committee's April 19, 2007, oversight hearing, Attorney General Gonzales assured the Committee that the Department of Justice has been conducting public corruption cases without a partisan bias and urged us to examine the Department's record of these types of investigations. However, due to the necessary
confidentiality of these matters, there is no proper basis for us to make the examination that the Attorney General urged.

One of the principal questions raised by the Committee's investigation into the mass firings of U.S. Attorneys is whether law enforcement at the Department of Justice has been corrupted by partisan politics. This question needs to be answered. At the same time, public corruption investigations are highly confidential, and need to be kept that way.

In order to reconcile these imperatives, we ask your office to prepare a review of the Department's public corruption investigations commenced under the current administration, and prepare an analysis that is stripped of any identifying information as to target or district, but reveals the breakdown of cases by party affiliation of targets at key investigative points, such as opening of case, commencement of grand jury activity, charging, trial, and conviction.

This information will be a benefit to the Committee's investigation by helping us assess the Department's record on public corruption cases while protecting confidentiality necessary to these public corruption cases. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

PATRICK LEAHY
Chairman

SHELDON WHITEHOUSE
United States Senator

[ClassWarrior]

1. Sweet.

NGU.