Inside the Scandal at Justice

[question everything]

For those of us who did not follow every detail about the unfolding of Gonzo and the wolves, TIME provides a comprehensive summary of this.


http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1619091,00.html

Here are selected paragraphs:

Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a former U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island, produced documents and charts showing that under Bill Clinton, a policy was carried out that allowed only four people at the White House — the President, Vice President, White House counsel and deputy counsel — to discuss pending criminal cases with anyone at Justice and only with the top three officials of the department. Under Bush, that policy was loosened so that 417 White House staffers had that authority and could contact more than 30 people at Justice.

As recently as March, Jeffrey Taylor, the top federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia, sources say, wanted to know why it was taking so long to hire a lawyer he had recruited. The answer he got from Goodling was that the candidate had been deemed unacceptable because the applicant appeared to be a Democrat. Goodling's lawyer refused to comment, citing Goodling's right to remain silent.

Rich, a former chief of the voting section in the civil rights division who worked at the Justice Department for 35 years before leaving in 2005, says that from 2001 to 2006, no voting discrimination cases were brought on behalf of African-American or Native American voters. Instead, he alleges, U.S.attorneys were told to give priority to voter-fraud cases, which civil rights groups have long contended are actually meant to depress voter turnout in minority communities.

"In all the years I was in the Department of Justice, there was nothing close to the type of politicization that's occurring in this Administration," says Rich. "Outright hostility to career employees who disagreed with the political appointees was evident early on. Seven career managers were removed in the civil rights division. I personally was ordered to change performance evaluations of several attorneys under my supervision. I was told to include critical comments about those whose recommendations ran counter to the political will of the Administration."

[Parche]

1. Scandal

That is why Rep Wexler was asking and demanding who the 'mystery' person is........

[KoKo]

2. What mystery person....involved with what?

:shrug:

[Parche]

3. mystery

The person who 'put' or authorized the names on the list to be fired