TPM: Rove Violated The Hatch Act...

[KharmaTrain]

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003864.php

From The Washington Post:

Justice Department officials attended at least a dozen political briefings at the White House since 2001, including some meetings led by Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, and others that were focused on election trends prior to the 2006 midterm contest, according to documents released yesterday.
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that he did not believe that senior Justice Department officials had attended such briefings. But he clarified his testimony yesterday in a letter to Congress, emphasizing that the briefings were not held at the agency's offices....

Justice officials attended 12 political briefings at the White House, and another held at the Department of Agriculture, from 2001 to 2006, according to the list sent to Waxman. At least five were led by Rove or included presentations by him.


We'll have more on this tomorrow.

Soooo...Karl led these sessions? In the White House? Sorta like a Tea party, Karl? Looks like Congressman Waxman has just tightened the noose on turdblossom a little tighter...

And...as always, our friendly, "librul" corporate media is right ontop of this story...ya know a a government official violating federal laws. Maybe it's cause Rove doesn't have cleavage...

Discuss...

[Junkdrawer]

1. Shit..and he missed getting the Repeal-the-Hatch-Act bill before recess...

Well, there's always next year...

[KharmaTrain]

6. Maybe It Was Executive Ordered Away

Ya know some super duper secret signing statement sitting in the bottom of a drawer...that the Hatch act had been voided back in 2001.

Yesterday a buddy of mine speculated that Gonzo may quit during this break and his assholiness would recess appoint a replacement without having to go for confirmation. I'm at the point of saying no more recesses while this regime continues to break the laws.

[MissWaverly]

22. No, it's voided only for GOP activities

God forbid that a employee would even vote democratic there could be serious repercussions, remember they wanted to fire a woman
who had voted for another republican candidate in the primary besides Bush.

[dkofos]

2. Just one of thousands of crimes commited by this piece of shit!!

But nobody seems to care much!!

[Amonester]

5. We care but "We Don't Have The Votes(tm)" - n/t

[dkofos]

9. OMG They trade marked their favorite LAME excuse!!

[Amonester]

32. OMG(tm)

Their Favorite LAME Excuse(tm)

LOL(tm)

[marmar]

3. That slimebucket will get his one day.....

And I'll be watching gleefully. :popcorn:

[Cooley Hurd]

4. And they bitched about Al Gore using a govt phone for fundraising calls...

Scum...



...BAGS!:mad:

[KharmaTrain]

7. And About Gore Going To A Budhist Temple...

Ya wanna bet a bright shiny dime turdblossom's gone to many a church to collect a "donation".

And this story was buried on a Progressive web site? I had to do a double-take when I read it. Yep...had this been Gore, it would have been 24/7 cable noise coverage.

[Rhiannon12866]

19. And don't forget that Gore caught hell when he just ate fish for dinner...

:crazy:

[salin]

8. Fancy this... I just posted a thread related to this...

I think the Gonzo letter and doc dump is a significant development.

[KharmaTrain]

11. GMTA??? LOL

I've been YKosing most of the weekend...catching up where I could and saw this tidbit buried in Muckraker this morning. Yep...looks like Gonzo ammended his statement at the last minute.

Was there anything else that was dumped???

:hi:

[salin]

16. I read this morning (from the link from TPM)

info about those meetings - and I don't know that would be in his letter... things like - Monica Goodling was among the DOJ officials receiving the briefings.. Monica of the illegal hiring of the civil service positions in the DOJ fame. Come visit my languishing thread... I will look to find the article that I read (at about 6am) and link to it.

I so envy you the ability to be YKosing it this weekend - to have positive progressive energy amid this disenheartenng weekend would have been so great.

:hi:

[Skidmore]

10. Rove has violated nearly every law known to man six ways till Sunday

and will continue to do so with impunity our legislators and courts grow cajones or ovaries or spines or jor brains whatever the hell else part of the anatomy is required to enforce the law. Fucking viper's nest of traitorous reptilian subhuman self-serving lower than whale poop abnormal pod people.


Swampy, paint the world dayglo slime green! Have at it, son.

[rodeodance]

12. Gonzales Now Says Top Aides Got Political Briefings (gonzo confesses)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/03/AR2007080302238.html

Gonzales Now Says Top Aides Got Political Briefings

By Dan Eggen and Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer and washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Saturday, August 4, 2007; A05

Justice Department officials attended at least a dozen political briefings at the White House since 2001, including some meetings led by Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, and others that were focused on election trends prior to the 2006 midterm contest, according to documents released yesterday.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that he did not believe that senior Justice Department officials had attended such briefings. But he clarified his testimony yesterday in a letter to Congress, emphasizing that the briefings were not held at the agency's offices.

Internal guidelines forbid partisan meetings at the Justice Department and sharply restrict the ability of employees to participate directly in election campaigns or other political activities, a Justice official said yesterday. But the official, who declined to be identified publicly discussing the issue, said But the official, who declined to be identified publicly discussing the issue, said the type of meetings held at the White House did not appear to run afoul of department policy.

A list of briefings for Justice officials was included with a letter sent yesterday from Gonzales to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which sought to clarify and correct parts of his testimony before the panel on July 24. The list was sent to House oversight committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) in June, but it had not been released publicly before yesterday.

[rodeodance]

13. in other words folks-------gonzo is once again caught fibbing to the Committee

[rodeodance]

14. "Not that I'm aware of. . . . I don't believe so, sir," Gonzales said.

At the July 24 hearing, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) asked Gonzales whether any of "the leadership of the Department of Justice" had participated in political briefings, pointing to examples involving employees from the State Department, Peace Corps and U.S. Agency for International Development.

"Not that I'm aware of. . . . I don't believe so, sir," Gonzales said.

Justice officials attended 12 political briefings at the White House, and another held at the Department of Agriculture, from 2001 to 2006, according to the list sent to Waxman. At least five were led by Rove or included presentations by him.

The list compiled by Justice did not include many details about the kind of information presented at those briefings. One March 2001 meeting included a "political update" from Rove and a discussion on "how we can work together to advance the President's agenda."

Political briefings by White House aides have become a political flashpoint on Capitol Hill in recent months. Waxman is investigating whether the meetings violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity on federal government property.

[rodeodance]

17. The White House has denied that the briefings were improper, saying they were merely informational m

The White House has denied that the briefings were improper, saying they were merely informational meetings for political appointees. Sara M. Taylor, the former White House political director, and J. Scott Jennings, the current deputy political director, have testified that the briefings were designed to thank such appointees for their service to the president.

Other briefings given by Taylor and Jennings have included detailed PowerPoint presentations, including district-by-district analyses of critical House races. Top ambassadors in early January learned from Rove and Taylor the top 36 targets among House Democratic incumbents in the 2008 races, while State Department employees at a White House meeting in 2001 learned what the most critical media markets were for Bush's reelection in 2004.

The Office of Special Counsel, conducting its own investigation, has ruled that a briefing at the General Services Administration in late January violated the Hatch Act.

Meanwhile, Congress has questioned the role that political considerations played inside Gonzales's Justice Department in both the firing of nine U.S. attorneys last year and in the hiring of career employees, the latter an apparent violation of civil-service laws.

[rodeodance]

20. Justice briefings were attended by the..WH liaisons, including Monica Goodling:

Most of the Justice briefings were attended by the department's White House liaisons, including Monica M. Goodling, who left that post earlier this year amid the controversy over the firings of U.S. attorneys. Others present included D. Kyle Sampson, Gonzales's former chief of staff, and several people who held the top or deputy positions in the department's legislative affairs office.

Gonzales's letter was part of a broader set of correspondence with senators in which he clarified some of his remarks of July 24 but stood by the accuracy of his testimony on a number of major issues, including his characterizations of a warrantless surveillance program and of abuses under the USA Patriot Act.

[flyarm]

21. don't worry we will catch the evil leaker!!..no one leaks on rovey..no one!!

and gets away with it,

that is..........


Looking For a Leaker-Former Justice Dept Lawyer's Home Raided By FBI (Newsweek)
Sun Aug-05-07 10:58 AM
Looking For a Leaker

Aug. 13, 2007 issue - The controversy over President Bush's warrantless surveillance program took another surprise turn last week when a team of FBI agents, armed with a classified search warrant, raided the suburban Washington home of a former Justice Department lawyer. The lawyer, Thomas M. Tamm, previously worked in Justice's Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR)—the supersecret unit that oversees surveillance of terrorist and espionage targets. The agents seized Tamm's desktop computer, two of his children's laptops and a cache of personal files. Tamm and his lawyer, Paul Kemp, declined any comment. So did the FBI. But two legal sources who asked not to be identified talking about an ongoing case told NEWSWEEK the raid was related to a Justice criminal probe into who leaked details of the warrantless eavesdropping program to the news media. The raid appears to be the first significant development in the probe since The New York Times reported in December 2005 that Bush had authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on the international phone calls and e-mails of U.S. residents without court warrants. (At the time, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said of the leak: "This is really hurting national security; this has really hurt our country.")

A veteran federal prosecutor who left DOJ last year, Tamm worked at OIPR during a critical period in 2004 when senior Justice officials first strongly objected to the surveillance program. Those protests led to a crisis that March when, according to recent Senate testimony, then A.G. John Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller and others threatened to resign, prompting Bush to scale the program back. Tamm, said one of the legal sources, had shared concerns about he program's legality, but it was unclear whether he actively participated in the internal DOJ protest.

The FBI raid on Tamm's home comes when Gonzales himself is facing criticism for allegedly misleading Congress by denying there had been "serious disagreement" within Justice about the surveillance program. The A.G. last week apologized for "creating confusion," but Senate Judiciary Committee chair Sen. Patrick Leahy said he is weighing asking Justice's inspector general to review Gonzales's testimony.

The raid also came while the White House and Congress were battling over expanding NSA wiretapping authority in order to plug purported "surveillance gaps." James X. Dempsey of the Center for Democracy and Technology said the raid was "amazing" and shows the administration's misplaced priorities: using FBI agents to track down leakers instead of processing intel warrants to close the gaps. A Justice spokesman declined to comment.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20121795/site/newsweek/

[KharmaTrain]

27. Informational? Yeah Right...Tell It To The Hand

This sure puts pressure on the Solicitor General don't it. If we're both pulling similar vibes here, yep Gonzo has perjured and Rove's cover has been blown...I can't see how he lets this slide and either doesn't recuse himself or just plain resign rather than follow boooshie's edict of omarta.

Now we have some serious crimes...let's see how Henry plays it.

IRC, isn't there an internal "independent" report that refutes these were "informational" and were indeed a violation of the Hatch act? I'll have to do some digging...

[Grandrose]

15. Rove has violated our Democracy....

The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, etc. and etc. and nothing but talk will be done about it until this cabal is gone, if then!!!
:grr: :kick:

[flyarm]

18. WELL THEN..15 years from now the dem congress will send someone to pick him up for violating

the subpoena..you know they need their vacation...and geezzzz.it will take that long to get someone do to their job...

no wait..when congress returns they will just change the law for Rovey..and make it all nice for him...and perhaps give him more power...hell they may just throw in the 2008 election for little ole rovey...and take the load off of him...then send him a package of rose petals..and love letters...after all the love the dems are sending all those in this white house..i could be a real bi- partisan love fest!!

ahh hell throw out the 15 years..the dems will probably let rovey stay where he is for the next 15 years...after all he is such a loyal person to *hy..we wouldn't want to disturb the balance of power now would we??

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:





fly

[trof]

23. The Hatch Act:

Permitted/Prohibited Activities for Employees Who May Participate in Partisan Political Activity

These federal and D.C. employees may not-

* use official authority or influence to interfere with an election
* solicit or discourage political activity of anyone with business before their agency
* solicit or receive political contributions (may be done in certain limited situations by federal labor or other employee organizations)
* be candidates for public office in partisan elections
* engage in political activity while:
o on duty
o in a government office
o wearing an official uniform
o using a government vehicle
* wear partisan political buttons on duty

Agencies/Employees Prohibited From Engaging in Partisan Political Activity

Employees of the following agencies (or agency components), or in the following categories, are subject to more extensive restrictions on their political activities than employees in other Departments and agencies:

Administrative Law Judges (positions described at 5 U.S.C. § 5372)
Central Imagery Office
Central Intelligence Agency
Contract Appeals Boards (positions described at 5 U.S.C. § 5372a)
Criminal Division (Department of Justice)
Defense Intelligence Agency
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Elections Commission
Merit Systems Protection Board
National Security Agency
National Security Council
Office of Criminal Investigation (Internal Revenue Service)
Office of Investigative Programs (Customs Service)
Office of Law Enforcement (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms)
Office of Special Counsel
Secret Service
Senior Executive Service (career positions described at 5 U.S.C. § 3132(a)(4))

http://www.osc.gov/ha_fed.htm#may

[BlooInBloo]

24. Quick! Pass a law making it ok!

[KharmaTrain]

28. Wanna Bet We See A Signing Statement?

Post dated to sometime in 2001...or whenever the first meeting was...his assholiness waves his magic wand and laws just don't exist.

Why pass a law when you can just sign it away.

Yesterday at the Presidential forum this issue was brought up and Edwards all but said his first act would be to look at all the signing statements and executive orders of the past 6 years and negate most of them.

[sutz12]

25. It's just a piece of paper with some writing on it....

:shrug:

[Canuckistanian]

26. Rove has no business meeting with DOJ officials

Rove is a purely political strategy adviser. He's not supposed to formulate policy nor is he allowed to convene meetings with Department officials.

The Hatch Act was made for just these reasons.

Nail him.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

29. What's sad is that the penalties for violating the Hatch Act aren't that

harsh.

http://www.osc.gov/ha_fed.htm#penalties

Penalties for Violating the Hatch Act

An employee who violates the Hatch Act shall be removed from their position, and funds appropriated for the position from which removed thereafter may not be used to pay the employee or individual. However, if the Merit Systems Protection Board finds by unanimous vote that the violation does not warrant removal, a penalty of not less than 30 days' suspension without pay shall be imposed by direction of the Board.

[KharmaTrain]

30. I'll Take Any Conviction

Removed from their position sure would scramble the furniture around the White House. Kinda sounds like Karl would have to go home early or set up shop outside the Executive...also that he'd lose any top security clearances he had.

And it's also a solid legal charge that could be used as the basis for impeaching Gonzo...just the thing Conyers has been looking for...added onto and amplifying the perjury.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

31. That's true about Gonzo! Gonzo admitted to DOJ/GOP Political Briefings At The WH!!!!

That implicated him and Rove!!!!!

Thank you kpete!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=1510351

Gonzales Now Says Top Aides Got Political Briefings

By Dan Eggen and Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer and washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Saturday, August 4, 2007; Page A05

Justice Department officials attended at least a dozen political briefings at the White House since 2001, including some meetings led by Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, and others that were focused on election trends prior to the 2006 midterm contest, according to documents released yesterday.

Continued at above thread

[Disturbed]

34. Add that to the list so Rove can have another laugh.

This means nothing. Congress might as well stay on vacation.

[salin]

33. what about the following... Monica Goodling attends these Rove sessions...

and proceeds to be in control of hiring civilian positions in the DOJ - and has admitted violating the law by using political reasons in some hiring cases.

I have to wonder if it is possible to connect the content of one (or more) of these briefings - track if there was more contact between Monica and Rove or one of his two top aides (Jennings and/or Taylor), and specific illegal hiring. It would seem to me that a small path of light has been shown ... what if it could be proven that Rove's office directed specific, illegal hirings. That would be a much bigger deal (conspiracy?) than a Hatch Act violation, one would think....

[Disturbed]

37. "... what if it could be proven that Rove's office directed specific,

illegal hirings"? It would be talked about, bemoaned & then ignored.

[blogslut]

35. kick

:kick:

[Ms. Clio]

36. K&R n/t

[Blackhatjack]

38. Well Karl needed to tell the DOJ Officials they were not to prosecute him...n/t

[blogslut]

39. Batman kick

[Senator]

40. K&R

[radfringe]

41. BFD - he's protected by the cloak of executive privilege

and the freaking dems can't figure out how to unbutton the cloak

If the dems ever get the balls to take the next step - then this will mean something, until then it's just another item on a long list scribbled on a post-it note that has lost it's adhesive backing