Director of DOJ's Civil Rights Division has resigned.

[kpete]

The End of the Month
by emptywheel

Via TPMM, the Director of DOJ's Civil Rights Division has resigned.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003986.php#more

Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, today announced his resignation, effective at the end of this month. President Bush nominated Mr. Kim to the position on June 16, 2005, and the Senate unanimously confirmed his appointment on November 4, 2005. Mr. Kim, whose career in the Department of Justice has spanned more than a decade, started in the Department of Justice Honors Program as a trial attorney in the Criminal Division, and later served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia.

Um, today is August 23. The "end of the month," August 31, is approximately 6 business days away.

Where I come from in the business world, when a top executive quits with less than a month's notice, he's trying to hide something, usually the imminent collapse of his business unit. When a top executive quits with less than two week's notice, that thing he's hiding may involve legal repercussions.

Mr. Kim is getting out of Dodge in an awfully big hurry.

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/08/the-end-of-the-.html

[burythehatchet]

1. you don't think he skirted some law, do you?

[tanyev]

6. A member of the Bush administration skirting the law?

Inconceivable.

[napi21]

2. PR it's sometimes a strong and irreparable disagreement with his

superiors! In the real world, it's usually goodby immediately, but in the political world, "for appearances" it's the end of the month. Very well could be he was told to do something he won't do!

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

3. Perhaps he was ordered to do something he couldn't tolerate.

A man of no principle or a man of infinite principle? Hopefully, the truth will out, and we'll know which it is.

[havocmom]

13. One hopes Ney's wasn't the only assistant wearing a wire

Lately, I have become sorta hopeful, sensing a load of shit heading for some big ol fans. A girl can dream.

Lawyering up or turning evidence to avoid serious time, lots of assistants are probably on the horns of a dilemma.

[KoKo]

16. hmm...wasn't Schlzman the Friday Dump...now this guy. Interesting...

but not getting hopes up. They could be leaving to avoid prosecution. Even though leaving would seem to open them up to it without the BFEE covering them...one never knows in the "upside down" Bush world what comes of anything. Usually it's nothing. :shrug:

[KoKo]

19. Yikes...more from article mentioning religious discrimination and human traficking....

Kim took the helm at the troubled Civil Rights Division in late 2005, just at the tail end of the stormiest period in the Division, when lawyers left the voting rights section, and other sections, in droves. Kim, like his predecessor, Alex Acosta, has never been anywhere near as controversial a figure as Division appointees Bradley Schlozman and Hans von Spakovsky, the two fingered by former Department lawyers as leading efforts to politicize the Division, the voting section in particular.

Nevertheless, the Division continued in the direction set by the prior Bush years under Kim's direction, often pursuing causes favored by conservatives (such as religious discrimination and human trafficking) to the detriment of the Division's traditional emphasis (such as protecting African-Americans from discrimination).

Kim follows a flurry of senior resignations in the past few months, including former Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, his chief of staff Michael Elston, White House liaison Monica Goodling, chief of staff Kyle Sampson, Acting Associate Attorney General William Mercer, and Schlozman, who had moved to a spot in the office that oversees U.S. attorneys.

[struggle4progress]

18. Unlikely. He's a former O.Hatch aide

http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/wan_kim.html

[havocmom]

20. Yeah, but if they have him for work on caging...

might he become helpful to investigators in hopes of leniency?

Am still floating in the fog trying to grasp the latest posts here re Deep Modem. But damn, seemed like some serious stuff is falling apart on the junta and it all hinges on what people were doing on government equipment (office computers) that they shouldn't have been doin.

[bluestateguy]

4. They prosecute civil rights cases in the Bush Administration?

I figure he would have resigned because he's bored with not doing anything.

[lonestarnot]

5. Civil rights? What civil rights? Women's voting rights are gone.

And so are mens. I mean when the votes aren't counted, why bother with the rest of the sham?

[Missy Vixen]

7. Everyone should read the comments on emptywheel's article

Yeah, it's easy to think that they've all magically found a much more lucrative gig at once -- Rove, Schlozman and now Kim -- however, we all know that is probably not the explanation here.

Tomorrow's Friday. Wonder what'll be in the news dump?

Julie

[blogslut]

11. Something's cooking

Add Denny Hastert to those you mentioned above.

Also, what was that "deadline" Josh Bolton gave to the WH staff? You know, the one KKKarl said he was given and that's why he had to go be with his family? So, do we know if other WH staffers are leaving soon? Hmmmm?

Something's cooking. Either that or lawyer's fees are starting to dismantle the big facade.

[Missy Vixen]

15. blogslut, damn straight

This is much more than the Josh Bolton "deadline". Could it be that everyone's coming back to town, and we're finally going to see some freaking action on some of this stuff?

Julie

[LiberalAndProud]

8. Good riddance.

On enforcing the Voting Rights Act:
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2007/June/07_crt_477.html

Today, U.S. Senior District Judge Tom S. Lee found the defendants liable for violating the Voting Rights Act by discriminating against white voters and white candidates. The Court ruled that Ike Brown violated federal voting laws by discriminating on the basis of race by issuing directions to count the absentee ballots of white voters differently than the absentee ballots of black voters.

[skids]

9. One good possibility, one bad...

...They are either in legal jeopardy, or they are shedding 08 campaign operatives to allow them to work (more freely than they do already on Uncle Sam's dime) on the congressional/presidential elections.

Heck even Ari is still in the game.

[OzarkDem]

14. Hatch Act violation?

Seems the're trying to clean house before the end of the August recess. :shrug:

[MadMaddie]

10. He like other * appointees has probably gutted the organization

he has probably destroyed it so badly that it will have to start from the ground up....

Yea, another rat leaving the sinking "USS * Titatantic" the ships bow has one end pointing up to the sky.......

[BlooInBloo]

12. But they were doing such a GOOD job making sure no complaints by black folks...

... had any action taken, while white folks' favorite "reverse racism" claims got center-stage!

Quit? He should be PROMOTED!

[marmar]

17. The Civil Rights Division must be down to a part-time assistant and an answering machine.....

It's been wrecked.