Before bushie nominates Olsen for AG today

[cali]

or tomorrow or Friday, let me just propose a theory about why he's waving this red flag in front of the dems:

bush knows he couldn't propose a much more contentious nominee. I think he's counting on dems to indefinitely hold up the nomination so that he can keep Clements (the guy that was behind the "Brooks Brothers" protests in 2000) without having to actually make a recess appt.

How can the dems fight this?

[rateyes]

1. Clements is a whole lot better than Olson.

Olson also gets the "sympathy vote" because of his wife who was one of the victims of 9.11.

We fight this by not holding confirmation hearings until Rove and Miers testify publicly, under oath. If it drags out...it drags out.

[PATRICK]

2. Grill him

obsessively with the whole election fixing scandal in the DOJ and bring up his own record and partisan activities. Civil rights and purging of blacks in Florida. Re-open it all in such a way that he bows out ASAP. Then resume the questioning of the DOJ as a spin off and return ot the investigation distracted by the Gonzales resignation and drag Clements' butt in.

Evidence. Proof that things are cleaned up. Litmus test for anyone heading up the DOJ, even without the AG title. WHO is less relevant than WHAT they are doing. What is being done must change and the whos will be treated accordingly.

They have to stop seeing a gray lining in every cloud and do in the right way what the WH does always for the wrong ends. Take advantage of Olsen's role in Florida to get at the core of election fixing and the law. then he might not even show as a nominee. He was only floated, remember, as a 9/11 widower to distract the Dems from this very powerful natural counter.

[L. Coyote]

3. Olson was Solicitor General, also AAG in charge of OLC at DoJ, ALSO ran the Arkansas Project

Probably not a concern, because it won't happen. However, there may be an attempt to derail investigations by creating a false fight.
The big chain hanging around Olson's neck is the illegal activities of the Arkansas Project. SEE:
Bush vs. Gore, the 'Arkansas Project,' the USA firings, and the Swiftboat Admiral
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1029113

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From: FULL STALL JUSTICE: Rep. Jerry Lewis Probe Rolls Backwards "prosecutor ... forced into retirement"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1754656

Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Escondido - now serving eight years in prison after admitting he accepted more than $2.4 million in bribes from businessmen seeking federal contracts.

The Cunningham case spurred the ongoing probe of Lewis and his use of earmarks in connection with lobbyists and contractors.

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Debra Wong Yang : The U.S. Attorney, the G.O.P. Congressman and the Timely Job Offer

The U.S. Attorney, the G.O.P. Congressman and the Timely Job Offer
By ADAM COHEN - May 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/opinion/04fri4.html?ex=1335931200&en=9697872f8b81f953&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss


There is yet another United States attorney whose abrupt departure from office is raising questions: Debra Wong Yang of Los Angeles. Ms. Yang was not fired, as eight other prosecutors were, but she resigned under circumstances that raise serious questions, starting with whether she was pushed out to disrupt her investigation of one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress.

... the riskiest job in the Bush administration is being a prosecutor investigating a Republican member of Congress. Carol Lam, the United States attorney in San Diego, was fired after she put Randy Cunningham, known as Duke, in prison. Paul Charlton, in Arizona, was dismissed while he was investigating Rick Renzi. Dan Bogden, in Nevada, was fired while he was reportedly investigating Jim Gibbons, a congressman who was elected governor last year.

....

Ms. Yang says she left for personal reasons, but there is growing evidence that the White House was intent on removing her. Kyle Sampson, the Justice Department staff member in charge of the firings, told investigators last month in still-secret testimony that Harriet Miers, .......

The new job that Ms. Yang landed raised more red flags. Press reports say she got a $1.5 million signing bonus to become a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, a firm with strong Republican ties. She was hired to be co-leader of the Crisis Management Practice Group with Theodore Olson, who was President Bush’s solicitor general and his Supreme Court lawyer in Bush v. Gore. Gibson, Dunn was defending Mr. Lewis in Ms. Yang’s investigation.

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Yang denies departure is linked to that of other U.S. attorneys
By Susan Crabtree - March 05, 2007
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/yang-denies-departure-is-linked-to-that-of-other-u.s.-attorneys-2007-03-05.html


A former U.S. attorney for Los Angeles, Debra Wong Yang, dismissed questions about the timing of her departure....

Wong Yang was heading up the investigation into Rep. Jerry Lewis’s (R-Calif.) ties to a lobbying firm and the millions of dollars in contracts the firm’s clients received from Congress. Wong Yang, the first Asian-American woman to serve as a U.S. attorney, left her post with Justice to become a partner at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, the law firm representing Lewis. She will co-chair the firm’s crisis-management practice group, along with Washington, D.C., partner Theodore B. Olson, a former Bush administration solicitor general.

Wong Yang said her departure was a personal decision based on financial concerns and the fact that she is a single mother, and had nothing to do with the firings of other U.S. attorneys. She also said her departure would not affect the case against Lewis in any way, ...........

-----------------

Yang will co-chair the firm’s crisis-management practice group.... Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Fuchs, Yang’s colleague at the Los Angeles U.S. attorney’s office, also has joined her at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher. Yang and Fuchs have recused themselves from working on Lewis’s defense.

Fuchs did not respond to The Hill’s queries. ....

[cali]

4. Thanks, L Coyote- again

for your great research. I hope you're right about Olsen not being nominated, though I certainly don't have any hopes for good nominee.

[L. Coyote]

5. Expect a co-conspirator. This will not happen fast, I suspect.

Leahy will stick to his guns and demand the WH first take care of past business, the subpoenas. Nominating a new AG has to get past the Senate Judiciary. It will be interesting to see if a Special Counsel (for USA firings) is appointed as soon as Gonzo is gone (at the end of this week, not?).