Gonzales Aides Broke Laws in Hiring, Report Concludes

[spanone]

Senior aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales broke the law by using politics to guide their hiring decisions for a wide range of important department positions, slowing the hiring process at critical times and damaging the department’s credibility and independence, an internal report concluded Monday.

The report, prepared by the Justice Department’s inspector general and its internal ethics office, singles out for particular criticism Monica Goodling, a young lawyer from the Republican National Committee who rose quickly through the ranks of the department to become a top aide to Mr. Gonzales.

Ms. Goodling, who testified before Congress in May 2007 at the height of the scandal over the firings of nine United States attorneys, introduced politics into the hiring process in a systematic way that constituted illegal misconduct, the report found.

Last month, the inspector general, Glenn A. Fine, released a separate report that found a similar pattern of politicized hiring at the Justice Department in reviewing applications from young lawyers for the honors and intern programs. The new report released Monday goes much further, however, in documenting pervasive evidence of political hiring for some of the department’s most senior career, apolitical positions, including immigration judges and assistant United States attorneys.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/washington/29justice.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1217268368-dh7cTwQXJxS0i7jgZKcuPQ&pagewanted=print

[DS1]

1. I'm sure someone as dense as her brought it upon themselves to do this

and had no direction from above at all


:sarcasm:

[malaise]

5. Oh yes

It was all her idea. Rove and Gonzo had nothing to do with this. :sarcasm:

[spanone]

6. maybe if monica was threatened with jail time........

[malaise]

8. We can hope n/t

[L. Coyote]

2. The report places blame squarely on Monica, the one person granted immunity!!!

more:

Chairs Conyers, Sánchez Consider Criminal Referral on DoJ Politicization Report
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3688879

[UTUSN]

3. K&R #2 n/t

[L. Coyote]

9. "

[spanone]

4. someone should alert congress.......naaaaaaaw

once you are out of office, are you not responsible for crimes committed while in?

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. There's got to be as quicker way to expose these abuses.

I'm not happy that someone with the experience of Iglesias is out there on the talk circuit, instead of heading an organization to stop these abuses.

[Octafish]

10. Imagine the Litmus Test the JUDGES had to pass.

They want an army a mafia of Scalias.

[spanone]

11. in bu$hworld the buck always stops at the bottom...this was policy

[samsingh]

12. sad irony that the department of justice did this

who watches the watchers indeed