Unabogie
1st May 2007, 08:58 AM
This one (http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003123.php)is strange.
Alberto Gonzales signed a secret order that gave Goodling and Sampson the authority to hire and fire senior political appointees at the department -- the decisions only required Gonzales' authorization. It cut out other members of the department's senior leadership from the hiring and firing process.
To be honest, my first reaction was that I wasn't quite clear what the issue with this was, until I read some analysis. Prior to this memo, the firing of USA's was done by the AG himself, and certainly the senior DOJ people as well. But this memo, especially in the first draft, gave all that power to two 30 year olds with almost no lawyerly experience. They were both acting as conduits for the White House ("Karl's Shop"). Which explains why they were chosen, since they were very likely to follow orders and be "Loyal Bushies". And since people like Battle, McNulty, etc were cut out of the loop, then any exposure of the plan would result in the firing of two low level staffers with high plausible deniability for Gonzales, which is exactly what happened.
This was a process two years in the making, and the final result appears to be a usurpation of the DOJ into something resembling a prosecutorial arm of the RNC, where policy was being directed, as in what David Iglesias called "bogus voter fraud charges against Democrats", by Karl Rove under penalty of firing.
The fact that this was systematic makes it look coordinated, and the fact that no one revealed this memo smacks of obstruction.
Alberto Gonzales signed a secret order that gave Goodling and Sampson the authority to hire and fire senior political appointees at the department -- the decisions only required Gonzales' authorization. It cut out other members of the department's senior leadership from the hiring and firing process.
To be honest, my first reaction was that I wasn't quite clear what the issue with this was, until I read some analysis. Prior to this memo, the firing of USA's was done by the AG himself, and certainly the senior DOJ people as well. But this memo, especially in the first draft, gave all that power to two 30 year olds with almost no lawyerly experience. They were both acting as conduits for the White House ("Karl's Shop"). Which explains why they were chosen, since they were very likely to follow orders and be "Loyal Bushies". And since people like Battle, McNulty, etc were cut out of the loop, then any exposure of the plan would result in the firing of two low level staffers with high plausible deniability for Gonzales, which is exactly what happened.
This was a process two years in the making, and the final result appears to be a usurpation of the DOJ into something resembling a prosecutorial arm of the RNC, where policy was being directed, as in what David Iglesias called "bogus voter fraud charges against Democrats", by Karl Rove under penalty of firing.
The fact that this was systematic makes it look coordinated, and the fact that no one revealed this memo smacks of obstruction.