DOJ investigating the Attorney General

From the Washington Post:

The Justice Department is investigating whether departing Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales gave false or misleading testimony to Congress on a broad range of issues, including the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program and the removal of nine U.S. attorneys last year, the lead investigator said today.

The disclosure by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine shows that internal investigations that began with the prosecutor firings have widened substantially to include a focus on Gonzales's actions and statements.

Amazing, huh? The state of our Justice system must be pretty messed up when the Attorney General of the United States is being investigated by his own subordinates. Or perhaps it means that the system is finally starting to work....

Thoughts on the Gonzo resignation

There has been no lack of chatter about the motivation behind the resignation of Alberto Gonzales. At first glance, it could also be that Gonzales was tired of being hauled to Capitol Hill and publicly flogged for lying to Congress.

But, I think that BushCo has a larger reason behind the resignation. We've clearly seen that the Democratic Congress is not (yet) capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time. For instance, there are lots of hearings investigating the utter corruption that exists in the Administration. But, nothing substantive has yet to come from it.

With Alberto Gonzales gone, the Senate will need to confirm a new nominee. Lots of conventional thinking is that the President will appoint someone who will gain easy approval of the Senate, which is incredibly wary Bush nominees. Today's Washington Post reports that Bush is 'willing to fight for the right nominee'. This is the signal I was looking for.

The White House has stonewalled any attempt to investigate pretty much anything that has occurred there since January of 2001. We now find ourselves five months away from the start of the 2008 Presidential nominating contests. If BushCo can make it into 2008 without a major breach in their stonewalling efforts, they are likely to get off scott free. There is no indication that the Democratic nominee or the Democratic Congress have the political wherewithal to see this through to the bitter end.

Since the Republicans have made an art form out of exploiting the weaknesses of Democrats, the White House has surely found this as their final chess move to prevent the success of the investigations of corruption. By appointing an Attorney General that will create controversy, he will tie up the Senate for a couple of months. If indeed, he appoints Michael Chertoff, he could tie up the Senate for the rest of the year, creating two cabinet vacancies for Bush to fill. These confirmation fights, combined with the expert obstructionism of Mitch McConnell is all the White House needs.

Instead, Democrats in Congress need to act swiftly and stay focused on the important mission of getting to the bottom of every scandalous and corrupt action of this Administration. The success of this effort is important to the future of our political system.

Gonzales' legacy according to Bush

I'm watching W's remarks about Alberto Gonzales' resignation. He has just credited Gonzales with being an architect in the 'War on Terror' and also said that the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act bear his influence. He further said that he has worked to root out public corruption and that he has reduced gang violence.

The comment on gang violence is pretty random. The rest of it is just crap.

Adoption of the Patriot Act and Military Commissions Act represent some of the most serious abuse of the Constitution that we've ever known. To try to pass that off as a career accomplishment is a bad joke. I would contend that, rather than rooting out public corruption, Gonzales was the ultimate example of it. His tenure at the Department of Justice has been about little more than expanding illegal activity at the behest of the White House and covering up the efforts to do so.

Calls for his resignation have come from both sides of the aisle for months. It's about damn time that he heard it and heeded it. Good riddance.

Now we should focus our attention on helping to promote the idea of having an Attorney General that honors the rule of law and will begin the work that must be done to restore confidence in the United States system of justice. That is the most important thing that we can do.

FISA Bill Sucks!

Here is how Democrats should be ALL talking about the FISA Bill just passed by Congress. Briefly, FISA is the 'court' of sorts that the Federal Government is supposed to get approval from in order to wiretap Americans. Of course, the Bush Administration's illegal wiretapping program completely circumvented FISA jurisdiction.

So, this bill was proposed to make it LESS illegal. Right......so we've got an Attorney General that lies to Congress and does anything he can to cover up the illegal activities of this Administration. Instead of impeaching him, the Congress gives him MORE latitude in spying on Americans. Unbelievable!!



By the way, that is Darcy Burner talking. She narrowly lost election to the U.S. Congress in 2006. She's taking her energy, plain talking, and progressive ideas on the road once again and will be victorious in 2008. You can support her campaign by donating through Act Blue.

New Scandal Brewing at DOJ?

Today, there is a hearing in Denver, CO. On Monday, there is a hearing in Chicago, IL. Depending on the Judge, the Justice Department could find itself in major legal trouble. While I can't discuss everything about the case, I'll give you the basic story.

Here's the background. The Justice Department has been investigating someone for corporate reimbursement. This is one of around a hundred cases being pursued by the Justice Department, citing a Federal law that allows them to criminally prosecute campaign finance violations.

That's where the scandal starts. The law that DOJ has been citing is outdated. A newer law requires a referral from the Federal Election Commission in order for the DOJ to pursue it criminally. The reason for this is that over 99% of campaign finance violations are settled by the FEC by fines. Only the most egregious ever are prosecuted criminally. Think about it. When is the last time you heard of criminal charges for campaign finance reasons?

Today, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington just today announced that they are filing a complained against Senator Mel Martinez for violations in his 2004 campaign. He also serves as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee. See their release here to see how far reaching his violations were. So far, there is no criminal prosecution of him. Hmmmm.....I wonder why.

I don't know how many of those hundred cases being pursued by DOJ are against Democrats. Nobody does because they won't tell us. There is probably a reason for that.

So, because they have been using an outdated law to investigate and prosecute, the Attorney General is being sued in Federal Court in several jurisdictions. The first hearings are the ones in Denver and Chicago. This could lead to the dismissal of all pending investigations.

However, it could be a watershed moment for another reason. Because of the recent oversight given to the Executive Branch, we now know that the Justice Department has circumvented the legal process and issued tens of thousands of "national security letters." These documents allow DOJ/FBI to forgo getting a Judge's approval for a subpoena. In other words, it allows bureaucrats to violate the Constitutional rights with no Judicial oversight. It is also done in secret.

But, there are indications that national security letters were issued in these campaign finance investigations. It is possible that this Justice Department abused the law to go on a crusade to investigate Democratic donors. So far, the Government has been unwilling to provide an answer to the question of whether or not this is true. If we're lucky, a Federal Judge in Denver or Chicago will seek the truth and uphold the spirit of the law and our Constitution.