The Goodling Report: How Aides Took Control Of DoJ Hiring
By Nicole Belle Monday Aug 04, 2008 6:00pm
The framing is genius. It was just a few rogue aides; it didn't go up to the top. No one told Monica Goodling to demand new hires pledge allegiance to George Bush or run Lexis-Nexis searches to make sure they weren't latent liberals. Really. From Law.com: (h/t JR)
Last week, in 140, detail-laden pages, the Justice Department's two top watchdogs laid out the tale of how the Bush DOJ used political litmus tests in an attempt to hire only those lawyers who would pursue a conservative agenda.
The report places the blame for the political manipulation primarily on two top aides to then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: Monica Goodling, the White House liaison, and D. Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' chief of staff. Both have been accused of breaking federal civil service laws and DOJ policy in using politics to vet applicants for career jobs.
But the report does something else. It provides the most detailed account yet of the inner workings of the Justice Department during the period of January 2004 to April 2007, and it shows how the two young aides were assisted in their effort by more senior officials who either actively helped their cause -- or quietly acquiesced.
The effort ranged from placing what they called "good Americans" in everything from temporary Main Justice slots to career judgeships in the federal immigration courts. More than 480 lawyers interviewed for career and political positions were tested with queries like, "Tell us about your political philosophy."
What follows is the story -- based almost entirely on the report -- of how they gained power and how they used it. read on...
The report is named An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring by Monica Goodling and other Staff in the Office of the Attorney General (.pdf). According to Law.com, current Attorney General Michael Mukasey finds the report "disturbing" and former AG Alberto Gonzales feels "vindicated."
Attorney General Michael Mukasey said he was "disturbed" by the report's findings.
"I have said many times, both to members of the public and to Department employees, it is neither permissible nor acceptable to consider political affiliations in the hiring of career Department employees," Mukasey said in a statement. "And I have acted, and will continue to act, to ensure that my words are translated into reality so that the conduct described in this report does not occur again at the Department."
According to the report, Gonzales told investigators he was not aware of what his top aides were doing. Today, the former attorney general greeted the report as vindication.
"I am gratified that the efforts I initiated to address this issue have now been affirmed and augmented by this report," Gonzales said in a statement issued through his spokesman, Robert Bork Jr.
Oh good Lord, Bork Jr.??? Amazing how some names keep cropping up. Look, if you don't think that longtime loyal Bushie Gonzales (as well as many others with White House access) didn't know what was going on, I got a bridge to sell you...cheap.
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If he didn't know what was going on then he should be locked up for neglect.
"For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be required." -- Luke 12:48
I find it hard to believe that Ms. Goodling is clever enough to devise a scheme that would allow the neocons to take over the entire justice department.
Give 'em a big Lindie England salute. Two more bad apples!
Isn't it amazing that no senior official in the Bush administration is responsible for anything? They were all misled, fooled, ill advised, or misinformed, by someone way down on the totem pool. The buck? Why, it stops somewhere way outside the executive suite.
This is like blaming GM's woes on the men and women who work the production line.
Isn't it nice to know and don't you all feel safe just knowing that underlings run this country. Too bad they didn't have a clerk make the decision about Iraq. Maybe they might have had the sense to say NO WAR. But then bush has a couple of more months, he might be able to get a memo saying the janitor authorized the war.
Monica is not clever enough to even figure out that there is a Lexus network- she would think it was her Daddy's car....and at the hearings talking in her little girl Patty Playful Voice , it was abundantly clear she did Nothing unless her Boss ordered it...
Westlaw > Lexis Nexis.
I hate these mofo's; I really do. But I hate the morons who support them, and voted them in twice even more. You would think that good God fearing people would be sick of the antics of these Repukes, but nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooo.
Gonzales knew about this. What a lying sack of garbage.
Whadda surprise - another pale, blonde, corpselike Repugnichickie...what? Do they clone these creatures from stem cells that they rescue?
On in Republicanville can a report that basically says you were asleep at the switch while your underlings dismantled the constitution be seen as "vindicating."
"I said all along, I'm an ignorant boob. A cloudy-headed borderline moron with stars in my eyes and my head in the sand. And now this report has vindicated me."
yes, it was all a well-planned coup by incompetent rogue employees....honest.
"I got a bridge to sell you…cheap. "
It better be cheap, the retrofit cost for the bridge is going to be outrageous!
...Oh it's AIDES not AIDS, well that changes everything. I should learn to read better.
What will Mukasey do to enforce the rule of law on those who violated it? Nothing. In other words, he is saying that you can do these things and go unpunished. There is absolutely nothing stopping anyone at the Justice Department from continuing the practice of politicizing hirings.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d
This is great! Check it out.
In the beginning, the worst administration ever refused to recognize the International Criminal Court. That told us what they intended.
John @ 3:
Same thing came to my mind. Always the out of control underlings. Damn underlings.
" The framing is genius."
Not to mention bastardly and dastardly.
I think they pretty much just took Oliver North's testimony at the Iran Contra hearings, scratched out North, and scribbled in Goodling.
Watch out if you suddenly hear her start talking about herself in the third person: "I don't know anything abotu that, but I can tell you that THIS Leutenant Co..er..THIS Deputy Attourney General had nothing to do with that. And I didn't go to the lingerie shop to buy underwear for my secretary. I went there to buy leotards for our two little girls!"
mccain-mclame @ 19:
Not to mention predictable and banal. For the last thirty years top Republicans have been issued 'get out of jail free' cards, with a picture of Alois Alzheimer on it. That's the main difference between the Republicans and the mafia. The mafia avoids going to jail by just refusing to answer questions. They don't try to slither out of it by saying 'I don't remember,' or 'blame that little fish over THERE for everything.' Nixon started the latter tradition when he tried to pin the whole Watergate scandle on John Dean.
Speaking of hiring, who hired Monica Goodling and placed her in a position of authority given her utter lack of credentials?
Gimme a D
Gimme a U
Gimme an H
Whatta ya got?
The U.S. Justice department!
Mick Piobr @ 10:
She's a snowflaker all grown up.
seevee @ 18:
There's actually a technical term for it. Oliver North referred to himself as The Plausably Deniable Link. (I guess that's the political term.) The CIA calls a person like that a Cutout.
All this talk is giving me ulcers.
I'm ready to quit listening to it. I'm going to quit wasting any of my time, doing my own fact finding research, unless, something\anything is going to be done about any of it.
Talk, talk, talk, etc., etc., etc..........ad nauseum.
editorial point to make: when referring to the bush admin's justice dept, the word justice is to be put in quote.
example: the "justice" department
ya know, like the environmental "protection" agency. or the department of "defense"
i would say that the names are orwellian, but they are beyond that, they are bushian.
'quotes', not 'quote'... ( to #27)
alberto gonzalez thinks he's in the clear? there are only two choices here: 1. he knew what was going on and can add another crime he has committed to the growing list. or... 2. he did not know what was going on right under his nose and was thus completely incompetent in his job as u.s. attorney general.
Pericles @ 25:
there's a more accurate term for it: damn effin lies
And the final disbelief is that Mukasey will do nothing to correct the situation. Bush has successfully corrupted the entire justice system and it seems he's going to get away with it.
I've said this before and now that this "official" investigation is
whitewashedover, Ms. Goodling and Mr. Sampson have all but guarenteed themselves employment in a future Republican administration. They'll be back.Pericles @ 21:
Yeah well just like the mob they'll squeal on each other.
My question is this: How in the world do we begin to clean up this mess? I mean, you are talking about removing people whose hiring was tainted - not necessarily of their doing, along with lifetime appointments. A serious mess.
Ooohh...condi's gonna spank monica
No, not the one with he mouth full.
crazylikeafox @ 24:
ya know, i betcher right!
damn low-level civil servants ruining our government; just like those enlisted men
and women who dragged everybody in the whole friggin' Army down to their level
at Abu Gharib..
never woulda happened under a Gore administration - or a Kerry administration,
for that matter.
DHSmd @ 34:
bolt the doors at 10 am on a tuesday, and raze the fucking place...
theWalrus @ 32:
or else they're welcomed at FauxNews as contributers.
The "girls from Brazil" cloning experiemnt?
this administration is nothing short of a bunch
of reichwingneocon criminals who have committed
so many crimes, it would take 2 decades to try them.
and with pelosi not allowing impeachment of bush and
cheney for their crimes, far worse than any nixon committed,
she has made herself an accessory to these crimes and is
just as guilty. we need to remove them all. they have
fucked up the govt, the economy, the national image and
are working to demolish the Constitution.
mr. kranky @ 29:
in the first case he should be in jail, or at least under indictment...in the latter, they should be suing him to recover his salary...
theConstitution @ 2:
she's not. she always offered a "summer eve's" cocktail
to those she served.
The new Bush Law would even get Gotti off as none of the people are responsible if their employees commit mass crimes while all they do is sign the orders. Now Cheney ordered Gonzo and Gonzo ordered Samson who Samson is not charged and Cheney and Gonzo get off because it's Bush's law. Bush has committed War Crimes and stolen Trillions of dollars from the US Treasury but it's the janitor who must be charged but we'll give him a slap on the hand, as for Bush he will be like Hitler a true Dictator who ruled and stole while smiling at the idiot citizens.
Ooohh…condi’s gonna spank monica
No, not the one with HER mouth full.
My, my, my. This ingenious system of letting people investigate themselves is really paying off, isn't it? Who'd have ever imagined that the employees of top officials would actually exhonerate top officials? There you have it folks, right from the horse's mouth. Nothing to see here.
-ep
Turk Meister @ 22:
She had the most important credential that this administration looks for: She was a tenacious Bush loyalist.
JasonS @ 11:
Like everyone else in Bushland, he is once again failing upwards.
And Monica, dear? Did you get the license plate of that bus that just spread your guts all over the interstate?
Turk Meister @ 22:
That would be Mary Beth Buchanan, the Queen of the Loyal Bushies. I'm still waiting for an investigation focused on her, which I believe would blow the lid off this whole thing. Why is no-one else seeing this?
they're getting away with it again. oh well, let's have compassion for them right?
If McCain does not manage to steal the election and Obama is actually elected President, I would hope that his first order of business would be to clean out the Justice Department. In fact, they could use the same methods employed by Goodling to decide whether someone keeps their job or is fired:
"Are you or any member of your family a Republican?"
"Would you like to have lunch with Karl Rove?"
"Do you think George Bush is innocent of war crimes?"
An answer of "Yes" to any of these questions and they are out.
ysbaddaden @ 45:
Y'know, I'm almost nostalgic for the days of THAT Monica. At least her method of...errrr..."sucking up" to the boss wasn't revolting. And we won't be spending twenty years cleaning up that mess.
Sorry, as always the Republicans have it wrong. Supervisors are always responsible for what happens in their departments. It comes with the territory and is part of what leadership is all about. People under you act under your name so you set the tone for what they do.
You can bet your bottom dollar all of these people will be back. Look at all of the senior people in this administration and they're all retread hacks from the Nixon, Reagan, and Bush41 years. When they trot out a name like Bork you just know that the Republicans only know about 50 people total or else why do they keep bringing back the same criminals?
... fire EVERYONE and start again ...
Sucks to be a scapegoat in the Bush administration.
Nice hair, for a Nazi.
Is she going to be prosecuted? We need to see her lying cold-hearted ass in jail, because I assume that this is some violation of federal law. Let her sit there awhile and let that loosen her tongue, see who she fingers, Alberto.
I'm tired of watching Law & Order to see Jack McCoy as the only dedicated lawyer in the world.
Please someone convict someone of something, theres plenty of crap going on. This shouldn't even require Congresswoman Pelosi. We no longer have any rule of law, and the law breaking will only get worse. Soon it will spread to the rest of us rabble, because we'll go, why not?
57 Move on people, nothing to see here.
It's my understanding that although these hiring practices are against federal law, they're not criminal but civil, thus opening themselves, and not their agencies, to lawsuits. Unless of course they use as their defense that the agency ordered these practices.
So if they're holding out for another repug administration to hire them, it's either don't use that defense, or kiss off ever having another high position in a repug administration.
"Good Americans."
Good...Americans??? Do I have to say it? Do I?
Wikipedia entry on 'good Germans'.
And need I also pint out that Der Fuhrer required a loyalty oath be sworn to him?
Meine Gott!
Monica Goodling wasn't in need of whispered instructions. She earned her Law degree and Christian government credentials at a small 4th tier Law School behind His Holiness Pat Robertson's Regency University. In fact several of the Gonzalez DoJ senior aides also graduated from Regency where creating Christian government is formalized into the law program!
Amazing! Every single official in this worthless administration knew nothing of what was happening in the department he was hired to oversee....and when called to testify, can't remember anything that ever happened there. However, they can vividly remember everything President Clintion ever said during his entire 8 year presidency.
.I am suprised Gonzo remembers not knowing what was going on.
Two words:
Scot free.
Hey, Monica - now that you are unemployed, I know you're going to be out there Googling yourself in a few years, bitterly scanning all these old comments -- so I'm making a long shot here: With a little luck, perhaps you will be lucky enough to come across this comment.
Perhaps you're up late, "consulting" with a glass of cheap white wine and your failed life, reflectin on your now amazingly failed career, wondering where your fancy Jesus law degree and your nice big smile did you wrong.
So I just wanted to leave you this little piece of my wisdom, both to keep you company in these dark times and because there's probably no chance I'll be lucky enough to ever tell you this in person:
Fuck you. Also, fuck your mom.
Whew! Future-me really thanks you for the opportunity to get that off my chest.
Sorry Gonzo. Even if you were as clueless as Col. Klink, you were responsible for the long-standing, widespread, criminal behavior. And you're effing retarded if you think you've been exonerated.
"According to the report, Gonzales told investigators he was not aware of what his top aides were doing. Today, the former attorney general greeted the report as vindication." OMG This is a statement of the most clueless AG this country has ever seen. He had no idea that his top aides were doing anything wrong and mad no effort to oversee their work.
I see nothing, I hear nothing and say nothing" is that Sergeant Schultz on Hogan's Heroes? It like the French chief inspector at Ricks Place in Casablanca' "I am shocked that there is gambling going on here" as he is handed his winnings. This man testified before Congress in both houses and was sworn to tell the truth and did not do so. There has been no accountability of his lying at this point in time, nor does it seem will there be any in the rest of the session of Congress. I have called member of Congress I thought might have some say and they all have failed to do the right thing. Accountability is not a word understood in Congress and by this administration.
Her Nexus search included "Spotted Owl"............................WTF
Three words:
Permanently infested DOJ
B.F.D...... So these two get to be the sacrificial lambs, the cutouts, the Ollies.. eh??? Not that they don't deserve it... Sure they do...... But still, ya know?? Yea.. cheap bridge alright.......
Then there's the enevitable book deal and right wing lecture circuit to come... Boy what a bunch of crap. If even, either one of these two, let alone all the rest would ever do even a day of time behind bars over any of this shit, I'd be one surprised s.o.b...............JD
Nicole Belle mentions at the end of her rift that if ,"you believe that " she has a bridge to sell you.
Well I'm here to say I don't believe it.
But here in Nebraska we have alot of potential bridge purchasers.
There are many here that feel they need a bridge, always wanted to buy a bridge.
Its just that with the economy, many have low credit scores and are in need of credit.
I I bring in the bridge buyers, what is my take ?
Well, didn't THAT report come in in the nick of time!
.
Oh right...
... And Lindy England wasn't following orders, either... YES?
.
A couple of questions. Did any (or how many) of the over 480 fine lawyers interviewed using improper procedures report the practice (and to whom would they report it as it was the DOJ doing it)? Does anything happen to those now in career postings who were hired under such practices? According to the linked to article what was going on was not particularly secret but "too few DOJ officials were willing to challenge Goodling -- let alone supervise her", how did she get so much power? Was it because so few challenged her, or did so few challenge her because she had the power and authority from higher up in the chain? Then the person directly responsible for her, namely her boss, acts as if he had nothing to do with it all. A very long time ago I used to believe that the people in something called the Department of Justice actually believed in justice and not just in securing a power base. Odd that, seeing as how I never fell for the Santa Claus idea.
it takes time to filter like they did- the idea the DOJ (mukasey) would believe they did it secretly under their bosses noses is rediculous.
Embittered & Anti-Republicrat - Max-Hussein-1 @ 72:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xakoLYwokBo
Embittered & Anti-Republicrat - Max-Hussein-1 @ 72:
.
Oh right…
… And Lindy England wasn’t following orders, either… YES?
___________________________________________________________
Nein!!!
Number Nein...Number Nein...Number Nein...
Oh, Christ! Well, I guess that makes it all better. Yeah, if there's anything in life you've got to watch like hawks, it those ambitious underlings.
ysbaddaden @ 58:
Thanks for the info. So a civil suit would get what from Monica, very little, so non one will sue. Got it. Convenient.
Move on people, nothing to see here. @ 78:
But at least this suit won't have a white stain on it.
At some point we need to start stating the obvious, these squeaky clean looking Christian zealots are devoid of all ethics and morality. The ends always justify the means for these people so there is no boundary they won't cross in 'serving God'.
In other words - they all are bat-sh%t crazy.
Vindicated? What is there to feel vindicated about...either he was an incompetent boss who didn't have a clue as to what his subordinates were doing, even if what they were doing was highly illegal, or he's a lying SOB who has committed perjury and at best subordinated illegal activity within the agency he was charged to direct.
I guess he will get a medal of freedom somewhere down the line.
Linny @ 81:
Exactly. There is no 'vindication" here. Gonzales is an ineffective failure of a leader who adopted a see no evil hear no evil approach. When trouble came he covered his sorry ass by saying his subordinates were out of control and threw them under the bus, not that they didn't deserve it because they were just as incompetent and crooked as him. Tammany Hall had nothing on these losers.
JimboSlice @ 1:
So long as you don't apply that biblical quote to income and taxes.
Spiderman quotes in the bible?
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