Creeps 'n' crooks from the Bush regime keep crawling out of the woodwork: Remember Lurita Doan?

Former GSA adminstrator Lurita Doan

"Washington's special charm is much like Hollywood's: It doesn't matter what they write about you -- or how you performed your role in government -- as long as they spell your name correctly. A fine future as a consultant or at least a newspaper or television pundit awaits you."

-- Al Kamen, in a WaPo "In the Loop" item yesterday,

"Accentuating the positive"

by Ken

At the top of anyone's list of Bush regimistas who used their invaluable experience as a stepping stone to bigger and better things would be our old pal Michael "Heckuva Job, Brownie" Brown, the man who presided over FEMA's spectacular nonresponse to the Katrina disaster. As our pal Al points out, our Brownie "went into the disaster recovery consulting business and is now a radio talk show host quoted frequently in the media on disaster matters," adding: "Well, despite somewhat limited experience in this field -- we're not counting his time as judges and stewards commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association -- he did spend four years at FEMA."

Now Al has tidings of another of our favoritest regimistas, onetime General Services Administration administrator Lurita Doan, "bounced [according to Al] in 2008 by the White House amid allegations that she tried to award work to a friend and misused her authority for political ends." All indications were, and are, that in her tenure at the helm of GSA she had been unhesitating in adopting Karl Rove's mission to turn the entire executive branch into a propaganda arm of the regime.

Actually, the story turned out to be even stinkier. As I wrote back in May:

So here we were the other day, jumping ugly on poor Lurita Doan as she slinked out of her post as administrator of the General Services Administration--in disgrace, we assumed, for the conversion of the GSA to an arm of Karl Rove's Right-Wing Political Bulldozing Machine and the mounting murmurs of money diversion that took place on her watch.

Now word is that Lurita was made to walk the plank, not for being corrupt, but for not being corrupt enough! Apparently even as the Bush regime's days dwindle, it's never too late for the powers that be to be ramming more of their partisan hacks and cronified Republicrooks into gummint employment. And it seems that Lurita actually stood in the way, and so had to go.

Congress Daily's Dan Friedman reported that he was told by then-Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and a Doan supporter, that she "rejected a series of White House candidates for the jobs of GSA general counsel and chief acquisition officer." According to Davis, backed up by "GSA officials," "That seems to be the straw that broke that camel's back."

Yesterday Al reported:

A Washington Post investigation of Doan's activity turned up, among other things, a no-bid procurement order she had approved for a friend's firm. This led to a House oversight committee investigation, another by the GSA inspector general and one by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). The U.S. Office of Special Counsel urged President George W. Bush to discipline her "to the fullest extent," including canning her.

So on Tuesday we got an e-mail from a local public relations company.

"Lurita Doan is a former administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and former small business owner; she is an expert on the principles of small business and can give a unique background on how government affects it," the note said.

"These include fiscal discipline, good government, leadership, and the execution risks inherent in most government initiatives. Ms. Doan can bring her keen insight to your organization in perhaps a weekly column. Her writings have previously appeared in USA Today, LA Times, Roll Call and others."

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