Rick Renzi's Going To Spend A Lot Of Time In Prison-- But What About Jerry Lewis?

Last year, after months and months of bickering and posturing and half measures, the Republican House leadership finally forced serial criminal Rick Renzi (R-AZ)-- the R is for "racketeer"-- to retire from politics. He was replaced by a quasi-Democrat who votes with the GOP more frequently, at least on important substantive issues, than she votes with the Democrats. (Her ProgressivePunch score is a dismal 32.61.) Today the Justice Department announced that it has expanded its case against Renzi, adding 5 new corruption charges against the former key John McCain ally and campaign operative.

Prosecutors added insurance fraud and racketeering accusations in a second superseding indictment filed in late September. It is the second time the government has added charges to the original indictment, first filed in February 2008.

The government added a conspiracy to commit insurance fraud charge to the indictment. Explaining the charge, the government argued that Renzi, co-defendant Dwayne Lequire and others willfully embezzled funds and premiums from a risk retention company called Spirit Mountain to pay Renzi’s “substantial personal expenses.” Lequire helped conceal the embezzlement by transferring other funds into accounts of Renzi’s insurance company, Patriot Insurance, including proceeds from a line of credit and the real estate deal at the heart of the corruption case against him, the prosecutors allege.

Renzi is accused of telling executives for Resolution Copper Mining that he would not support a land swap bill unless they bought his former business partner’s property. Another company agreed to the deal, and Renzi pocketed more than $700,000 from it, according to the indictment.

The trial has been postponed while the judge deals with a barrage of Renzi motions to get the charges dismissed, to get evidence suppressed and to disqualify the prosecution team, etc. So far all of the obstructionist motions that have been ruled on have been denied. That got him to just file more. Meanwhile, the remnants of the most corrupt regime to have ever infested the nation's capital took a failed stab at forcing Charlie Rangel step down from his Ways and Means Committee chair. "To allow Mr. Rangel to continue to serve," says GOP hatchetman John Carter (R-TX), "as Chairman of the very committee with IRS oversight, without paying a nickel in penalties, and with no end in sight to his ethics investigation, sends a clear message to the American public that this government refuses to abide by the same laws they impose on the working people of this country."

It kind of makes you wonder what message the right-wing fringe loon Carter and his partisan cohorts thought was being sent to the American public while California Congressman Jerry Lewis was the head of the Appropriations Committee-- spending a million dollars a year fending off a halfhearted Bush Justice Dept. investigation while arranging for earmarks for every campaign donor he's ever had. And he's still up to his old tricks, just this week putting in for a $3 million earmark for Goldman Sachs, Pegasus Partners and Resource Capital Funds. In Lewis' case, Karl Rove was able to get rid of not one, but two-- Carol Lam and Debra Yang-- Justice Department attorneys sniffing around a little too close for comfort.

I don't doubt that Rangel has played fast and loose with rules governing ethical conduct-- and possibly criminal conduct; he is, after all, a politician. The Ethics Committee is investigating him, and I'll be interested in seeing what they come up with. Meanwhile, if Rangel set out to rip off the taxpayers of America and worked really hard at it, he might catch up with Rick Renzi before the next Republican wins the White House-- but he'll never catch up with Jerry Lewis.

Which brings us to a simple question: Why hasn't the new Administration staffed up the Justice Department? The answer, of course, is pure Republican obstructionism. They are simply holding up confirmations for months and months over their unrelated series of manufactured hissy fits. After senseless months of bottling up the nomination of Tom Perez to head the civil rights division, when it came to a vote yesterday Perez was confirmed 72-22, only the worst and most blatant obstructionists-- like Sam Brownback (KS), Miss McConnell (KY), Jeff Sessions (KKK), Jim DeMint (SC), John Ensign (NV), David Diapers Vitter (LA) and John Thune (SD)-- voting no. Confirm US Attorneys who will investigate criminal activities of members of Congress? I don't think so.

Coincidentally, People For the American Way president Michael Keegan was highlighting the obstructionist aspect of this problem today as well, pointing out Republicans' refusal to confirm Dawn Johnsen to her Justice Department post.

“For months now, Senate Republicans have been blocking the confirmation of President Obama's nominees to key positions in the federal government. Dawn Johnsen, the President's eminently qualified nominee to head the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department, has been waiting longer than almost anyone else–nearly eight months!
 
“But they can’t play politics with justice forever. People are getting fed up with the constant obstruction. The logjam will be broken soon, and it couldn’t happen quickly enough.
 
“Dawn Johnsen enjoys the support of former OLC heads from Republican and Democratic administrations. Republican Senator Richard Lugar, her home state Senator, has endorsed her. She served with distinction as acting head of OLC during the Clinton administration. Legal scholars and current and former colleagues have attested to her legal acumen and integrity.
 
“Simply put, Dawn Johnsen is anything but a controversial nominee. But she and other highly qualified nominees are being held hostage in a game of petty politics. Americans want the best possible people in charge of government, and it’s time for Senate Republican leaders to call off their blockade.”

BUSH REGIME FIRED CAROL LAM TO PROTECT JERRY LEWIS BUT THERE WAS ANOTHER U.S. ATTORNEY WHO WAS MUCH EASIER TO GET RID OF-- MEET DEBRA WONG YANG

The San Bernardino Sun means a lot more to Jerry Lewis than the NY Times or the Washington Post, newspapers which have carried numerous stories about his outrageous, out-of-control corruption and a systemic criminality that even GOP presidential candidate John McCain felt compelled to allude to it while visiting the Inland Empire recently. Lately, though, the Republican-leaning Sun has been unable to keep Lewis' career in crime off its front pages. Lewis has now spent approximately one million dollars on lawyers-- and he hasn't been indicted yet. Of course, the $1,000,000 was to keep him from being indicted. And there are several theories about how that's been achieved.

In January I introduced readers to a former federal prosecutor from Los Angeles who was investigating Lewis. Her name is Debra Wong Yang. I don't know what federal prosecutors make but I'm guessing it was dramatically less than the $1.5 million signing bonus she got for leaving the feds-- in the middle of her investigation of Jerry Lewis-- and joining a top Republican law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, the very firm, coincidentally which Lewis has paid a million dollars to defend him.

This past week the Sun ran a page one story on the Department of Justice scandal involving the politicized firing of lots of U.S. attorneys including, of course, Carol Lam. They connected the dots. Referring to an e-mail that Gonzales' now-fired chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, wrote the same day news of the Jerry Lewis investigation broke (May 11), which mentions, ominously "the real problem that we have right now with Carol Lam," Dianne Feinstein said on the Senate floor that "the timing looks really suspicious and it raises serious questions that need to be answered."

The investigation into Lewis was brought forward by Debra Wong Yang, the former U.S. Attorney overseeing the Los Angeles office.

Tying the two investigations is Brent Wilkes, a defense contractor indicted by Lam's office shortly before she was fired. Wilkes and top CIA official Kyle "Dusty" Foggo were the ones mentioned in Lam's e-mail sent May 10, 2006.

Wilkes was a client of Copeland Lowery Jaquez Denton & White, the Washington D.C. lobbying firm tied to the Lewis investigation. The now defunct firm's founder, Bill Lowery, is a former San Diego congressman-- who was replaced by Cunningham-- and longtime friend of Lewis'.

Wilkes was also a contributor to Lewis' campaign, and he worked for a former defense contractor who has claimed to have been been interviewed by federal investigators. The former contractor, Tom Casey, said he told investigators that Lewis asked him to hire Lowery's firm and give stock options to Lowery under a false name when the contractor was seeking a federal contract to digitize documents in 1993.

Yang resigned last November from her office to take a job with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher - the same firm Lewis has paid at least $900,000 to defend him.

She reportedly was paid a $1.5 million bonus for joining the firm, one of the most powerful in Los Angeles.

And while Yang was not one of the eight fired prosecutors, some speculation has arisen that she, too, was a casualty of the Justice Department's purge.

People in the know claim Yang was not purged-- just bought off. To this day, Lewis, a linchpin in the entire Republican Culture of Corruption that pervaded Washington, D.C, in recent years, has not be charged with any crimes. By firing Lam, the Bush Regime has signaled the law enforcement community that that's exactly the way they want it.

DEMOCRATS CALL BUSH'S BLUFF-- ISSUE SUBPOENAS FOR ROVE: NO MAN IS ABOVE THE LAW

This morning the execrable excuse America is stuck with as a "president" challenged the authority of the Congress, the duly elected representatives of the sovereign people of our nation, to investigate the outrageous corruption and criminality inside his disgraceful Regime. He refused requests from the Senate and House to have Karl Rove, thought to be the mastermind behind the politicization of the Department of Justice, testify publicly and under oath about his role in the firing of 8 U.S. Attorneys for political reasons. This morning at least 2 congressional committees voted to issue subpoenas-- Linda Sanchez's Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative and John Conyer's House Judiciary Committee.

It is likely that the Senate Judiciary Committee will follow suit. Majority Leader Harry Reid issued a statement about why Rove should be compelled to tell the truth. And the "fact and fiction" outline his office has released to the America public is startling; it's something every American should read and absorb-- and remember before going to the polls again.

FICTION ON "PERFORMANCE"

FICTION: The Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General both claimed that the eight United States Attorneys were dismissed for "performance" related reasons.

Attorney General Gonzales made that claim under oath. "What we do is we make an evaluation about the performance of individuals, and I have a responsibility to the people in your district that we have the best possible people in these positions. And that's the reason why changes sometimes have to be made, although there are a number of reasons why changes get made and why people leave on their own." (Testimony of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to the Senate Judiciary Committee, 1/18/07)

Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty repeated that claim under oath. "As the attorney general said at his oversight hearing last month, the phone calls that were made back in December were performance related." (Testimony of Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty to the Senate Judiciary Committee, 2/6/07)

FACT: Justice Department performance evaluations of these U.S. Attorneys were overwhelmingly positive.

FACT: Attorneys fired not for bad performance but for political differences. "All but one of the U.S. attorneys recently fired by the Justice Department had positive job reviews before they were dismissed, but many ran into political trouble with Washington over issues ranging from immigration to the death penalty, according to prosecutors, congressional aides and others familiar with the cases." [Washington Post, 2/18/07]

FACT: Daniel Bodgen, U.S. Attorney for Nevada, received a "very positive" evaluation. "For instance, Daniel Bogden, the U.S. attorney in Nevada, was described in his last job performance evaluation in 2003 as being a 'capable' leader who was highly regarded by the federal judiciary and investigators. 'He didn't get any dings,' said a Justice Department official with knowledge of the review. 'The overall evaluation was very positive.' Bogden was told to step down in December." (McClatchy, 2/12/07)

FACT: Deputy Attorney General McNulty admitted to never having seen Bogden's performance records. "I'm still a little skittish about Bogden ... I'll admit have not looked at his district's performance. Sorry to be raising this again/now; it was just on my mind last night and evening." Email from Deputy AG Paul McNulty to Kyle Sampson, Chief of Staff to AG Gonzales, 12/5/06)

FACT: John McKay, U.S. Attorney for Seattle, was "effective, well- regarded, and [a] capable leader." "McKay, who stepped down recently, said in an interview that his positive review in May 2006 didn't explain his ouster, nor did the phone call he received in December from a Justice Department official who ordered him to resign. The 65-page evaluation described McKay's relationship with most of the federal judges in his area as 'excellent' and praised the quality of his office's work. McKay 'is an effective, well- regarded and capable leader,' the evaluation stated. 'I understand that the recent evaluation of your office went well,' director Michael Battle told McKay in a letter dated April 7, 2006." (McClatchy, 2/12/07)

FACT: Carol Lam, U.S. Attorney for San Diego, was "well-respected." "Lam, another U.S. attorney who was told to resign, was described in her 2005 evaluation as 'well respected' by law enforcement officials, judges and her staff. Overall, the review was positive, according to another Justice Department official who has seen the evaluation. 'We're not aware of any significant issues,' said the official, who also asked not to be identified. Lam is leaving office Feb 15." (McClatchy, 2/12/07)

FACT: Even the Justice Department now admits performance wasn't the issue. "Since the mass firings were carried out three months ago, Justice Department officials have consistently portrayed them as personnel decisions based on the prosecutors' 'performance-related' problems. But, yesterday, officials acknowledged that the ousters were based primarily on the administration's unhappiness with the prosecutors' policy decisions and revealed the White House's role in the matter." (WashingtonPost, 3/3/07)

FICTION: Karl Rove claimed that Carol Lam, U.S. Attorney for San Diego, was dismissed because she did not focus on immigration cases. "Another United States attorney was doing an otherwise excellent job in the San Diego district. [She] refused to file immigration cases ... at the direction of the Attorney General, she was asked to file, and she said I don't want to make that a priority in my office." (Karl Rove Remarks at the Statehouse Convention Center in Littlerock, AK, 3/8/07)

FACT: The Justice Department wrote to Senator Dianne Feinstein three months before the firing, vouching for Lam's handling of immigration cases. "Please know that immigration enforcement is critically important to the Department and to the United States Attorney's Office in the Southern District of California. That office is presently committing fully half of its Assistant United States Attorneys to prosecute criminal immigration cases. The immigration prosecution philosophy of the Southern District focuses on deterrence by directing its resources and efforts against the worst immigration offenders and by bringing felony cases against such defendant that will result in longer sentences." (Letter from William E. Moschella, Asst. Attorney General, to the Honorable Senator Dianne Feinstein, 8/23/06)

FACT: Kyle Sampson, former Chief of Staff to Attorney General Gonzales, looked to immigration as an excuse to fire Carol Lam. "Has ODAG ever called Carol Lam and woodshedded her re: immigration enforcement? Has anyone? If the AG ordered 20 more prosecutors to the S.D. Cal. To do immigration enforcement only where would we get them from (remember the premise: AG has ordered it)? Please advise?" (Email from Kyle Sampson, Chief of Staff to AG Gonzales, to Bill Mercer, Office of the Deputy Attorney General, 5/31/06)

FACT: Disgraced former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham signed a letter expressing frustration with Carol Lam four months after she began prosecuting him - and one month before he pled guilty. "Again, we would like to meet to discuss the disparity between crimes committed and prosecutions conducted at your earliest convenience ... Sincerely ... Randy 'Duke' Cunningham." (Letter to Attorney General Gonzales, 10/20/05)

FICTION: The Bush Administration told Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) that Daniel Bogden was fired because he did not prosecute enough "adult obscenity" cases. "One is that I was trying to get the specifics of why he was let go. And to be honest with you, this is what I was told. I was told that there were two areas that they didn't feel that Dan was being aggressive enough. One was on obscenity cases -- adult obscenity cases." Press Conference by Senator John Ensign (R-NV.), 3/13/07)

FACT: Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General William Moschella said that Daniel Bogden actually had no significant deficiencies. "The general sense in the department about Mr. Bogden is that given the importance of the district in Las Vegas, there was no particular deficiency. There was an interest in seeing new energy and renewed vigor in that office, really taking it to the next level." Testimony of William Moschella, Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, to the House Judiciary Committee, 3/6/07)

FACT: Daniel Bogden moved forward on adult obscenity cases - even when the Justice Department gave him little to work with. "A former senior law enforcement official knowledgeable about the work of the Nevada U.S. attorney's office said he was shocked to see the criticism of Bogden ... The case in question, involving adult obscenity on the Internet, was 'woefully deficient' of details according to the official, who confirmed that Ward had gone to Nevada in early September 2006 to present it. 'All they had was a Web site,' he said. 'They didn't have a target fully identified, they had no assets -- they didn't even know where the guy was managing his server.' Nevertheless ... Bogden's office agreed to put together a proposal for pursuing the case, outlining the additional work and resources needed to build it, the official said. The implication that Bogden was refusing to take on a 'good case' in that instance, the official said, 'is totally absurd.'" (Salon.com, 3/19/07)

FACT: Senator Ensign may have been "intentionally mislead." "I said it before: I was either intentionally misled or somebody was misinformed and unaware of the complete process." (Press Conference by Senator John Ensign (R-NV.), 3/13/07)

FICTION: White House Advisor Dan Bartlett claimed that David Iglesias was fired because of complaints on his handling of voter-fraud cases. "That is not limited to U.S. attorneys. And over the course of several years we have received complaints about U.S. attorneys, particularly when it comes to election fraud cases -- not just New Mexico, but also Wisconsin and Pennsylvania ... "(Press Conference with White House Counselor Dan Bartlett, 3/13/07)

FACT: David Iglesias was asked by the Department of Justice to lead a voter fraud seminar for more than 100 prosecutors across the country. "David C. Iglesias, who was dismissed as U.S. attorney for New Mexico in December, was one of two chief federal prosecutors invited to teach at a 'voting integrity symposium' in October 2005. The symposium was sponsored by Justice's public integrity and civil rights sections and was attended by more than 100 prosecutors from around the country, according to an account by Iglesias that a department spokesman confirmed." (WashingtonPost, 3/19/07)

FACT: Republican lawmakers pressured U.S.Attorneys to bring indictments against Democrats - and then fired them when they refused.

In New Mexico: "Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico pressured the U.S. attorney in their state to speed up indictments in a federal corruption investigation that involved at least one former Democratic state senator, according to two people familiar with the contacts. The alleged involvement of the two Republican lawmakers raises questions about possible violations of House of Representatives and Senate ethics rules and could taint the criminal investigation into the award of an $82 million courthouse contract." (McClatchy, 3/1/07)

And in Seattle: "Another fired prosecutor, John McKay, of Seattle, tells NEWSWEEK that local Republicans pressured him to launch a criminal probe of voting fraud that would tilt a deadlocked Washington governor's race. 'They wanted me to go out and start arresting people,' he says, adding that he refused to do so because there was 'no evidence.' After McKay was fired in December, he says he also got a phone call from a 'clearly nervous' Elston asking if he intended to go public: 'He was offering me a deal: you stay silent and the attorney general won't say anything bad about you.'" (Newsweek, 3/19/07)

---



FICTION ON "POLITICAL REASONS"

FICTION: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales claimed that no United States Attorney would be replaced for political reasons - or to stop a growing corruption probe. "I would never, ever make a change in a United States attorney for political reasons or if it would in any way jeopardize an ongoing serious investigation. I just would not do it." (Testimony of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to the Senate Judiciary Committee, 1/18/07)

FACT: The Justice Department graded prosecutors on whether they were "loyal bushies". "As an operational matter, we would like to replace 15-20 percent of the current US Attorneys ... The vast majority of US Attorneys, 80-85 percent, I would guess, are doing a great job, are loyal bushies, etc." (Email from Kyl Sampson, Dept. of Justice, to Deputy White House Counsel David Leitch, as reported by ABC News, 3/15/07)

FACT: Rove was asked to fire one of the U.S. Attorneys by the New Mexico Republican Party Chairman. "Presidential advisor Karl Rove and at least one other member of the White House political team were urged by the New Mexico Republican party chairman to fire the state's U.S. attorney because of dissatisfaction in part with his failure to indict Democrats in a voter fraud investigation in the battleground election state. 'Is anything ever going to happen to that guy?' Weh said he asked Rove at a White House holiday event that month. 'He's gone,' Rove said, according to Weh. 'I probably said something close to Hallelujah,' said Weh." (McClatchy, 3/10/07)

FACT: Carol Lam served a search warrant on Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, fmr. Executive Director of the CIA, and then became targeted for firing. "The U.S. attorney in San Diego notified the Justice Department of search warrants in a Republican bribery scandal last May 10, one day before the attorney general's chief of staff warned the White House of a 'real problem' with her, a Democratic senator said yesterday. The prosecutor, Carol S. Lam, was dismissed seven months later as part of an effort by the Justice Department and the White House to fire eight U.S. attorneys." (WashingtonPost, 3/19/07)

FACT: Kyle Sampson, Chief of Staff to Attorney General Gonzales, wanted a nominee to replace Lam immediately upon the expiration of her term. "Sensitivity: Confidential ... Please call me at your convenience to discuss the following: ... The real problem we have right now with Carol Lam that leads me to conclude that we should have someone ready to be nominated on 11/18, the day her 4-year term expires." (Email from Kyle Sampson, Chief of Staff to AG Gonzales, to William Kelley, 5/11/06)

---

FICTION ON PATRIOT ACT PROCEDURES

FICTION: Attorney General Gonzales claimed the White House had no intention of subverting the Senate's constitutional "advice and consent" role. "Third, I believe fundamentally in the constitutional role of the Senate in advice and consent with respect to U.S. attorneys, and would in no way support an effort to circumvent that constitutional role." (Press Conference by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, 3/13/07)

FACT: Kyle Sampson, Attorney General Gonzales's Chief of Staff, and Chris Oprison, of the Office of White House Counsel, openly talked about using their new authority to go around the Senate on the nomination of J. Timothy Griffin in Arkansas.

"(2) 'interim may be a source of confusion or, worse, a term that Pryor's and Lincoln's office can springboard from to press for their own nominee rather than rallying behind Tim. What are your thoughts? If this is a Section 546 AG appointment for unlimited duration, Tim can call himself 'US Attorney' rather than 'interim' or 'acting' and our talkers should avoid referring to him as 'interim.'" (Email from Chris Oprison, Office of White House Counsel, to Kyle Sampson, Chief of Staff to AG Gonzales, 12/19/06)

"I think we should gum this to death ... There is some risk that we'll lose the authority, but if we don't ever exercise it then what's the point of having it?" (Email from Kyle Sampson, Chief of Staff to AG Gonzales, to Chris Oprison, Office of White House Counsel, 12/19/06)

---

FICTION ON ATTORNEY GENERAL'S KNOWLEDGE

FICTION: The Attorney General was unaware of the plan to fire U.S. Attorneys for political reasons. "As we can all imagine, in an organization of 110,000 people, I am not aware of every bit of information that passes through the halls of the Department of Justice, nor am I aware of all decisions. As a general matter, some two years ago, I was made aware that there was a request from the White House as to the possibility of replacing all the United States attorneys. That was immediately rejected by me. I felt that that was a bad idea and it was disruptive." (Press Conference by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, 3/13/07)

Karl Rove and then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales decided that the U.S. Attorneys should go. "David - Karl Rove stopped by to ask you (roughly quoting) 'how we planned to proceed regarding US Attorneys, whether we were going to allow all to stay, request resignations from all and accept only some of them, or selectively replace them, etc.' I told him that you would be on the hill all day for the Judge's hearings, and he said the matter was not urgent." (Email from Colin Newman, Office of White House Counsel, to David Leitch, Office of White House Counsel, as reported by ABC News, 3/15/07)

---

FICTION ON KARL ROVE'S INVOLVEMENT

FICTION: The White House claimed it had no involvement in the firing of these eight United States Attorneys. "'The White House did not play a role in the list of the seven U.S. attorneys,' said Dan Bartlett, Mr. Bush's counselor, referring to a roster of those who were fired." New York Times, 3/13/07)

FACT: Emails show the White House came up with the plan to dismiss the U.S. Attorneys. "The White House suggested two years ago that the Justice Department fire all 93 U.S. attorneys, a proposal that eventually resulted in the dismissals of eight prosecutors last year, according to e-mails and internal documents that the administration will provide to Congress today." (WashingtonPost, 3/13/07)

FACT: The idea to fire US Attorneys started in Karl Rove's office. "New unreleased e-mails from top administration officials show that the idea of firing all 93 U.S. attorneys was raised by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove in early January 2005, indicating Rove was more involved in the plan than the White House previously acknowledged. The e-mails also show how Alberto Gonzales discussed the idea of firing the attorneys en masse while he was still White House counsel -- weeks before he was confirmed as attorney general. The e-mails put Rove at the epicenter of the imbroglio and raise questions about Gonzales' explanations of the matter." (ABC News, 3/15/07)

FACT: Karl Rove served as a conduit to for political complaints about the U.S.Attorneys. "The White House acknowledged on Sunday that presidential adviser Karl Rove served as a conduit for complaints to the Justice Department about federal prosecutors who were later fired for what critics charge were partisan political reasons." (McClatchy, 3/11/07)

FACT: A capable United States Attorney was replaced with a former aide to Rove. "The Justice Department removed a prosecutor in Arkansas without cause to make room for a former aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove, a senior Justice official conceded in testimony Tuesday ... former U.S. attorney Ed Cummins of Little Rock, has said that he was asked to leave last year to give the job to [J. Timothy] Griffin, who previously worked for Rove and for the Republican National Committee." (The News-Observer, 2/7/07)

---

FICTION ON HARRIET MIERS'S INVOLVEMENT

FICTION: White House Senior Advisor Dan Bartlett claimed that the idea to fire U.S. Attorneys originated in the office of former White House Counsel Harriet Miers. "And what Harriet floated was the idea of saying should we treat the fifth year as the first year -- give new blood -- an opportunity for new blood to come in. Kyle, to his credit, and others said, that would be highly disruptive to the process, there are a lot of good U.S. attorneys that are performing; some of them have not served full four-year terms because we hadn't removed them all in the first place. So it was appropriate for Harriet to raise the idea; it was quickly rejected." (Press Conference with White House Counselor Dan Bartlett, 3/13/07)

FACT: Kyle Sampson discussed the dismissals with Alberto Gonzales in 2004 - when Gonzales was still the White House Counsel. "Judge and I discussed briefly a couple of weeks ago ... As an operational matter, we would like to replace 15-20 percent of the current US Attorneys - the underperforming ones." (Email from Kyle Sampson, Chief of Staff to AG Gonzales, to David Leitch, Deputy White House Counsel, 1/9/05)

FACT: White House emails show idea was discussed by Karl Rove and then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, neither dismissed it outright. "David - Karl Rove stopped by to ask you (roughly quoting) 'how we planned to proceed regarding US Attorneys, whether we were going to allow all to stay, request resignations from all and accept only some of them, or selectively replace them, etc.' I told him that you would be on the hill all day for the Judge's hearing, and he said the matter was not urgent." (Email from Colin Newman, Office of White House Counsel, to David Leitch, Deputy White House Counsel, 1/9/05)

And as my pal Bob Geiger reports this morning, the Regime-- led by Rove-- has been shows to be guilty of "political profiling." There has been an unprecedented-- unless you want to include Nazi Germany-- and "non-proportionate political profiling of elected Democratic officials" by U.S. Attorneys. Egged on my Rove's little shoppe of horrors inside the White House, the Bush "Justice" Department has been pushed to start noisy-- and usually baseless-- investigations against Democrats, from local politicians to high profile leaders like Hillary Clinton, Jennifer Granholm, Chuck Schumer, Robert Menendez and Amy Klobuchar-- all trumped up dead ends. At the same time, the Regime has done all they could to hold back investigations into real criminal behavior by Republicans like Randy Duke Cunningham, Tom DeLay, Jerry Lewis, John Doolittle, Bob Ney, Virgil Goode, Gary Miller, Ken Calvert, John Doolittle, etc.


UPDATE: BUSH REMINDING YOU OF ANYONE THESE DAYS?

Nixon? Yep, bet your life!

Bush's performance Tuesday night trying to wiggle out of the escalating controversy over the politically-motivated firings of eight U.S. attorneys is just another example of Nixon reborn and a corrupt President trapped by his own lies and malfeasance.

By refusing to let political guru Karl Rove and former White House counsel Harriet Miers testify under oath before Congress, Bush is forcing a showdown that will cripple his already-weakened Presidency.

Yet Bush, like Nixon, remains arrogant until the end, determined to ignore the law, political necessity or common sense. Given the lies on top of lies that the White House has told Congress over the past six years, there is no way either the House or Senate will accept unsworn, off-the-record testimony from either Rove or Miers.

The Democratic leadership of Congress, and a growing number of Republicans, want both on the record and under oath where they can face perjury charges for the lies they will inevitably tell.

An increasingly bi-partisan anger towards the way the Bush Administration conducts its business surfaced like a tidal wave Tuesday when the Senate voted 94-2 to revoke Bush's authority to replace U.S. attorneys.

Before Bob Barr became a right-wing congressman from Georgia he was one of Ronald Reagan's U.S. Attorneys. He feels that Congress have a right to demand the information they're asking for regarding Rove. Think Progress has the CNN video.

You have political operatives both at the White House and at the Department of Justice drawing up lists of U.S. Attorneys and ranking them according to some criteria, and this is apparently being done by a person at the Department of Justice that himself had no experience. I mean, for heaven’s sake, taking a renowned prosecutor like Peter [sic] Fitzgerald and this person Sampson at the Department of Justice, ranking him basically as unqualified, you know, that says more about the people making the list than it does certainly about the people who were the subject of the list. I mean, these are very well thought out, very highly respected prosecutors-- otherwise they would not have been appointed to these positions by Mr. Bush himself.

GONZALES & ROVE TARGETTED CAROL LAM WHEN SHE WENT AFTER DUKE CUNNINGHAM & FIRED HER WHEN SHE BEGAN INVESTIGATING JERRY LEWIS

When a new president comes into office it is customary for all of the U.S. Attorneys to tender their resignations. The new administration them replaces them with prosecutors-- often of the president's own party-- with his same priorities. All the kids do it. Clinton did it. Reagan did it. Both Bushes did it. It's normal. And it makes sense. What never happens-- never, means never-- is that a president does a mass firing of his own appointees because they haven't been political enough. But that didn't stop George Bush and his foul and ruthless Regime.

There are many disparate keys to this case-- in New Mexico, in Washington, in Arkansas-- but none is more egregious than what happened to Carol Lam here in California. Much ado has been made by Regime apologists lately that Gonzales wanted to fire her before the Cunningham case broke. Well, maybe before the case broke wide open and it was obvious his bloated carcass was going to be carted off to the federal pen. But not before it was apparent that the public disclosures about his criminal behavior would force any self-respecting prosecutor-- regardless of political affiliation-- to act. So they started looking for non-self-respecting prosecutors.

Our friends over at Dump Doolittle published an interesting timeline that I want to share with you:

February 17, 2005: Mistrial declared in first Medicare fraud trail against San Diego's Alvardo Hospital, after jury fails to reach a verdict. U.S. Attorney Carol Lam suggests a retrial is likely.

March 2, 2005: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson emails White House Counsel Harriet Miers, recommending removal of Carol Lam and several others as "weak U.S. Attorneys who have been ineffectual managers and prosecutors, chafed against Administration initiatives, etc."

June 12, 2005: Front-page story in the San Diego Union Tribune reveals that a defense contractor paid an inflated price for Rep. Duke Cunningham's San Diego-area house. Within days, U.S. Attorney Carol Lam launches an investigation.

November 28, 2005: Cunningham pleads guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors. He resigns his congressional seat.

March 3, 2006: Cunningham is sentenced to eight years, four months in prison.

April 4, 2006: Mistrial declared in second Medicare fraud trial against San Diego's Alvarado Hospital, after jury fails to reach a verdict. U.S. Attorney Carol Lam had personally tried the case.

Early May, 2006: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services threatens to cut Medicare and Medicaid funds to San Diego's Alvarado Hospital.

May 11, 2006: Front-page story in the Los Angeles Times reports that the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles is probing ties between House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) and lobbyist Bill Lowery, whose clients include alleged Cunningham co-conspirator Brent Wilkes.

May 11, 2006: General Alberto Gonzales' Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson e-mails a deputy in the White House Counsel's office asking to discuss, "The real problem we have right now with Carol Lam that leads me to conclude that we should have someone ready to be nominated on 11/18, the day her 4-year term expires."

May 12, 2006: FBI agents search the home and office of former CIA Executive Director Kyle Foggo, best friend of alleged Cunningham co-conspirator Brent Wilkes.

May 17, 2006: Alvarado Hospital's parent company, Tenet Healthcare, agrees to sell or close the hospital and pay $21 million to settle criminal and civil charges. The hospital is later sold.

May 31, 2006: Attorney General's Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson e-mails Associate Attorney General Bill Mercer asking, "Has ODAG ever called Carol Lam and woodshedded her re immigration enforcement? Has anyone?"

June 15, 2006: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) writes to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, seeking information about immigration enforcement under U.S. Attorney Carol Lam.

August 23, 2006: The Justice Department responds to Feinstein's June 15 inquiry, defending the philosophy of Lam's office, which "focuses on deterrence by directing its resources and efforts against the worst immigration offenders and by bringing felony cases against such defendants that will result in longer sentences."

December 4, 2006: Deputy White House Counsel William K. Kelley e-mails Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson, authorizing the dismissal of seven U.S. Attorneys. "We're a go for the US Attny plan. WH leg, political, and communications have signed off and acknowledged that we have to be committed to following through once the pressure comes."

December 7, 2006: The Justice Department fires Carol Lam and six other U.S. attorneys.

December 21-22, 2006: House Committees on Intelligence, Armed Services and Appropriations disclose that they have been subpoenaed by a San Diego grand jury, continuing the probe of defense contracting that began with Rep. Cunningham.

February 13, 2007: Former CIA Executive Director Kyle Foggo and defense contractor Brent Wilkes are indicted on corruption charges. Both plead "not guilty" the following day.

February 15, 2007: Carol Lam resigns as U.S. Attorney for San Diego.

Tomorrow morning Dan Eggen is hot on the scent in the Washington Post, pointing out that on May 10, 2005 Lam informed the DoJ that she had search warrants involving two corrupt Cunningham-related Republican bigwigs, Brent Wilkes and Kyle Foggo (AKA- "Dusty") and that on May 11 Gonzales' chief-of-staff, the now fired scapegoat Kyle Sampson (AKA- Rove, Jr.) informed Rove that there was a "real problem." And you bet there was. Wilkes and Foggo could easily sink the whole Regime-- and they aren't the only ones. Arch Republicrook Jerry Lewis was also in Lam's sites. They were desperate to get rid of her.

"Please call me at your convenience to discuss the following," Sampson wrote, referring to "[t]he real problem we have right now with Carol Lam that leads me to conclude that we should have someone ready to be nominated on 11/18, the day her 4-year term expires."

The FBI raided Foggo's home and former CIA office on May 12. He was indicted along with Wilkes on fraud and money-laundering charges on Feb. 13 -- two days before Lam left as U.S. attorney.

California Senator Dianne Feinstein claims that this was the straw that broke the camel's back and steeled the Regime to fire her. "There were clearly U.S. attorneys that were thorns in the side for one reason or another of the Justice Department," Feinstein said on CBS's Face the Nation. "And they decided, by strategy, in one fell swoop, to get rid of seven of them on that day, December the 7th."

Patrick Leahy, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is insisting to a very reluctant White House that Rove and other Bush cronies come down to the Capitol and testify under oath about the whole mess. The White House is offering private testimony only. The showdown comes Thursday when the committee votes whether or not to issue subpoenas if the White House continues stalling and obfuscating. This morning Leahy raged on ABC-TV's This Week that "I want testimony under oath. I am sick and tired of getting half-truths on this." Meanwhile Chuck Schumer thinks Gonzales might not last out the week as Attorney General. He's been ahead of the curve on this one from the first.

WHY AREN'T JERRY LEWIS AND DUNCAN HUNTER IN PRISON WITH THEIR PARTNER RANDY "DUKE" CUNNINGHAM? ASK BUSH, ROVE AND GONZALES

I can't remember how many years have gone by since I started asking how come the mass media never brings up the $400,000 bribe Thomas Kontogiannis paid George Bush through then Republican Congressman/bagman Randy "Duke" Cunningham for a presidential pardon. Oh, it does get mentioned now and then... but like in the 22nd paragraph on the second page of a story buried in the back of the paper. And somehow CNN misses it entirely. Well, after all, bribing the president-- even an illegitimate one like Bush-- is nothing compared to the clownish wrangling over the rotting corpse of an ex-stripper who lost and gained weight a few times.

So it didn't surprise me at all that today's editorial in the New York Times about why U.S. Attorney Carol Lam was fired doesn't mention Kontogiannis-- or even corrupt Republican congressional bribetakers Jerry Lewis or Duncan Hunter.

Carol Lam, the former United States attorney for San Diego, is smart and tireless and was very good at her job. Her investigation of Representative Randy Cunningham resulted in a guilty plea for taking more than $2 million in bribes from defense contractors and a sentence of more than eight years. Two weeks ago, she indicted Kyle Dustin Foggo, the former No. 3 official in the C.I.A. The defense-contracting scandal she pursued so vigorously could yet drag in other politicians.

In many Justice Departments, her record would have won her awards, and perhaps a promotion to a top post in Washington. In the Bush Justice Department, it got her fired.

Ms. Lam is one of at least seven United States attorneys fired recently under questionable circumstances. The Justice Department is claiming that Ms. Lam and other well-regarded prosecutors like John McKay of Seattle, David Iglesias of New Mexico, Daniel Bogden of Nevada and Paul Charlton of Arizona — who all received strong job evaluations — performed inadequately.

The Times piece today offers a tantalizing hint that should be investigated thoroughly once Republican criminals are dislodged from the levers of governmental power: "Ms. Lam had already put one powerful Republican congressman in jail and was investigating other powerful politicians. The Justice Department, unpersuasively, claims that it was unhappy about Ms. Lam’s failure to bring more immigration cases. Meanwhile, Ms. Lam has been replaced with an interim prosecutor whose résumé shows almost no criminal law experience, but includes her membership in the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group."

Until then Jerry Lewis, Duncan Hunter, John Doolittle, Virgil Goode, Ken Calvert, Gary Miller and George W. Bush will all be able to breathe a lot easier.