Re. the GSA scandal: What are these people in Washington THINKING of? And speaking of power corrupting, time to say good night, Charlie?

When now ex-GSA Administrator Martha Johnson (seen here in 2010 with Homeland Security Sec'y Janet Napolitano at left) was finally confirmed for her job, after one of those endless Senate confirmation struggles, she said famously that ethics was "a big issue for me." Now wags want to know what exactly the issue was.


"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

-- Lord Acton (1834-1902)

by Ken

From Ed O'Keefe's washingtonpost.com "Federal Eye" blog this afternoon:

Congress will investigate GSA scandal

By Timothy R. Smith

Congress will investigate the misuse of federal money by the General Services Administration that brought down the agency's administrator and two of her senior deputies on Monday.

When Congress returns from recess April 16, the public buildings subpanel of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will conduct "a full hearing on this and other matters, trying to hold GSA accountable for taxpayer waste and inefficiency," said Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the full committee.

GSA's inspector general issued a scathing report Monday that detailed misuse of funds and federal contracting violations over an $823,000 employee training conference GSA held in Las Vegas in October 2010.

"The Las Vegas fiasco is just the tip of the iceberg," Mica said. He cited billions of dollars of misused funds and 14,000 vacant or underused buildings the government owns.

The public buildings subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Jeffrey Denham (R-Calif.).

Mica offered tepid praise of the Obama administration for not obstructing the agency's investigation and taking swift action when the revelations were made public.

A spokesperson for Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said, "The current Administration took immediate action against those accused and asked for Johnson's resignation although she was not directly involved in the scandal."

I'm thinking it was during the 2010 electoral cycle that a progressive colleague with firsthand working knowledge of the machinery of the federal government tried to rouse interest among fellow progressives in championing a concerted attack on wasteful government spending, only to be generally attacked himself on the ground that government waste is "their" issue and raising it only plays into their hands.

The colleague counterargued, still almost entirely in vain, that:

(1) There is, in fact, a good deal of wastful spending in government.

(2) Especially at a time when it's increasingly difficult to fund the legitimate functions of government properly, it's good policy as well as common sense to find needed find mind that can be redirected from wasted currently being misdirected.

(3) And it's kind of crazy, isn't it?, to unilaterally cede to the other side a talking point that tends to resonate strongly with ordinary Americans.

I thought he was 100 percent right, but then, what do I know? Smarter people with their presumed inside knowledge harrumphed that doing what this madman was suggesting would just be doing the Republicans' job for them.

Now it's in part because our side has ceded the issue of wasted spending that we're now faced with inquisitions from criminal sacks of doody like Darrell Issa, in his capacity as the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Oversignt and Government Reform, or to the impending spectacle of a hoped-headline-making, thieving-scumback-led investigation of the appalling GSA scandal.

Note that I said "the appalling GSA scandal." Is there anyone who isn't appalled. I'd like to see the response to the GSA IG's report go beyond firings to prosecutions and, ideally, executions. Now that might teach a lesson or two. At least we could expect that the person(s) executed wouldn't do it again.

What the hell goes through these people's minds? Except, of course, the universal 21st-century refrain: Me-me-me-me-me-me -- and, oh yes, ME. The guiding, er, "ethical" principle would appear to be, "Since everybody does it, I'd have to be nuts not to grab everything within reach which isn't nailed down." That is, assuming these people even feel the need for a guiding ethical principle.

And on this count, lame as Oversight Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings's response is, it does indeed count for something that in the Obama administration an ugly report like that of the GSA IG led to immediate action. This is even grudgingl acknowledged by that scourge of corruption, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica, who you'll recall "offered tepid praise of the Obama administration for not obstructing the agency's investigation and taking swift action when the revelations were made public."

Maybe Chairman Mica thought it too well-known to required pointint out that this is the exact opposite of the policy -- and it's policy that was rigidly enforced -- under the Bush regime, where the invariable practice in the executive brance was, first, to have inspectors general who either (a) were buffoons to begin with or (b) understood that any embarrassing revelations they might at any point consider revealing would be met with the most ruthless campaign of suppression mountable by people of surpassing excellence at ruthless suppression. And of course while the executive branch was being transformed into a crime ring, the Republican-controlled Congress was in 24/7's rape, pillage, and extort mode.

I suppose I could be doing an injustice to corruption- and waste-fighters like Chairman Mica and public buildings subcommittee Chairman Jeffrey Denham. In fairness, then, I will offer them a Hypocrisy Waiver good for all the headlines they can garner for corruption and waste dollars uncovered up to the total dollar amount each went after in the Bush regime. I don't have the exact figures handy, but I'm guess that should bank them an Earned Investigative Credit balance of roughly zero.


SPEAKING OF ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTING ABSOLUTELY,
CHARLIE RANGEL DOESN'T INTEND TO GO OUT QUIETLY

NYS Sen. Adriano Espaillat announced Sunday that he's forming an exploratory committee to consider a run for the Democratic nomination for the redrawn 13th CD, now represented by Charlie Rangel.

I was already thinking about this business of institutionalized government corruption with the announcement on Sunday that my state senator, Adriano Espaillat (who ran for the uptown Manhattan seat vacated by Eric Schneiderman in anticipation of his ultimately sucessful run for state attorney general), a good guy, is going to challenge 10-term Representative Charlie Rangel in his bid for the Democratic nomination to an 11th term. Charlie has been sweating bullets for months now to see what if anything would be left of his 13th CD under whatever redistricting plan is finally adopted, eliminating two CDs from the state's delegation. (The slugs in the state legislature couldn't get it done, so finally the courts took over.)

From DNAinfo.com yesterday:

Espaillat Announces Run for Uptown Congressional Seat

April 1, 2012 8:48pm | By Carla Zanoni, DNAinfo Social Media Editor

spaillat announced that he is planning to run for 13th Congressional District in Upper Manhattan, setting up a showdown with the longtime symbol of Harlem politics Rep. Charles Rangel, DNAinfo has learned.
The announcement was made Sunday at the annual fundraiser for the Barack Obama Democratic Club of Upper Manhattan, which Assemblyman Keith Wright, City Councilmen Robert Jackson and Ydanis Rodriguez, and several other political figures attended, sources said.
After Espaillat told the crowd about his intentions during a speech kicking off the event, several people in a packed apartment at 565 W. 169th St. began clapping enthusiastically.
Espaillat, who made history as the first Dominican-American to be elected to a state legislature in 1996, will battle Rangel because a panel of judges decided not to create a separate majority Latino district in the neighborhood, as some advocates had called for. . . .

Rangel, 81, has served Upper Manhattan since 1971 and is the dean of New York's congressional delegation.

Although he recently announced he would run for a 22nd term, people in political circles have been murmuring that he might to try to hand his seat over to someone such as Wright, if elected, rather than serve the full two-year term.

Bob Liff, Rangel's campaign spokesman, declined to comment, but reiterated that the Congressman is running to serve a full term.

Democrats Joyce Johnson, Vince Morgan, Craig Schley and Clyde Williams, a former advisor to President Bill Clinton, have also declared themselves candaites for the Congressional seat.

In recent years, Rangel's image has been marred by scandal, including the use of rent-regulated apartments for office space and failure to pay taxes.

In 2010, after a two-year ethics investigation, he was censured by the House.

And in late March, Rangel reportedly agreed to pay a $23,000 fine to settle campaign finance violations related to a rent-subsidized apartment in Harlem.

Rangel's future with Congress was further thrown in turmoil this year as a result of New York's redistricting process. . . .

There's time yet for the intricate politics of it all. In the end it may be that the free-for-all developing to shove our Charlie out of Congress winds up enabling him to keep his butt parked there. For now, though, don't you have to wonder, why can't he just call it a day?

A lot of what I think when I think of Charlie Rangel is gosh, that's sad. I like to think, at least, that he wasn't always as we see him now, that he once placed the people's business ahead of his own. But here he is now, at 81, clawing and scratching, even without his lost House chairmanship holding onto his seat for dear life. Is it just habit? Fear of sinking into invisibility if he were to just retire, unloved -- and bereft of influence? Or fear of being unable to afford the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed?

Hey, Charlie, is this really what you got into public life for in the first place, back in the day?

#

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."

#

Would you believe our Lurita Doan was forced out of the GSA, not for being too corrupt, but for not being corrupt enough? Welcome to Bushworld!

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 yesterday (note the role played by departing "moderate" Republican Rep. Tom Davis):

Doan Done In By Battling White House

General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan was fired Tuesday almost a year after her actions drew heavy criticism from Capitol Hill Democrats, but her ouster was triggered by more recent friction with the White House, officials briefed on the matter said.

According to House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Tom Davis, the headstrong administrator angered White House officials by refusing to abide by their wishes on several matters, including her recent rejection of suggested political appointees to fill senior-level vacancies at GSA.

"That seems to be the straw that broke that camel's back," said Davis, citing a conversation with White House officials regarding Doan's ouster.

"At the end of the day it was that kind of thing," added Davis, who has been a staunch backer of Doan and who criticized her removal.

According to Davis and GSA officials, Doan rejected a series of White House candidates for the jobs of GSA general counsel and chief acquisition officer. Both posts, while recently filled by political appointees, are held by career civil servants serving in an acting capacity.

A senior House aide said Doan, who joined the agency after success as an entrepreneur and founder of a technology firm, appeared to misstep when she attacked Kenneth Kaiser, chairman of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency's Integrity Committee and assistant director of the FBI's criminal division.

Doan repeatedly criticized Kaiser after he dismissed whistle-blower complaints against GSA Inspector General Brian Miller, with whom Doan has battled for nearly two years.

In a letter to Kaiser, Doan called the council "a hollow shell . . . that exists only as a fig leaf to provide the illusion of oversight over IG misconduct, but, in fact, its real purpose is to whitewash any wrongdoing, avoid responsible action and ensure a blind eye to IG misconduct," GovExec.com reported last month.

In attacking the council and vowing to continue her feud with Miller, Doan butted heads with OMB Deputy Director Clay Johnson, who is the titular chairman of the council and longtime associate of President Bush, the aide said. Sources said Doan has long been at odds with Johnson and has refused to attend a regular meeting he convenes.

Such battles apparently lost Doan the White House backing that allowed her to survive blistering attacks last year by House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman, congressional Democrats and others.

The independent Office of Special Counsel, in a report in June, recommended President Bush remove Doan for violating the Hatch Act, which bars use of federal resources for partisan politics. Democrats in the House and Senate called for her resignation.

Though the White House publicly refused to address the attacks and Bush took no action, Doan was privately warned to avoid controversies, sources said.

Davis said Doan's recent clashes with the White House led officials there to conclude that she was not worth keeping on as head of what they consider a "third-tier" agency.

"She's too temperamental," Davis said, summarizing the White House view.

Davis said he had warned Doan unsuccessfully not to fight the White House over the general counsel position.

But late Tuesday afternoon, Doan was summoned to the White House, where she was asked to resign her post, sources said.

The White House and OMB declined to respond to questions Thursday about the reason for Doan's ouster.

Weren't we just talking about the regime rats pushing one another over the side of the sinking U.S.S. Mission Accomplished? As long as we're on that subject, I can't resist taking another look at this cartoon from the great Mike Luckovich:

GIANT BUSH REGIME TAXPAYER RIP-OFF UNCOVERED?

A couple weeks ago Peter Welch (D-VT) went ballistic when he caught the Bush Regime in its latest blatant attempt to transfer billions of dollars in taxpayer money to its corrupt campaign contributors and financiers. Since then, Welch and Henry Waxman have been on the move via the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The short version is that the Regime surreptitiously inserted a loophole into plans to protect taxpayers from avaricious contractors like Halliburton, KBR and Blackwater, who are raking in billions as war profiteers.

The Committee wants to get to the bottom of the skullduggery and has informed the Regime that if they don't have the relevant documents by April 4 they will issue a subpoena. They want to know exactly why the loophole was slipped into the plans. "The controversial loophole has irked Democrats and Republicans alike. But it has the support of a trade association that lobbies on behalf of giant global government contractors, including Blackwater USA, KBR Inc., Boeing Co., CACI International Inc. and Lockheed Martin."

Even a proven Bush shill like Attorney General Mukasey says he can't understand why this was done and he has objected. In a letter to Secretary of Defense Gates and a gaggle of Regime operatives and hacks, Waxman and his colleagues say they are "concerned about a proposed change to federal contracting rules that would exempt overseas contracts from a requirement that the contractor detect and prevent fraud and report it to the government."

At a time when the United States is engaged in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, conducting extensive redevelopment programs in both countries, and employing the services of an unprecedented number of private contractors, preventing fraud by contractors overseas should be a high priority. Instead, the exemption for contracts to be performed overseas appears to have been inserted in the rule late in the process and against the wishes of the Department of Justice, which raises serious questions as to why and how such a policy was developed.

On May 23, 2007, the Department of Justice (DOJ) requested that the Federal Acquisition Regulation be amended to “require contractors to establish and maintain internal controls to detect and prevent fraud in their contracts, and that they notify contracting officers without delay whenever they become aware of a contract overpayment or fraud, rather than wait for its discovery by the government.” DOJ believed such a rule was necessary because few government contractors voluntarily disclose suspected instances of fraud. DOJ proposed specific changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

Welch represents Vermont, a frugal state where concern for government waste and fraud is palpable. He didn't mince any words. "Who snuck this in at the eleventh hour and why? No contractor should be given a free ride to defraud taxpayers, at home or abroad." Anyone remember Lurita Doan over at the GSA? She wasn't fired for her breach of government ethics last summer and DWT sources inside an investigatory agency are telling us to expect another set of damaging revelations that could drive Bush's job approval ratings into the single digits, courtesy of Ms. Doan.

The potential proportions of this scandal are causing mainstream conservatives to serve notice on the Bush Regime inner circle that they're on their own on this one.

The Justice Department and the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction have asked the exemption be eliminated before the rule becomes law. Additionally, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has threatened to block the loophole in the federal budget if the administration does not do away with it.

OMB's Office of Federal Procurement Policy has repeatedly declined to comment on the loophole or how it was added to the overall fraud crackdown.

The House inquiry is looking at whether the exemption was added at the request of private firms, or their lobbyists, to escape having to report abuse in U.S. contracts performed abroad.

Meanwhile, as Crooks & Liars points out, the vaunted and much hyped "success" of the Bush-McCain "surge" is a fraud-- and a collapsing fraud at that. Whether venal like Fox or lazy like CNN, the media doesn't want to do the kind of investigative reporting that makes journalism worthwhile, at least not when it comes to the Iraq War.

DOAN SAYS SHE WAS TOLD TO HOLD BACK INFORMATION FROM CONGRESS

Violating the Hatch Act means Doan has to lose her job. Perjury is another matter. She told the committee that all she could remember about Rove's assistant's meeting at the GSA was that cookies were served. But now it comes out that she was lying her ass off over and over and over. Doan should be in prison with Paris Hilton and Scooter Libby.

If Bush's dumbing down of the education system with his hideous No Child Left Behind Act wasn't law and hadn't abolished civics classes, I'd suggest that every junior high school kid be asked to watch Doan testifying in front of Henry Waxman's House Oversight and Governmnet Reform Committee this morning. The videos are mind-boggling and they'll all available at the link above. But even non-junior high schoolers ought to watch this one; it'll give you an idea about what kind of a government you've been paying for for the past 7 years-- and why Bush ought to be impeached immediately.

Chairman Waxman: “At our March hearing, you repeatedly claimed you could not recall any information about the January 26, 2007 meeting or the White House political presentation, and you had absolutely no memory of asking GSA employees how they could help Republican candidates in upcoming elections. That’s what you told us. We questioned you over and over again. You remember there were cookies, you remembered you came in late, you remembered that some employees didn’t attend, but beyond that you said you had no further information. Five weeks later you testified before the Office of Special Counsel and suddenly you had a new enriched details about the meeting and your statements. According to your OSC testimony, you said you asked the White House presenter, how can GSA help its cabinet liaison understand that the opening of the San Francisco federal building would be a perfect event for President Bush to attend. Did you say that to the Office of Special Counsel?”

Doan: “Yes, I believe I did.”

Waxman: “You also told them that Mr. Jennings suggested you write a white paper, or a one-pager, explaining why it would be relevant for the President to attend. But you didn’t tell that to our committee. During your interview with OSC you testified that you refrained from providing this committee with full information about the meeting, you testified that you were advised not to engage in a quote, ’substantive discussion,’ end quote, of the political briefing that you believed OSC investigators should have quote, ‘first dibs,’ on this information. That makes it sound like when you told us you didn’t recall you were really holding back information. You did tell us under oath that you didn’t remember, then you told the Special Counsel under oath that you did remember and you were even saving the information for him. When you appear before this committee and you testify under oath you’re supposed to testify honestly and completely, that’s an obligation that people have and it’s to be taken seriously.”

Christy has been live-blogging this circus over at Firedoglake, doing the incredible job she always does. The Moonie Times, on the other hand, has a less credible analysis than even the most humble FDL commenter.

LURITA DOAN-- YET ANOTHER POSTERGIRL FOR REPUBLICAN CORRUPTION RUN AMUCK INSIDE THE BUSH REGIME

GSA head Lurita Doan was a suspicious appointee to begin with. Her qualifications to head the nation's main federal contracting agency, the General Services Administration (GSA), seemed to have been primarily that she and her husband had given hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions to Bush and other right wing politicians. Yesterday Bush's Office of Special Counsel recommended she be fired for engaging in "the most pernicious of political activity" banned by the 1939 Hatch Act and for refusing to cooperate with the investigation. ""Doan solicited the political activity of over 30 of her subordinate employees when she asked 'How can we help our [Republican] candidates?'" The recommendation points out that "Doan has shown no remorse and lacks an appreciation for the seriousness of her violation."

Like Gonzales, she serves "at the pleasure" of the president and apparently he gets a great deal of pleasure surrounding himself with incompetent crooks and scoundrels whose appreciation of the law is exactly what his own his: nil. Bush and Rove-- not to mention Cheney-- are likely to sympathize with Doan when the Office of Special Counsel letter to Bush criticizes her for defending the meeting by claiming it was attended by political appointees who witnessed a presentation that "would likely be in line with 'their own beliefs.'"

It was clear from the moment Doan took the stand at Henry Waxman's House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that she is a deceitful partisan hack who has been schooled to repeat, ad nauseum "I do not remember."

Watch the video of Blue America freshman Bruce Braley (D-IA) questioning Doan and showing how she conspired with Karl Rove to politicize the GSA in the most narrowly partisan possible way.



Doan has been caught trying to use government resources to defeat Democratic elected officials. Waxman's committee has uncovered a clearly illegal conspiracy between Rove's office, the Republican National Committee and Doan's GSA.

Today's USAToday reports that Scott Bloch, head of the Office of Special Counsel, recommends that "Administrator Doan be disciplined to the fullest extent for her serious violation of the Hatch Act and insensitivity to cooperating fully and honestly in the course of our investigation." She's being dragged back in front of Waxman's Committee tomorrow for further questioning.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said they had received the Bloch letter and it was under review. The White House previously acknowledged conducting about 20 meetings over the past several years for federal employees on GOP election prospects while insisting that such informational briefings are neither unlawful nor unusual.

...The special counsel's office said it had interviewed 21 of the 36 GSA political appointees who attended the Jan. 26 meeting with J. Scott Jennings, the White House deputy director of the Office of Political Affairs. The counsel's office also talked to Jennings and interviewed Doan for nine hours over two days.

It said Doan, in her June 1 response, did not dispute that she posed a question on how Republican candidates can be helped, but "tries to shift the focus of this matter and minimize her illegal activity."

She also suggested that some political appointees who talked to the office might have had reason to be biased because they were unhappy with poor performance ratings.

Her typical Republican-caught-in-the-act claim that it was everyone else's fault but her own and that the witnesses were biased against her was refuted by a review of performance evaluations, which found satisfactory ratings and positive remarks for all the cooperating employees.

Bloch's letter to the White House, predictably, does not touch on Rove's role, something which Waxman owes it to America to expose tomorrow.


UPDATE: DOAN ON THE HOT SEAT THIS FINE MORNING

Although the media is all abuzz about Miers and Taylor getting subpoenaed in the Purge-gate coverup-- who can keep up with all the scandals permeating every aspect of this regime so foul?-- our Lurita has been hauled back in front of Waxman's committee just now. Waxman got the show off with a bang:

"Ms. Doan didn't just disparage the employees [who gave information about her statements to the Committee], under oath she told the Special Counsel, and again I quote, 'until extensive rehabilitation of their performance occurs, they will not be getting promoted, they will not be getting bonuses or special awards or anything of that nature.' Apparently Ms. Doan's position is that it is fine for her to retaliate against her employees by denying them promotions, bonuses and awards so long as she does so in secret and no one knows about it."

LURITA DOAN HIRES A HIGH PRICED REPUBLICAN ATTORNEY TO TELL BUSH SHE DIDN'T VIOLATE THE HATCH ACT

Bush is prone to take this charade seriously because if it can be proven that Doan did violate the Hatch Act, which she clearly did, Bush's Brain will finally wind up in prison. Henry Waxman is less likely to listen to the GOP talking points.

Today's Washington Post glosses over the embarrassing report from high-powered Republican lawyer Michael J. Nardotti Jr. Marcy, on the other hand, has a serious analysis of how Doan and the Bush Regime are trying to get away with this crap.

The Republican shyster who can't seriously defend Doan's criminal behavior based on facts, demands the "allegations" be rejected because they are based on "tenuous inferences and careless leaps of logic." He doesn't mention the roomful of witnesses to her asking the question, how can we "help our candidates," after Rove's slide show about targeting Democrats and bolstering Republicans that she had her GSA staff attend, itself clearly illegal. "Several political appointees who participated in the presentation told the special counsel under oath that Doan asked that question or a version of it and that some GSA political appointees responded with ideas of how the agency could use its facilities to benefit the Republican Party." Last month Bush's Office of Special Counsel had to admit that Doan violated the Hatch Act.

Marcy is less wishy-washy than the Post, which is why reading The Next Hurrah is more enlightening than reading the Post.

Lurita Doan's lawyer, Michael Nardotti, has responded to the OSC report condemning Doan's politicization of the GSA. It's one of those reports that read like a lawyer threw a bunch of stuff at the wall in the hopes that some of it will stick: he blames Henry Waxman for tainting OSC's witnesses, he shifts the focus away from Doan's description of employees as inferior toward one claiming bias, and he claims that, when Doan asked "how can GSA help our candidates?" she addressed it exclusively to Scott Jennings, not any of her subordinates.

Marcy gets into all the details the Libby case has made her famous for. If you want to see all the twists and turns and dark little corners in this case that the Post will never get near-- let alone comprehend-- take a look at the Next Hurrah today.