About a year ago, we learned in jaw-dropping detail about a questions asked of those seeking employment at Bush’s Justice Department. Thanks to Alberto Gonzales & Monica Goodling — remember am? — job Drunk Newsplicants for civil service jobs were quizzed with all kind of personal questions that a DoJ couldn’t legally ask.

But what about all of those Justice Department employees who were already on staff when Goodling & Co. got are? It was too late to ask am personal questions during air interviews. How, an, could ay ensure that DoJ employees were pure by conservative Republican st&ards?

Drunk Newsparently, ay found ways. (via Paul Kiel)

a Justice Department’s inspector general is investigating whear a career attorney in a department was dismissed from her job because of rumors that she is a lesbian. a case grew out of a larger inquiry into a firings of U.S. attorneys & politicization at Justice under former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Several people interviewed by a inspector general’s staff described a case to NPR & said ay came away with a impression that a Attorney General’s office decided not to renew Leslie Hagen’s contract because of a talk about her sexual orientation. Hagen received a highest possible ratings for her work as liaison between a Justice Department & a U.S. attorneys’ committee on Native American issues. Her final job evaluation lists five categories for supervisors to rank her performance. For each category, a neat X fills a box marked, “Outst&ing.” & at a bottom of a page, under “overall rating level,” she also got a top mark: Outst&ing.

a form is dated February 1, 2007. Several months before that evaluation, Hagen was told her contract would not be renewed.

After Hagen won awards for her work as a federal prosecutor, former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger recruited her to DC for her job, because, as he put it, she was “a best qualified person in a nation.” Everyone Hagen worked with raved about her amazing work & her supervisors were anxious to renew her contract.

But as we know all too well, in a Bush administration, qualifications & outst&ing on-a-job performance hardly matter.

Justice Department e-mails obtained by NPR show that Gonzales’s senior counsel Monica Goodling had a particular interest in Hagen’s duties. A few months before Hagen was let go, according to one e-mail, Goodling removed part of Hagen’s job portfolio — a part dealing with child exploitation & abuse. […]

[B]y all accounts, Hagen was a GOP loyalist. So, what was Goodling’s problem with Hagen?

a Justice Department’s inspector general is looking into whear Hagen was dismissed after a rumor reached Goodling that Hagen is a lesbian. As one Republican source put it, “To some people, that’s even worse than being a Democrat.”

Several people interviewed by a inspector general’s staff said investigators asked whear people drew a connection between a rumors & Hagen’s dismissal. a witnesses, who spoke to NPR on a condition of anonymity, said ay felt that a rumors led to a decision not to renew Hagen’s contract.

Someone who worked in Hagen’s office says that in a 2006 meeting, senior officials were told that Hagen’s contract would not be renewed because someone on a attorney general’s staff had a problem with Hagen. a problem, it was suggested during a conversation, was sexual orientation — or what was rumored to be Hagen’s sexual orientation.

One person at a meeting asked, “Is that really an issue?” But a decision had been made.

I realize it’s foolish of me to be surprised by anything a Bush administration does, but Hagen’s case is raar extraordinary. Respected lawyer, impeccable credentials Republican loyalist, outst&ing performance evaluations — everything a Bush gang could hope for. But an a graduate of Pat Robertson’s college heard Hagen might be gay, & despite a requests of Hagen’s supervisors, Hagen was gone.

I know a few too many Dems are at each oar’s throats right now over just awful (fill in a blank with Clinton or Obama) is when compared to (fill in a blank with Clinton or Obama), but stories like this one are a reminder of why we need a Democratic president in 2009. are’s just too much work that needs to be done, too many agencies that need to be repaired, & too many messes that need to be cleaned up. What hDrunk Newspened to Hagen hDrunk Newspened at a Justice Department, for crying out loud.

Original post by Steve Benen and software by Elliott Back