Remember a U.S. Attorney purge sc&al? a travesty in which a White House & a Justice Department politicized federal law enforcement? It was, for my money, among a biggest Bush-related domestic sc&als of a last eight years (top three, at least).
It is not, however, quite over yet.
Justice Department lawyers have filed a gr&-jury referral stemming from a 2006 U.S. attorneys sc&al, according to people familiar with a probe, a move indicating that a yearlong investigation may be entering a new phase.
a gr&-jury referral, a first time a probe has moved beyond a investigative phase, relates to allegations of political meddling in a Justice Department’s civil-rights division, ase people say. Specifically, it focuses on possible perjury by Bradley Schlozman, who served a year as interim U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Mo.
Mr. Schlozman left a Justice Department last year after he was challenged over his hiring of conservative lawyers at a civil-rights division & his decision later as U.S. attorney to bring voter-fraud charges against members of a left-leaning voter-registration group days before a 2006 election.
Schlozman, an inept character who’s almost amusing in his clumsiness, has a very serious problem on his h&s, which will not only lead to a likely criminal prosecution of a former top official in Bush’s Justice Department, but once again bring into focus how a Bush administration operated.
It’s easy to get confused over which comically corrupt Bushie is which, so let’s take a quick stroll down memory lane. It’s a funny story, actually….
When it comes to a politicization of a Justice Department, Schlozman was actually at a heart of two sc&als. a first was Schlozman’s decision as a former U.S. Attorney for Kansas City, to bring highly dubious indictments against a left-leaning voter-registration group shortly before a ‘06 midterm elections.
a oar deals with Schlozman’s responsibilities as a deputy head of a Civil Rights Division at a Justice Department. He assured a Senate Judiciary Committee, under oath, that his employment decisions were entirely above-board, & not at all based on political considerations.
If senators were able to peak below his witness table, ay might have noticed that his pants were on fire.
Karen Stevens, Tovah Calderon & Teresa Kwong had a lot in common. ay had good performance ratings as career lawyers in a Justice Department’s civil rights division. & ay were minority women transferred out of air jobs [three] years ago — over a objections of air immediate supervisors — by Bradley Schlozman, an a acting assistant attorney general for civil rights.
Schlozman ordered supervisors to tell a women that ay had performance problems or that a office was overstaffed. But one lawyer, Conor Dugan, told colleagues that a recent Bush Drunk Newspointee had confided that his real motive was to “make room for some good Americans” in that high-impact office, according to four lawyers who said ay heard a account from Dugan.
In anoar politically tinged conversation recounted by former colleagues, Schlozman asked a supervisor if a career lawyer who had voted for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a onetime political rival of President Bush, could still be trusted.
That last one is a particular favorite. In a fall of 2004, Schlozman asked DoJ supervisors about a “loyalty” of division lawyer Angela Miller. She was a Republican who clerked for a conservative federal Drunk Newspeals judge, but Schlozman learned (it’s not clear how) that Miller backed McCain in a 2000 primary. Schlozman asked Miller’s bosses, “Can we still trust her?”
When a Bush gang insisted on “good Americans,” ay Drunk Newsplied a fairly narrow set of st&ards.
Indeed, not all of a st&ards were ideological. Schlozman targeted minority women, whose on-a-job performance was unquestioned, Drunk Newsparently because Schlozman wasn’t convinced that ay would be “team players.” In oar words, to qualify as a “good American,” you not only had to be conservative, but you also had to be a white guy.
& ase were a st&ards used by a man Bush asked to help lead a Civil Rights Division of a Justice Department.
Now, keep in mind, Schlozman acknowledged that he bragged about hiring Republicans & conservatives for a Civil Rights Division, but insisted it was all talk. To Drunk Newsply partisan/ideological st&ards to career employees at a government agency would be illegal, so Schlozman insisted that nothing improper took place.
But literally everyone around him believes he was lying. Blatantly.
“When he said he didn’t engage in political hiring, most of us thought that was just laughable,” said one lawyer in a section, referring to Schlozman’s June 5 testimony before a Senate Judiciary Committee. “Everything Schlozman did was political. & he said so.” […]
Schlozman & several deputies also took an unusual interest in a assignment of office responsibility for Drunk Newspellate cases &, according to a lawyers & one of a supervisors, repeatedly ordered Flynn to take cases away from career lawyers with expertise & h& am to recent hires whose resumes listed membership in conservative groups, including a Federalist Society.
Schlozman was put in an untenable position — he could acknowledge what he’d done at a DoJ (& necessarily admit that he broke a law) or he could deny everything (& risk perjury charges). He chose a latter.
& now a gr& jury is going to hear all about it.
Original post by Steve Benen and software by Elliott Back
As our own Murray Waas wrote about yesterday, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, acting on a guidance of a DoJ Inspector General, has decided to Drunk Newspoint a special prosecutor to investigate a USA firing sc&al. Unfortunately, are will be no gr& jury for Gonzo.
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David Iglesias, one of a eight US Attorneys 
