Iraq Accountability Act Heads To Conference

    You have to keep an eye on those sneaky little Republicans at all times, it seems.

Republicans, led by Rep. Jerry Lewis, attempted to strip provisions in the Iraq Accountability Act holding the Iraqi government accountable and providing for a responsible redeployment from Iraq before it goes to conference committee for reconciliation with the Senate version of the emergency supplemental.    The Gavel

Appropriations Chairman David Obey had a little to say about this attempt by the GOP.

   David Obey: " Let me put it another way. When the bill was before us the first time, our Republican friends did not bother to offer a recommital motion. Why? Because they were divided about how to proceed. They could reach no agreement. They had no policy. Now they are offering a motion which they say they’re going to vote against. Is that the best they can do? We’ve heard talk about a surrender date. The only surrender that’s involved here today is the surrender of the obligation of this Congress to oversee presidential and executive branch policy. The only surrender is the total surrender of our obligation and our authority to a White House that has demonstrated from day one that it had not a clue of what it was getting into and today has not a clue about how to get out. We have to provide better leadership than that. That’s what this bill tries to do."

   You can watch Chairman Obey speak Here.

  Here is a list of the Democrats who will be serving as conferees:

 

Rep. Obey
Rep. Murtha
Rep. Clyburn
Rep. Wasserman Schultz
Rep. DeLauro
Rep. Lowey
Rep. Olver
Rep. Serrano
Rep. Visclosky
Rep. Price (NC)
Rep. Dicks
Rep. Edwards
Rep. Mollohan

  The New Elliott Ness gang!

Tags: Iraq Accountability Act Rep. Obey Republicans

A Letter From Anonymous Justice Department Employees To The Investigating committees

    The House and Senate Judiciary Committees got a letter  from some anonymous Justice Department employees concerning politics at the department.

      You can go here for the full letter in PDF. Meantime, here are a few excerpts.

Dear Messrs. Chairman,

Many of us in the Department of Justice have been watching with admiration as you expose the overly political firing of United States Attorneys and hope that you can help in returning our beloved Department to of establishing justice in the United States. We are equally concerned, however, about the politicizing of the non-political ranks of Justice employees, offices which are consistently and methodically being eroded by partisan politics.

Many employees within the Department’s litigating divisions are sitting quietly by, hoping that you will investigate what has happened to the Attorney General’s Honors Program and even the Summer Law Intern Program (SLIP). You are surely aware that the Attorney General’s Honors Program has a long history of hiring top students from a variety of law schools, and it is the only way that young lawyers are able to come into the Department immediately after law school. This year the divisions once again pored over applications and resumes, choosing students to interview who demonstrated not only excellent grades but a real interest in the areas of law they might be hired to work in. After choosing potential candidates to interview, the division personnel forwarded their lists to the Office of Attorney Recruitment Management for what was traditionally final approval. This is no longer a final step, however, because the list had to go higher - to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. When the list of potential interviewees was returned this year, it had been cut dramatically.

...When division personnel staff later compared the remaining interviewees with the candidates struck form the list, one common denominator appeared repeatedly: most of those struck form the list had interned for a Hill Democrat, clerked for a Democratic judge, worked for a “liberal” cause, or otherwise appeared to have “liberal” leanings. Summa cum laude graduates of both Yale and Harvard were rejected for interviews....

...While the current political appointees repeatedly remind everyone that the U.S. Attorneys “serve at the pleasure of the President,” the Department’s career attorneys serve the people of the United States. We hope you will see fit to include this politicizing of the career ranks in your questioning of Attorney General Gonzales and his staff.

Thank you.

A Group of Concerned Department of Justice Employees

Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. in response to the letter, had this to say.

“I take any accusations of undue politicization of career staff seriously. We have already identified concerns in Department’s Civil Rights Division. These new accusations are clearly something we will want to consider as well.”

Source

   Bear in mind the letter was delivered yesterday. Gonzo hit the stand to testify today. He should just save the taxpayers what little money we have left and resign.

 

Tags: Justice Department Alberto Gonzales employees