« previous | MUCK HOME | next »
Dems: GOP Phone Jamming Case Stalled, Mishandled
We reported earlier that people were asking questions about the Justice Department's handling of the Jack Abramoff investigation. Now New Hampshire Democrats are raising questions about another DoJ investigation into Republican wrongdoing -- the New Hampshire phone jamming case.
In a detailed, 10-page letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) signed by Kathleen Sullivan, chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, and Paul Twomey, a lawyer for the Democrats, they argue that the investigation, which targeted prominent operatives in the Republican Party, was stalled and mishandled.
On Election Day in 2002, Republicans schemed to jam the phone banks for Democratic get out the vote efforts. Two Republicans involved in the plan pled guilty, and James Tobin, formerly the New England Regional Political Director for the Republican National Committee, was convicted for his role. The case took years to play out; the first guilty pleas in the case were not until the summer of 2004, and Tobin was not indicted until after the 2004 election.
One of the reasons the investigation was stalled, Democrats argue, is that "all decisions had to be reviewed by the Attorney General himself" -- first John Ashcroft and then Alberto Gonzales. To back up that claim, the Democrats say that lawyers working on the case were told by prosecutors that delays in the case were due to the extreme difficulty in obtaining authorization from higher levels at DOJ for any and all actions in the case.
A lawyer for one of the Republicans in the case backs up that claim. John Durken, the lawyer for Allen Raymond, a Republican whose consulting firm managed the jamming, says that the lead prosecutor in the case told him during one meeting that Ashcroft was involved in every decision. "He said, 'Every decision in this case goes all the way up to Ashcroft’s desk.'" Durken told me that such a fact didn't "surprise" him, given the political nature of the case.
Melanie Sloan, the Executive Director of the watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and a former federal prosecutor, concurred. "It's not unusual that Ashcroft was informed, given that this was a high profile, political case --'political' is the key here."
Todd Hinnen, who was the lead prosecutor on the case until 2005, when he departed to be a counterrorism advisor at the White House, declined to comment on internal Justice Department deliberations (Hinnen left the White House earlier this year to become the chief counsel for Sen. Joseph R. Biden (D-DE)). A Justice Department spokesperson also declined to comment.
But whether Ashcroft's, and later Gonzales', involvement was unusual or not, Democrats say that the need to check decisions with DoJ higher-ups routinely resulted in "inordinate delays" in the investigation. They also say that both AGs failed to recuse themselves, despite a conflict of interest: Ashcroft as a former senator, since Tobin was a high ranking official in the committee that helped Ashcroft get elected; and Gonzales as legal counsel for the White House, since the Democrats alleged White House involvement in the jamming scheme.
The Democrats' other grievances, which they lay out in the letter, are 1) that the Justice Department bogged the investigation down by assigning only one FBI agent to the case -- and that agent was part-time 2) that the DoJ's refusal to prosecute the organziations responsible for the jamming, the New Hampshire Republican Party and the Republican National Committee, violated Justice Department guidelines, and 3) the DoJ failed to follow leads that led to higher-level Republican involvement.
You can read the entire letter laying out the case here.
Comments (55)
Sholom wrote on March 21, 2007 5:14 PM:I hope there is renewed scrutiny on the Guam-firing case, too! (USA-Black, looking into Abramoff at the time, etc.)
Mrs Panstreppon wrote on March 21, 2007 5:22 PM:Biden hired Todd Hinnen to be his chief counsel? Hinnen obviously is a GOP operative who played a role in stonewalling the NH phone jamming case. Hiring Hinnen seems like a pretty goddamned stupid thing to do to me.
Biden for president. I don't think so.
elwood wrote on March 21, 2007 5:22 PM:The lawyer is John Durkin (not en).
I haven't figured out whether he is the former NH Dem Senator.
TheraP wrote on March 21, 2007 5:25 PM:The more of these situations that come out, the better.
And eventually people need to boil these situations down to a level where the public can see the betrayals of justice over and over and over.
Lots of news stories describing things in first person terms. How this or that person has been affected by this. Or how individuals now fear that they will not get a fair hearing or the government will not really pursue wrongdoing.
Get some people to work writing these things up like bedtiime stories that kids would understand.
My word is "attack" and yes, that's what I'm talking about!
Carl Nyberg wrote on March 21, 2007 5:27 PM:What are the merits to appointing a special prosecutor?
Radjil wrote on March 21, 2007 5:30 PM:Then there's the Senator Menendez non-issue.
elwood wrote on March 21, 2007 5:32 PM:BTW: when the NH Dem Party civil suit was settled, the Dems said (IIRC) that they would be providing TPM and a Manchester Union Leader reporter with a copy of the documents from discovery. Did that happen?
rlogan wrote on March 21, 2007 5:34 PM:
global yokel wrote on March 21, 2007 5:37 PM:The important thing to understand about the White House here is that the name of this department is "Department of Obstruction of Justice".
For those of us who believe that the present administration and Congress are the most corrupt in American history, these recent revelations about malfeasance in the Department of Justice put things into a whole new context. Just imagine how much more we would know if the Justice Dep't. hadn't been working overtime to shield Republicans from prosecution....
vox clamantis in red state wrote on March 21, 2007 5:47 PM:Dept of Cruel and Unusual Justice. Nullifying democracy in the name of torture and lying.
vox clamantis in red state wrote on March 21, 2007 5:48 PM:Any significant good in the concept of Justice has been sadly torpedoed by this administration, from finding torture, unreasonable seizure and imprisonment, to invasion of privacy all acceptable, to now, seeking to defy the Congress at every step.
A chorus is rising-- this administration must go!
Long Memory wrote on March 21, 2007 5:49 PM:Any significant good in the concept of Justice has been sadly torpedoed by this administration, from finding torture, unreasonable seizure and imprisonment, to invasion of privacy all acceptable, to now, seeking to defy the Congress at every step.
A chorus is rising-- this administration must go!
In N.H., they were just "gumming it to death," to coin a phrase. "In good faith," of course.
global citizen wrote on March 21, 2007 5:56 PM:I am very, very impressed with the coverage TPM is giving this story. This is another example. congrats to TPM and the commentors on this thread. Pin it all down. Removing USAs was a brazen move by the White House and the DoOoJ (Department of Obstruction of Justice), they don't do brazen so casually as one might instinctively suspect. There are reasons, lots of them. We need to find as many as possible.
I strongly suspect (and I do not usually leap to conclusions) that there are big time bribes and corruption involved with military and homeland security budgets and all manner of electoral frauds that have not been prosecuted to date. The Dukestir is the tip of the iceberg. Oh, to have Rove for an afternoon on sodium pentathol.
Anonymous wrote on March 21, 2007 6:01 PM:Mrs. Panstreppon- I do enjoy your commentary.
K Trout wrote on March 21, 2007 6:04 PM:One word:
R.I.C.O.
Diane wrote on March 21, 2007 6:07 PM:THIS JUST IN FROM THE MANCHESTER UNION LEADER:
(I kid you not):
Key phone-jam conviction overturned
By JOHN DISTASO
Senior Political Reporter
17 minutes ago
A federal appeals court has overturned the conviction of former Republican National Committee official James Tobin for his role in an GOP illegal phone jamming operation against Democrats on Election Day 2002.
The three-member panel ordered the case remanded the case to the U.S. District Court in Concord for “further proceedings consistent” with the 20-page opinion.
Tobin put former state GOP executive director Chuck McGee, who thought of the scheme to jam Democratic phone lines, in touch with telemarketer Allan Raymond, who carried out the scheme.
A jury found that Tobin’s action made him guilty of participating in the operation.
But the appellate court said testimony in the trial left a question of “whether a jury could rationally conclude that Tobin had so far associated himself with the emerging plan as to make him effectively a party to it.”
The court says, “This is surely a close call. The jamming mechanism described by Raymond was slightly different than the final version and Tobin never explicitly endorsed the plan.”
“Obviously I’m disappointed,” said state Democratic Chair Kathy Sullivan. “We would have preferred that court uphold the decision of the lower court. But hopefully when this is remanded, a rightful outcome will once again be reached.”
_____________________________
WTF?!?!
CS42 wrote on March 21, 2007 6:13 PM:http://news.bostonherald.com/national/northeast/view.bg?articleid=189995
AP: A federal appeals court on Wednesday reversed the conviction and sentence of James Tobin, the former regional chairman of President Bush’s re-election campaign, who was sentenced to 10 months in prison for his role in an Election Day phone-jamming plot against New Hampshire Democrats.
[more in link]
Brian M. wrote on March 21, 2007 6:14 PM:This is interesting....
What's more, it reminds me of what David Niewert wrote about the Ashcroft DOJ approach to domestic terrorism - particularly how the USA in Southern Ohio, Gregory Lockhart, downplayed a case where a man named Clayton Waagner was involved in an anti-abortion anthrax hoax. Thinking was that the case was downplayed at the behest of DOJ to keep the Bush base happy.
http://www.dneiwert.blogspot.com/2003/12/marketing-terror.html
Robin wrote on March 21, 2007 6:16 PM:I hadn't caught this news item on TPM re a fire in the Patrick Henry building on Monday which forced an evacuation on the night of the doc dump... but...it leaves a bad taste in my mouth:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/20/01821/6358
Building Fire at DOJ Covers Raid, Shredding or Disclosure? Hotlist
by Robert Davies [Subscribe]
Mon Mar 19, 2007 at 09:18:21 PM PDT
A FIRE, literally, - I'm not kidding - "occurred" today at the DOJ that coincided with the political firestorm engulfing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' Department of Justice. The incident was reported as an electrical fire on the DOJ Website, escaped national mediaplay, and resulted in the closure of the Patrick Henry Building on 601 D Street, NW.. Continuity of Operations Procedures (COOP)were enacted, no regular Justice Department Workers were to be present.
**more at link but here are the offices housed there:
The Patrick Henry Building houses the following offices:
The Clearance Officer, United States Department of Justice,
Information Management and Security Staff, Justice Management Division, at the Department of Justice.
Department of Justice, Policy and. Planning Staff, Justice Management. Division, Patrick Henry Building, Suite. 1600, 601 D Street, NW., Washington, .
Experienced/Lateral Attorney Program Coordinator, Antitrust Division Personnel Unit, Room 10805, 601 D Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20530
***maybe this has been vetted here... and I just missed it.
Robin wrote on March 21, 2007 6:19 PM:Back to the topic of this thread. I still feel strongly that every single USA office needs to have their offices reviewed by an independent SPECIAL PROSECUTOR to vet out any possible political case work (either avoiding prosecutions or seeking them based on RNC preferences). Every single USA.
masculine_monica_nyc wrote on March 21, 2007 6:27 PM:I hope there is renewed scrutiny on the Guam-firing case, too! (USA-Black, looking into Abramoff at the time, etc.)
Yeah, why isn't that Frederick A. Black firing getting more attention? The DoJ did its own investigation of the firing, but why should anyone trust that?
SLOUCH wrote on March 21, 2007 6:34 PM:I'm sure a lot of longtime TPM junkies, like me, feel pretty vindicated when a story like this comes up for air, but this makes me uneasy. I'm not saying this story isn't a huge piece of the puzzle, but I don't think you could prop up the President's current message any better if you tried.
Coming out with this issue today, an extremely partisan battle that happened 6 years ago, smacks of blue state revenge, and it really makes it way too easy to write off this whole investigation as a "Partisan Fishing Expedition."
Add into the mix the simultaneous investigations of the two houses of congress, residual noise from the Plame affair, the Guam issue, etc. and it's gets tough for anyone to keep it all straight.
Someone needs to crack the whip and get everything back on target NOW, and keep the issue at hand IN FOCUS before the noise on both sides gets out of control (I don't give a damn which side that someone is on, as long as they have integrity, resolve, and respect for the Constitution.)
Voters are sick of politics. They want results. The worst thing Dems can do right now is politicize this stuff unnecessarily, even if it only appears that way. The BEST thing they could do is get to the bottom of the US attorney issue, get there FAST, and begin restoring open and honest government at the DOJ.
God, I hope they don't fumble here.
security code = smile
cevrero wrote on March 21, 2007 6:40 PM:What Ashcroft did in New Hampshire is not much different than what they're trying in California. They don't want more bad press on corrupt republicans so they'll try to slow it down, cut it short, and prolong it so it doesn't effect elections. Purely political,....let's fire Ashcroft! Oops, It's a little late for that,....at this rate, by the time we impeach the bush Administration, they'll already be past their retirement, dead and buried.
anon wrote on March 21, 2007 6:49 PM:Mrs Panstreppon, the FEC says that Todd Hinnen gave $500 to the Kerry campaign in June 2004. It is Hinnen's only listed donation. He sure doesn't sound like a GOP mole.
justintime wrote on March 21, 2007 7:13 PM:John Sununu owes his Senate seat to this criminal treachery.
sheila in kansas wrote on March 21, 2007 7:25 PM:He should be shamed into stepping down.
Can it be more obvious? What bush and his below-average crew, it is all about the money. It seems every scheme, and we all know there are a lot of them, are about the money. Destroying peoples lives, for war-profiteering. John at AmericaBlog is right, everyone involved should be behing bars.
We the taxpayers are paying their (gov employees involved in this crap)healthcare, salaries, and other perks, and they take everything we the people put in and then point the finger at everybody but themselves. I am glad the wheels are starting to come off the bus, and it's been a long time coming.
To deny the troops, all people of America indeed, who have to live with the stupid, indecent policies that they have had the "pleasure" of letting us live with, is inhumane. Gas prices, health insurance, bad body armour, bad peanut butter, etc. Man that would be a really long list if my head wouldn't explode putting together that list.
bolt from the blue wrote on March 21, 2007 7:28 PM:the Black, Guam, case is the template for these firings. that was to protect Abramoff's racket and human trafficking.
peel the layers, strip the veneer off these creeps.
Cheryl wrote on March 21, 2007 7:31 PM:Well it looks like Sen. Leahy has decide that for now he's going to stall on subpeonas, saying and hoping for Bush to come around, mean while, Bush has declared all out war on the Dems. Bush has sent out Karl Rove to play the same old games, say Dems are using this situtation to raise political campaign money. That's true, but Leahy will wait until it becomes poll issue. Till it's too late. Typical no spine issue, all over again.
This is where Sen. Jeffords throw lot in with a bunch of Democratic crowds and wasted his INDY move, Dems did nothing with the chance that Sen. Jeffords gave them, and here the go again.
Note to Sen. Leahy, Bush is NOT going to come around Bush never has and he never will - better stop dragging your feet before Lieberman, or the polls don't give Sen. Leahy a second chance.
It is time to subpoena these people. There is NO way in the world that Bush is goning compromise and Sen Leahy MUST know that. So why is he stalling, nobody understand why Dems lose their nerve but they do every damn time.
Grow a spine Leahy, or please get out of the way.
Richard Salters wrote on March 21, 2007 8:03 PM:I hadn't caught this news item on TPM re a fire in the Patrick Henry building on Monday which forced an evacuation on the night of the doc dump... but...it leaves a bad taste in my mouth
There are no coincidenses. Not in this case.
Dal wrote on March 21, 2007 8:27 PM:The Hill just posted a good article that sheds some light on the Guam case.
http://thehill.com/business--lobby/demoted-u.s.-attorney-protested-office-shutdown-loss-of-resources-2007-03-21.html
JD2B wrote on March 21, 2007 9:00 PM:Disagree with Monica. This is simply the latest demonstration that what has been going on at DOJ is a systematic effort to rig elections on a national scale.
Mrs Panstreppon wrote on March 21, 2007 9:09 PM:anon@March 21, 2007 06:49 PM
Sounds fishy to me. Todd Hinnen makes his one and only political contribution to a Democrat and then gets promoted to work at the WH on counterterorism for 18 months?
The WH tracks surely knew about Hinnen's $500 contribution to Kerry because the Bushies keep track of stuff like that.
Sorry, I just don't see the WH promoting a Kerry supporter to a sensitive intelligence position.
$500 seems like a fairly substantial contribution for a career DOJ attorney to make. I wonder if the $500 contribution was Hinnen's basis for establishing his credentials as a Democrat.
Jack wrote on March 21, 2007 9:42 PM:DOJ has been completely compromised by neoconservative ideologues. Only when these $2000- suit wearing "public servants" are indicted will any restoration of DOJ's integrity take place. Their Patriot Act-violating lackeys within the FBI are just following their lead.
As Hulk Hogan might say to these people:
WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE NEWLY ESTABLISHED INDEPENDENT COUNSEL RUNS WILD ON YOU?
Kimberly wrote on March 21, 2007 10:07 PM:This is from the DOJ web site for the Patrick Henry Building where the fire broke out:
Major Information Systems
TITLE: Automated Case Tracking System II
ACRONYM: ACTS II
ORIGINATOR:
Department/Agency Name: U.S. Department of Justice
Major Organization Subdivision: Criminal Division
Minor Organization Subdivision: Executive Office
Name of Unit: Management Information Staff
Here's the important stuff:
ABSTRACT: ACTS II is a automated case and matter tracking system.
PURPOSE: ACTS II is an automated activity tracking system for all cases and matters that are the responsibility of the litigating sections in the Criminal Division. It
provides the Division's managers with reports and statistics for determining attorney workloads and productivity.
ACCESS CONSTRAINTS: ACTS can only be accessed from the Criminal Division?s private network.
USE CONSTRAINTS: Only employees with a valid security clearance and an authorized system account are permitted access.
AGENCY PROGRAM: ACTS II support the Criminal Division's litigating sections and offices.
SOURCES OF DATA: ACTS II data is manually entered by Criminal Division employees.
This reeks of arson.
Security Code is nail (how appropriate!)
SLOUCH wrote on March 21, 2007 10:13 PM:Just to be clear, I wasn't saying Guam should be excluded from current scrutiny. Guam is essential. I am saying that the USA story took months to get legs, and Bush's only hope is to blur the issue. Why help him by expending crucial time and political capital trying to force momentum into NH now? Finish the USA probe with confidence, efficiency, and clarity,proving your value to the electorate at the same time. THEN hit NH.
I know all of this is intertwined, but many voters don't (nor do they care, sadly. Believe me, I fight tooth and nail to get people on this story every day.)
Robin wrote on March 21, 2007 10:38 PM:Re Slouch above.
Any and all political decisions in how the USAs and DOJ handled their jobs IS the story. The firings, NH Ph Jamming, Black/Abramoff. It's a wicked web they have woven. I just hope the dems have good assistants to work on this. It would be great for a lot of us citizens to be deputized to help.
**I agree with you Slouch: getting the average citizen to care seems futile. I pound my head on the desk everyday going on 5 years trying to think how we can wake up America. 30 years of no civics education + bad nutrition + living the American Dream becoming an illusion = total apathy. Ugh.
Sec Word = degree (as in, it's gettin hot for some folks in a big comfortable WHITE HOUSE)
(I finally figured out what and why people were posting these! My previous one was Screw. LOL
Hoppy wrote on March 21, 2007 11:16 PM:The Constitution grants authority over the Justice Department to the President, who is presumed to be interested in upholding the laws and protecting the Constitution. This system has worked very well for over 200 years. Then Bush came along, with his criminal gang.
Bush, of course, hasn't the slightest interest in upholding laws - the man even signs laws, attaching signing statements declaring that he won't enforce those laws. And, the Constitution is a quaint old piece of paper to Bush. Our sysem of government has broken down completely. And, all because so many ill informed voters, so many downright idiotic voters, prefered a known psychopath and law breaker for President over two different extremely honorable men.
The framers of the Constitution have now been proven to have been correct in their total distrust of common voters.
bob wrote on March 22, 2007 1:23 AM:Well the relevant docs have been purged (fire at the PHB either ignited them or distracted while they were 'lost' 'stolen' or otherwise 'disappeared') and now there si nothing but a GAP.
They are setting fires in federal buildings to destroy evidence.
Good luck finding ANY physical evidence after this. Only scapegoats to prosecute now.
Kali wrote on March 22, 2007 2:01 AM:Boiling it down or six degrees of Jack, Ashcroft, Ring, and Doolittle.
1) Jack became aware of the assessment USA Black did on the terrorist threat to Guam and the CNMI in Oct. 2001. He notified the CNMI that this report would harm the CNMI loose immigration labor force. (TPM doc collection has the email Abramoff sent to the CNMI regarding this.)
Jack Abramoff tells the CNMI he is going to have his main CNMI team leader speak with AG Ashcroft about this troublesome report over one of their regular get togethers for a little B-ball. The Terrorist risk assessment disappears until Dec. 2006 and Black is out.
2) Jack Abramoff's team leader for the CNMI (Saipan) and B-ball partner to Ashcroft is Kevin Ring.
3)Kevin Ring served as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, he was named to this position by Ashcroft when Ashcroft was a Senator. Ashcroft would have liked Kevin to have served along side of him while he was AG, but Kevin went to work with Abramoff.
4) Prior to working for Ashcroft, Kevin Ring was on the staff of Rep. Doolittle, Ca. Kevin worked closely with Doolittle and Abramoff while he was a lobbyist.
5) Doolittle recommended Kevin for several lucrative lobbying gigs in his congressional district (also in the Fall of 2001).
6)Abramoff pleads guilty and in the Fall of 06 Doolittle admits he is under investigation by the DoJ. No word on Kevin Ring.
6) Doolittle keeps his seat (barely) and Kevin remains as the lobbyist for the City of Lincoln which has a city council that is in Doolittle's pocket. A Democratic challenger brought the problems regarding Kevin Ring & Abramoff to the attention of this city council and was shut out.
Kevin Ring is paid $85,000 a year to lobby for the City of Lincoln.
Anonymous wrote on March 22, 2007 2:57 AM:Too many scandals. Have you guys covered the tobacco case yet? Well, the WaPo is--lead prosecutor Sharon Eubanks quit after political considerations (from her superiors) apparently ended up lowering the settlement amount the DOJ was seeking from $130 billion dollars to $10 billion dollars, against the advice of the DOJ's own (highly praised, by them) expert. And, of course, Alberto Gonzales personally claimed at the time that political considerations had nothing to do with it.
Yeah, Alberto, that line sounds familiar...
Robin wrote on March 22, 2007 8:46 AM:Hoppy Said:
The framers of the Constitution have now been proven to have been correct in their total distrust of common voters.
**********************************
Imagine no electoral college. The framers had nothing to do with that trumped up electoral garbage.
Sec Word: cord (to hang themselves with!!!!)
Ohio Blue wrote on March 22, 2007 9:42 AM:A question for you all?? A posted comment on another site stated that five of the eight fired attorneys previously worked in some capacity on the sub committee for Indian Affairs. Does anyone know if that is accurate?? That would sure seem to be an awfully "big coincidence" if it were true. Just curious here..
Security code: nail
anon wrote on March 22, 2007 9:44 AM:Mrs P, here's an old bio for Todd Hinnen:
Todd is a graduate of Amherst College, with majors in physics and philosophy, and Harvard Law School. After law school, Todd practiced for three years with the law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine in Seattle, Washington, specializing in litigation and First Amendment and Intellectual Property Law. In 2000, Todd accepted a clerkship with the Honorable Richard C. Tallman, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Todd is now a trial attorney with the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the United States Department of Justice. An adjunct professor of law at American University, Todd has written extensively on terrorists’ use of the Internet to raise and move funds and on appropriate sentencing for computer crime violations. He also serves as Head of the United States Delegation to the Organization of American States Group of Experts on Cybercrime and the vice-chairman, or “Rapportuer,” to the G8 Sub-Group on High-Tech Crime.
http://scm.oas.org/DOC_SEARCH_ENGINE/ENGLISH/hist_04/dlci00202e02.doc
Amherst + First Amendment practice + 9th Circuit clerkship (for a Clinton appointee, no less) + a nonpolitical position as a staff prosecutor = Republican? Please.
It sounds more like any slow-walking of the Tobin indictment was the handiwork of political appointees above Hinnen. Who were they?
twc wrote on March 22, 2007 9:45 AM:The First Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday reversed James Tobin's conviction and remanded the case back for a possible new trial -- on the grounds that the scheme to tie up the party's phone lines on election day by repeatedly calling them was not necessarily an effort to "harass" the Democratic Party. The First Circuit interpreted the federal statute making it a crime to repeatedly or continuously call a number "with intent to harass any person at the called number" to require "an intent to provoke adverse reactions in the called party." So "simple, deliberate disruption" of the called person's plans, business or operations is insufficient "harassment," under this decision, if the caller doesn't care about inflicting emotional distress.
Anonymous wrote on March 22, 2007 11:33 AM:I find it hard to follow that logic, but they go back and root around in the legislative history of the statute. Seems pretty tortured to me. I wonder if the full court will affirm en banc.
anon@March 22, 2007 09:44 AM
You might be right. Maybe the GOP Stasi slipped in Todd Hinnen's case and did not catch 2004 his $500 contribution to John Kerry. Don't think for a minute that a contribution to a Democrat would not have mattered to Hinnen's career under the Bush administration.
From 1/17/07 Washington Times article, "Bush adviser to join staff of top war critic", by Rowan Scarborough:
"A counterterrorism adviser to President Bush is leaving the White House to join the staff of a prominent Democratic senator gearing up to investigate the administration's war policies.
A Senate source said Todd M. Hinnen, a director for combating terrorism on the staff of the president's National Security Council (NSC), will become the chief counsel for Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., Delaware Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Mr. Biden has announced that he is running for president and is planning a series of committee inquiries. Some Republicans reacted to word of Mr. Hinnen's move by wondering whether he will go from Bush adviser to Bush inquisitor.
"Once again, people on the Bush White House staff turn on him while our soldiers and Marines fight to protect the rest of us," a Republican staffer said..."
Taking a job with a Democrat translates into being a traitor to your country in BushWorld.
Contributing to the Kerry campaign may have been Todd Hinnen's way of protesting what was going on in the the DOJ. If it was, Hinnen was not alone in his concern about the way the Bush administration operated.
Murray Wass, in his 3/15/07 National Journal story, "Internal Affairs", wrote about "a secret but intense rebellion of a small coterie of Bush administration lawyers against the White House's legal claims that the president should have virtually unlimited powers in the war in terror."
Anon E. Mouse wrote on March 22, 2007 12:26 PM:One thing I can't figure out. Say Todd Hinnen is an okay guy. Why would Senator Biden hire someone with no legislative experience to be his chief counsel?
Lawyer is son of the former US Senator.
Anonymous wrote on March 22, 2007 1:33 PM:Which lawyer and which former senator?
Jonglly wrote on May 8, 2007 1:23 PM:Before buying generic viagra read this.
kilka wrote on July 31, 2007 12:50 PM:I've got new info about generic viagra and share with you.
gmc trucks here www.gmctruck.fora.pl
gmc from america www.gmctruck.fora.pl
real gmc www.gmctruck.fora.pl
Kimmen wrote on September 28, 2007 10:56 PM:and www.emeraldring.fora.pl rings
Hi, nice page.!
look on my pages:
conservation dedicated organization profit
ok.. bitte
Gleb wrote on September 29, 2007 11:01 PM:Hi, nice page.!
look on my pages:
dedicated organization policy profit public
ok.. bitte
Gleb wrote on September 29, 2007 11:01 PM:Hi, nice page.!
look on my pages:
dedicated organization policy profit public
ok.. bitte
Petr wrote on October 2, 2007 3:13 AM:Hi, nice page.!
look on my pages:
dedicated organization policy profit public
ok.. bitte
madrus mpeg cum animl wrote on October 10, 2007 4:32 PM:Good job. I loved youre site, keep it up.
gonne collant wrote on October 11, 2007 9:22 PM:Good job. I loved youre site, keep it up.