Gonzales Gave 2 Aides Firing Power

Attorney General's Staffers Could Hire Or Fire About 135 Political Appointees

(AP)  U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales gave two top aides authority to hire and fire political appointees other than U.S. attorneys, according to a Justice Department order obtained by The Associated Press.

The March 2006 order gave Gonzales' then-Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson and later White House liaison Monica Goodling authority to hire and fire about 135 politically appointed Justice Department employees who did not require Senate confirmation.

When Gonzales issued the order, top Justice Department officials were well into the process of determining which U.S. attorneys to fire. A month later, Goodling became White House liaison. The list eventually was narrowed to eight U.S. attorneys, and their dismissals began in December.

The uproar that ensued spawned congressional and internal Justice Department investigations, claimed Sampson's and Goodling's jobs and imperiled Gonzales' position.

Labeled "Internal Order," the document bestowed "the authority, with the approval of the attorney general, to take final action in matters pertaining to the appointment, employment, pay separation and general administration" of non-civil service employees of the Justice Department.

Such employees include deputy assistant attorneys general and press aides. U.S. attorneys, who serve as the top federal prosecutors in their state districts, normally require Senate confirmation and would not be covered by the order.

The order was first reported Monday by National Journal.

Democrats pounced on news of the order, complaining that it had not been turned over to them among thousands of other documents released by the department about the firings.

"The mass firing of U.S. attorneys appeared to be part of a systematic scheme to inject political influence into the hiring and firing decisions of key Justice employees," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy. "This secret order would seem to be evidence of an effort to hardwire control over law enforcement by White House political operatives."

"This revelation shows that the Attorney General was prepared to engage in an extraordinary delegation of power to two young and unaccountable staffers who may have taken their marching orders directly from the White House," said Senator Chuck Schumer.

But the Justice Department said Gonzales never relinquished authority over hiring and firing decisions. In addition, political appointees — "non-career employees" — are just that: they serve at the pleasure of the president and can be fired for any reason.

"This order simply gives the chief of staff and the White House liaison the authority to execute certain decisions related to the hiring and termination of some non-career employees with, as the memo states, the approval of the attorney general," Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said.

During a Senate hearing April 17, Gonzales repeatedly said he did not recall details of how those firings were carried out, making a point to emphasize that he delegated many of the details to his staff — notably Sampson and Goodling.

Democrats have accused the two of using ideology to decide which U.S. attorneys to fire, pointing to Sampson and Goodling's frequent consultations with former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and presidential counselor Karl Rove.

[mikekleber]

George Bush has a liar and a cheat on his staff??? Imagine that!! If someone wants to work for Bush, the candidate must make a slithering sound when entering a room.

[tbweb]

This guy still around, I thought he was gone. He must have some powerful friends! :)

[homespunlady]

Remember the commercials where the guy sits at a desk eating a cereal so noisy he doesn't hear he's fired?
Maybe THAT'S what Gonzales does all day. He OBVIOUSLY doesn't do the job he was given -that apparently was pawned off to kids with NO experience for it but he must have thought they would be GREAT "fall guys" if Congress caught on.

In the meantime, BIN LADEN is STILL FREE and George is MISDIRECTING OUR TROOPS FROM THE OBJECTIVE of capturing the ADMITTED perpetrator of 9/11. Can he quit evading the question and tell the American people WHY HE DOESN'T WANT BIN LADEN CAPTURED. Is he SO desperate to PROTECT BIN LADEN that he went as far as to FLY BIN LADEN'S FAMILY BACK TO SAUDI ON 9/12/2001 and send our troops AWAY FROM BIN LADEN to takeover the ONLY non Fundamentalist run country in the region. Why has he set IRAQ up to become FUNDAMENTALIST??
Is there an admitted payback for the Saudi multi-million dollar bailout of Harkin Oil or is it just the Close relations of the Bush family and the Saudi royals that have given George his "marching orders"?

[kansas1946]

Alberto who?? Is this guy still here. He should have been gone two months ago. Just the same old Bush administration BS. NEVER do the right thing.

[deathtoallah]

Gonzales needs to move back to Mexico with his brothers and sisters...you all know those ILLEGAL ALIENS invading our country.. They all need to go.
He needs to get out of our government!

[tucano2]

The proper thing for Gonzales to do is either suicide or resignation-either one gets rid of him, and that is what is best for the USA. Gonzales can return to mexico where he belongs and agitate from there.

[bill1fj]

Resign Alberto

Lets have some people with integrity on the job, if that is possible with this administration.

(And I was one of millions that made the mistake of voting for Bush after being tricked by his administrations lies.)

[pakaal]

Wasting your time. They've got answeres for this. "Clinton got rid of them all in the beginning of his presidency." Even though a couple of them were investigating the Whitewater dealings down in Arkansas.

They gloss over that with the greatest of ease. But hey....Bush lied and people died, right? :)
Posted by Infidel_US

Yeah, spurious analogy there; firing all attorneys (including two attorneys investigating Whitewater) in no way equates to Bush lying to Congress and the American people to go to war with Iraq, leading to the deaths (so far) of over 3,300 american soldiers.

[jn122736]

"Just a reminder - if we DO NOT want this corrupt bunch to retain power we need to insure SAFE AND FAIR ELECTIONS with VERIFIABLE election counts and a fight to ban the dirty tricks that have allowed such corruption to gain control of our country. Control of electronic voting machines by PARTISAN companies and their openly partisan executives have been proven to be hackable and the back-door software able to turn the vote in a 50 to 49 percent win for the "prechosen" candidate. EVER WONDER WHY SUDDENLY WE HAVE SO MANY "CLOSE" ELECTIONS when it used to be relatively rare???

Covert Control of the vote by ANY group should not be allowed!!!!!"
Posted by homespunlady at 11:54 AM : May 01, 2007
------------------

homespunlady; maybe that explains why Bush has always been so arrogant?

I suspect they made a huge miscalculation of the voter%u2019s choices last November and will make sure that doesn%u2019t happen in 2008. You are right in reminding everyone because there doesn%u2019t appear to be any serious show of concern, even by those of us most affected.

It is very hard for the average American to ever consider, let alone believe; that their vote%u2019s could/would ever be changed from the way they had cast them, just as it is hard to even contemplate the possibility that 911 was only a part of the plan to invade Iraq.

[frankly6]

All of Gonzales problems are Clinton's fault!

Clinton fired 12,500 prosecutors.






I like puppies.

[rharrin1]

FARTKNOCKER2

Your breath is blowing back in your face.

[infidel_us]

Oh yea so Clinton could put in all his Lib Judges who give crooks more power than the law biding person.
Posted by FARTKNOCKER2 at 12:47 PM : May 01, 2007

Wasting your time. They've got answeres for this. "Clinton got rid of them all in the beginning of his presidency." Even though a couple of them were investigating the Whitewater dealings down in Arkansas.

They gloss over that with the greatest of ease. But hey....Bush lied and people died, right? :)

[jvman4u]

Let's not put alot of faith (pun intended) into the electronic election results either, the oldest brother BUSH still has all that in his pocket since 2000.... Will we ever dig out from under this pile of ***?

[abbe7]

What about USAG's not fired ?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/01/washington/01corrupt.html?ei=5088&en=301d72e7b39b9fca&ex=1335672000&adxnnl=0&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1178021124-2nztnLGh95f0AKQEII50hA&pagewanted=all

[infidel_us]

No! Pedophiles are not "funny" and neither is the vast unbridled corruption of the Neo-cons, nor are these topics to be the subject of sarcasm.
Posted by david1737 at 11:42 AM : May 01, 2007

Oh please....why don't you come down off your condescending high horse. You bedwetting libs are in no position to be taking the high road....on anything!!! Care to show me the "evidence" of "vast unbridled corruption of the Neo-cons", you cry baby? What will you do when Rosie O'Lardass is off the view?

[homespunlady]

Just a reminder - if we DO NOT want this corrupt bunch to retain power we need to insure SAFE AND FAIR ELECTIONS with VERIFIABLE election counts and a fight to ban the dirty tricks that have allowed such corruption to gain control of our country. Control of electronic voting machines by PARTISAN companies and their openly partisan executives have been proven to be hackable and the back-door software able to turn the vote in a 50 to 49 percent win for the "prechosen" candidate. EVER WONDER WHY SUDDENLY WE HAVE SO MANY "CLOSE" ELECTIONS when it used to be relatively rare???

Covert Control of the vote by ANY group should not be allowed!!!!!

[sandy19731]

So,

I guess Mr. Gonzales was hired to just stand next to Mr. Bush and look Hispanic.

He doesn't seem to have any duties that he can remember or that he hasn't delegated to others.

In his defense, he does look very Hispanic and that is refreshing in Washington.

[pepperp1]

I don%u2019t buy the incompetence claims; I believe this is calculated fraud. They have been quite successful in always awarding our tax revenues to their States, their churches, their friends, their girlfriends, their families, their operatives, their donors, their academic institutions, their pork projects and their favored corporations regardless of capability or public opinion and they have been doing it for 6 years draining our treasury and our social security trust fund. They are keeping Alberto around so he will not remember to indict them.

[misha131]

As I recall the concept of an absentee landlord was considered poor management in the evaluation of the US Attorneys. This is just more evidence that AG Gonzales was an absentee landlord and again by his own standards should subject to replacement.

[david1737]

And the corruption goes on in the GOP. Don't forget the GOP stands for Grand Old Pedophiles.
Posted by david1737 at 11:20 AM : May 01, 2007

hilarious.....did you think of that all on your own???
Posted by Infidel_US at 11:21 AM : May 01, 2007




No! Pedophiles are not "funny" and neither is the vast unbridled corruption of the Neo-cons, nor are these topics to be the subject of sarcasm.