Audit: DOJ Weeded Out Liberals, Dems

Dept. Of Justice A Victim Of Bush Administration Screening Of Applicants With Liberal Ties, Report Says

(CBS/ AP)  Ivy Leaguers and other top law students were rejected for plum Justice Department jobs two years ago because of their liberal leanings or objections to Bush administration politics, a government report concluded Tuesday.

In one case, a Harvard Law student was passed over after criticizing the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. In another, a Georgetown University student who had previously worked for a Democratic senator and congressman didn't make the cut.

Even senior Justice Department officials flinched at what appeared to be hiring decisions based - improperly and illegally - on politics, according to the internal report.

"Individuals at the department were rejecting any of our candidates who could be construed as left-wing or who were perceived, based on their appearances and resumes and so forth, as being more liberal," Kevin Ohlson, deputy director of the department's executive office of immigration review, complained to Justice investigators.

The report marked the culmination of a yearlong investigation by Justice's inspector general and Office of Professional Responsibility into whether Republican politics were driving hiring polices at the once fiercely independent department.

The investigation is one of several that examine accusations of White House political meddling within the Justice Department. Those accusations were initially driven by the firings of nine U.S. attorneys in late 2006 and culminated with the ouster of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general last September.

In 2006, under Gonzales' watch, political party and ideology were the chief criteria for getting highly-coveted entry-level jobs in the department, reports CBS' Stephanie Lambidakis. Two former top officials, Mike Elston and Esther Slater McDonald, are accused of outright misconduct for violating civil service laws that ban discrimination, according to the audit.

Elston and McDonald scoured Google and MySpace to screen top Harvard, Yale and Stanford graduates for their political leanings.

For example, Lambidakis points out, three candidates were rejected as "leftists" because they belonged to Greenpeace and anti-poverty groups and a top Harvard law school graduate was flagged for being a member of the Council on American Islamic Relations. One Justice Department official even wondered in an e-mail whether striking another highly qualified Harvard graduate who worked for Planned Parenthood "could be perceived as politically motivated."

The report issued Tuesday concluded that politics and ideology disqualified a significant number of newly graduated lawyers and summer interns seeking coveted Justice jobs in 2006.

As early as 2002, career Justice employees complained to internal watchdogs that Bush administration political appointees had largely taken over the hiring process for summer interns and so-called Honors Program jobs for newly graduated law students. For years, job applicants have been judged on their grades, the quality of their law schools, their legal clerkships and other experiences.

But in 2002, many applicants who identified themselves as Democrats or were members of liberal-leaning organizations were rejected while GOP loyalists with fewer legal skills were hired, the report found. Of 911 students who applied for full-time Honors jobs that year, 100 were identified as liberal - and 80 were rejected. By comparison, 46 were identified as conservative, and only four didn't get a job offer.

The political filtering of applicants ebbed for the three years between 2003 and 2005, the inquiry found, then resumed by 2006.

Of 602 Honors candidates that year, 150 were identified as liberal - including 83 who were cut. Five of 28 self-described conservatives were rejected.

Investigators blamed two political appointees on a three-person screening committee for the preferential treatment. It also singled out one of them, former deputy attorney general staff chief, Elston, for failing to make sure the hirings were proper - and giving evasive and misleading answers about why they were not.

An attorney for Elston, who is now in private practice, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Although federal law prohibits discriminating against government job applicants based on their politics, it's unlikely that any of those involved in the hiring process will be penalized since they no longer work at the department. A Justice official said the department is not considering pressing criminal charges or taking or civil actions against them.

Democrats quickly seized on the report to bludgeon the Bush administration for playing politics with a department sworn to uphold the law fairly.

"This is the first smoking gun," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "We believe there will be more to come. This report shows clearly that politics and ideology replaced merit as the hiring criteria at one of our most prized civil service departments."

Gonzales' successor, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, said he agrees with all the audit's recommendations to prevent politics from influencing the screening process and has already moved on them.

"I have also made clear, and will continue to make clear, that the consideration of political affiliations in the hiring of career department employees is impermissible and unacceptable," Mukasey said in a statement.

[macusweil]

easy fix there, fire anyone hire from Jan 2001-present
pretty much can applies to the entire fed government

[stn_sage]

In light of how we''ve seen the Bush administration function the last 7 1/2 years, I don''t know why this would surprise anyone!

The current govt as run by Bush and team is like a car that has crashed head-long into a retaining wall at 120 mph, it should be considered a ''total loss''!

[inventagod2]

Our inJustice Department has been out-of control for decades -
This is news?

[bobnjersey]

senator ... i have no recollection of the criteria used for hiring those candidates.

[faith_in_w]

We the Christian race have a right not to hire minions of Satan for government jobs!

[texanforlogi]

Posted by faith_in_w at 02:00 PM : Jun 24, 2008

Now Christianity is a race? And here I was thinking it was a religious ideology!

[bobmarisol]

Way to go Justice Department!

Now if we could only get the rest of the government to weed out the liberals...maybe then we could prevent the Socialist and weak-on-terror Dems from ruining our country!

[faith_in_w]

liberals forget that during a time of war the government cant hire people who would commit treason.

[gkc99]

The LAST thing the Repug Fascists want is justice to be applied to Repug Fascists!

[missingamerica]

lolll...look at these comments - one this is glaringly obvious...

Neocons HATE democracy.

[ron4691]

Hey, ''faith-in-W'' If God is on your side, why doesn''t the War go better?
Don''t confuse Politics and your belief in God. God has a better team then W.

[faith_in_w]

ron4691, the war is going just splendidly. I am sorry you hate America and dont think so. It must give you great pains to see all of the GW''s plans for America all have come out to be so highly sucessful.

[ron4691]

To ''faith-in-W'' Christian race? Look out your window, is that the same America I see?
No, don''t look to the right or left. Most of us are in between.

[faith_in_w]

MarkS7177, I work for the United States Department of Unpatriotic Activitiy. My job is to make lists of names of posters who make anti Bush remarks.

[gkc99]

When a dog doo-doos your lawn, is it the dog''s fault?

No, the dog is just doing what dog''s doo-doo.

It''s the owner''s fault.

Same thing with George Bushit. George is a not-t00-bright guy who thinks he gets his orders from God.

Actually he gets them from Dik Cheney and the people who own and operate Dik Cheney, the power elite who own 90+% of the assets in the USA, while amounting to less than 5% of the population.

And the American Sheeple have validated that the Dik power elite should be in charge.

So when Bushit leaves a pile, look in the mirror to see who''s to blame.

[kphx]

Oh, come on. Big deal ... We do not want any attorneys in Dept. of Justice, who would not thump their bibles. We do not want anybody with different points of view, however intelligent and independent thinkers they are. We want to run this country down and make it a Third World nation ASAP. Vote Republicans please to achive our goal.

[gkc99]

Methinks "faith_in_w" is a master of sarcasm, and what''''s even funnier is how many of you lap it up!

Go for it, faith_in_w! I love it!

[kittykatty2]

faith-n-w...liberals forget that in a time of war the government can''t hire people who would commit treason??? you moron. George W is a treasonist. Write that down on your list.

[irliberal]

No surprises here. Just more evidence.

The manacles forged for GW Bush should work on Cheney as well. They don''t even need a key - to simply be forged around their wrists is enough.

[godseyesore-2009]

Yep, same ole stuff of nazi bush administration which only wants to hear what it already preconceives.

[ron4691]

To: ''Faith-in-bullsh**'' The war is going splendidly? In case you never heard, Osama swore to wreck America''s economy. How''s the USDUA paying you to keep secret list of people you hate?
The GOP all to frequently does what is right for the party, but wrong for America. We didn''t win WWII because our men were better. We had a manufacting base to support a war effort. Bad-mouthing American labor has crushed it and the economy that went with it. Hows that ''We''ll all get rich selling each other our homes'' economy doing for you?
Putting politics before justice may be your way, but it''s not the American way.

[sparkyguy]

Were laws broken? If so, what will be done about it?

[texanforlogi]

What! You mean the Bush administration cherry-picks attorneys like it does agency heads--ideology over competency?
SAY IT AIN''T SO, JOE!!!

Is ANYONE surprised by this?

[randynason]

The GOP is a human waste receptacle for the intellectually and morally impaired. To hear news items such as this is no surprise after this past seven years.

[midland666]

and still, no accountability?

[one-american]

If liberals want to make the assertion that they never make judgements of hiring/firing based upon political affiliation - they are liars.

Bill Clinton did it during his administration - why wouldn''t the Bush Administration?

[ubrew12]

One-American said: "Bill Clinton did it during his administration - why wouldn''''t the Bush Administration? "

So, you would be against fixing this?

[randynason]

If liberals want to make the assertion that they never make judgements of hiring/firing based upon political affiliation - they are liars.

Bill Clinton did it during his administration - why wouldn''''t the Bush Administration?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by One-American

We''re talking of the Justice Department, not some namby-pamby boot-licking career like the one you have.

[edward1975-2009]

Don''t want to freak ya out or anything, but it''s called nepotism and has been around as long as there have been politicians.

[bobnjersey]

[Bill Clinton did it during his administration - why wouldn''''t the Bush Administration?]
[Posted by One-American at 03:01 PM : Jun 24, 2008]

i thought it was gwb''s campaign promise to ''restore honor and dignity to the white house''?

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/bush_2004_campaign_pledges_to

so much for that.

[timdgrim]

Way to go Justice Department!

Now if we could only get the rest of the government to weed out the liberals...maybe then we could prevent the Socialist and weak-on-terror Dems from ruining our country!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by bobmarisol
*****************************
Kind of like Hitler was weeding out the Jews?
Are you wearing your Swastika today?

[sgtrds-e4]

One of the first things Hitler did was to clean out his Justice department and court system of any opposition and set them up to make his crimes "legal" so that it actually was in fact "legal" for him to become a complete dictator and it was in fact "legal" for him to send millions of human beings to the ovens. It would seem that Bush''s puppet master, Cheney, (Bush is a grinning mongoloid idiot unable to form a coherent thought) is a good student of Nazi history.

[libh8er]

Awwwwwww......if anyone has a problem with this, please see Hillary Clinton and Travel Gate, or missing FBI files. Like this doesn''t go on in any administration.

Slow news day, CBS????

[jumkey]

Awwwwwww......if anyone has a problem with this, please see Hillary Clinton and Travel Gate, or missing FBI files. Like this doesn''''t go on in any administration.

Slow news day, CBS????

Posted by LibH8er


No it doesn''t. You conservatives are just a bunch of crooks and liars.

A disgrace to America.

[downsteamjim]

So Republicans wanted to hire their own party to serve in their administration. Obama is the man of change. Therefore when he becomes president he will hire people of the other party.

[gracianp]

The name of the Bushits game is-
Replace everyone everywhere with yes-men,
Destroy anyone with the balls to speak up,
Procure unfettered rights to stab the nation in the back and steal us blind. Isn''t that the mafia way?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783_pf.html

[libh8er]

(Bush is a grinning mongoloid idiot unable to form a coherent thought) is a good student of Nazi history)

But still light years ahead of most liberals. One minute, he''s a ''shrub''. The next minute, he has duped the entire country in to going to war under false pretenses to ''get rich'' off of oil. ROFL!!!!!

BTW MCVet, last time I checked, Bush wasn''t trying to set himself up as a dictator.....like Hillary and Ubama would like to do. Nose picking liberals never cease to nauseate me.

[acolton1]

Democrats quickly seized on the report to bludgeon the Bush administration for playing politics with law and order.

I am sure the White House will shift the blame or create some kind of distraction away from this issue. Remember the Bushie Administration is not responsible for anything BAD that happens on their Watch.

Remember the Bushie Family started when 41 Pharted and now all the Bushies are Tarded the Bushie Family.

Thats my ryme for the day. Did anybody like it ?

[sgtrds-e4]

"I have also made clear, and will continue to make clear, that the consideration of political affiliations in the hiring of career department employees is impermissible and unacceptable," Mukasey said in a statement."

Prove it. Fire all of the ones in the Justice department whose main qualification was their ability to say "Heil Bush" the loudest. Clean house, don''t just talk about it.

[acolton1]

Remember the Bushie Family started when 41 Pharted and now all the Bushies are Tarded the Bushie Family.

Thats my rhyme for the day. Did anybody like it ?

[minnick8-2009]

A new audit concludes that rookie attorneys with Republican roots got interviewed for plum Justice Department jobs while their liberal-leaning counterparts got passed over. Quoted from Article.

If we went back in time to JFK and his Attorney General, Robert Kennedy, would we find more Democrats in the Justice Department? I haven''t looked it up, but doesn''t that happen in all Administrations? Dems install Dems, and Repubs install Repubs. Why should anyone be shocked?

[bobnjersey]

[Were laws broken? If so, what will be done about it?]
[Posted by sparkyguy at 02:58 PM : Jun 24, 2008]

yes ... laws were broken ... and those (baseball players) that lied will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

[notblue]

LOL! What a joke! Clinton fired EVERY attorney when he took over! Nothing like playing politics CBS!

[pr_boxer]

As Gomer Pyle said "surprise, surprise, surprise!" its OK Bushies, come 2009, the tables will be turned , your candidate McCAIN got shot down in Nam, and he''ll get shot down in January in an electoral landslide, count on it!

[sgtrds-e4]

Richard Bruce Cheney knew what he was going to have his meat puppet Bush do was illegal, so by flooding the Justice department with good little neocon Nazis the goal was to make the crimes they were committing "legal" and thereby avoid prosecution for the theft of taxpayers money and for the uncountable war crimes they have committed internationally. Both Bush and Cheney deserve to be hung, after a "fair" trial of course.

[bobnjersey]

[if anyone has a problem with this, please see Hillary Clinton and Travel Gate]
[Posted by LibH8er at 03:13 PM : Jun 24, 2008]

yea ... stacking the wh travel office w/ idealogues is such a travesty ... with indescribable ramifications.

[downsteamjim]

notblue: You just don''t get it. If an action is taken, right or wrong is determined by which party did it and not what the party did.

[pr_boxer]

Remember Clinton had Republican William Cohen as Sec''y Defense, so he''s at least one up on Bush.

[minnick8-2009]

Okay, so like, Obama, if elected, is going to interview Republicans for plumb jobs and pass over the Democrats? I hardly think so. Let me guess; I betcha he surrounds himself with other liberal leaning, socialist loving Democrats.

[bobnjersey]

[last time I checked, Bush wasn''''t trying to set himself up as a dictator.....like Hillary and Ubama would like to do.]
[Posted by LibH8er at 03:18 PM : Jun 24, 2008]

well that would be true except for the signing statements on nearly every bill ... and the ignorance of any law or constitutional tenant that he doesn''t like or thinks is in his way.

other than that ... he''s doing a great job.