Revenge of the Bush Department of Justice: Phony Scandal is Legacy of Politicized Hiring

[Judi Lynn]

Revenge of the Bush Department of Justice: Phony Scandal is Legacy of Politicized Hiring
Tuesday 13 July 2010
by: Media Matters Staff | Media Matters | Report

J. Christian Adams' discredited accusations that President Obama's Justice Department engaged in racially charged "corruption" in the New Black Panther Party case are being promoted and defended by a slew of former Justice Department officials connected to the Bush-era DOJ and its "legacy of politicized hiring."

Bush Department Of Justice (DOJ): "A Legacy of Politicized Hiring"

Main Justice: New Black Panther Party case tied to Bush "legacy of politicized hiring." A December 23, 2009, article on the legal news website Main Justice, headlined, "The Black Panther case: A legacy of politicized hiring," reported: "When the George W. Bush Justice Department filed a civil complaint against members of the New Black Panther Party in January <2009>, it invoked a rarely used provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to allege voter intimidation," which was the "second time the Bush DOJ filed suit" under that provision. Main Justice further reported that the "common denominator in these unusual" applications" was "J. Christian Adams, a line attorney at the Justice Department," and "a foot soldier in the conservative movement, hired into the Justice Department during the Bush administration under a process the department's Inspector General concluded was improperly politicized." Main Justice reported that Adams was "{h}ired in 2005 by Bradley Schlozman, a Bush-era political appointee who drove out veteran Civil Rights Division attorneys perceived to be liberal."

DOJ IG found that Schlozman violated DOJ policy and federal law in "consider{ing} political and ideological affiliations" of career attorneys. A July 2008 report from the Department of Justice Inspector General's Office and the Office of Professional Responsibility concluded that Schlozman "considered political and ideological affiliations when hiring and taking other personnel actions relating to career attorneys in violation of Department policy and federal law."

Main Justice: Conservatives have ignored "the background or possible motivations of Adams." The December 23, 2009, Main Justice article also reported that "conservatives have raised no questions about the background or possible motivations of Adams," but instead "have attacked the career DOJ lawyers who recommended dismissing it." Main Justice continued: " 'Those two lawyers, Steve Rosenbaum and Loretta King, are two of the worst political hacks to be found in the career ranks of the Civil Rights Division,' wrote former Bush Civil Rights Division official Hans A. von Spakovsky in an opinion piece for National Review Online." Main Justice further reported:

Spakovsky worked closely with Schlozman. He helped oversee the Noxubee case in Mississippi and assisted in the controversial purge of veteran lawyers in the division perceived to be liberal. The Democratic-controlled Senate in 2007 refused to confirm Spakovsky as a Federal Election Commission member.
Spakovsky has also worked at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights for commissioner Todd Gaziano, an official at the conservative Heritage Foundation who's been the driving force behind the push to investigate the Black Panthers matter.

More:
http://www.truth-out.org/revenge-bush-department-justice-phony-scandal-legacy-politicized-hiring61400

[benld74]

1. Bush Administration, just like the Gulf Oil Spill,,,,

The ramifications of it happening, the effects on others, and the bad taste in everyones mouth, will be around for a VERY LONG TIME INDEED!

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Judi Lynn.

[Doctor_J]

3. The list of mistakes the prez made in the 1st few weeks is long

Everyone hired by Rove should have been fired, and a number of them prosecuted and jailed. That would have been a great start toward cleaning up the country.

[glitch]

4. Cleaning up the country and restoring confidence in the system.

Very important if trying to recover an economy.

[Blue Owl]

5. The Fake Cowboy's Cronies

Some riggin,' some privitizin,' some cheatin,' some deregulatin -- behold the Decider's phony brand of justice.

[Enthusiast]

6. Perfect. nt