TPM Paul Kiel: DoJ Officials Resign, But Mouthpiece Promoted

[L. Coyote]

This report is particularly interesting with its document support.
The co-conspirators in the US firings are planning to use immigration
as a ruse to cover their actual political reasons for the firings.
This ruse, place attention on the immigration issue, had many more
co-conspirators, including members of Congress, and especially Rep. Issa.
In the Congressional hearings the conspiracy continued with R questions
that further attempted to divert motive for the firing of Carol Lam to
the immigration issue. This conspiracy included a US Congress member
providing false information to the press to slander Carol Lam.

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DoJ Officials Resign, But Mouthpiece Promoted
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003994.php

By Paul Kiel - August 30, 2007, 11:45 AM

Alberto Gonzales's resignation was just the latest in the steady flow of departures by senior Justice Department officials involved in the U.S. attorney firings. But Brian Roehrkasse, the Department spokesman who served as the leadership's attack dog as the firings scandal intensified, is staying where he is. In fact, Roehrkasse, formerly the deputy director of public affairs, was actually promoted to the top spot in the office earlier this month.

Just about every story in the major papers on the scandal this spring and summer featured Roehrkasse's rebuttals. That, of course, is his job. But just as a number of statements from Department officials to Congress have proven false, so have a number of Roehrkasse's public statements. And Roehrekasse surprised many with his personal attacks on the fired U.S. attorneys, most famously calling them "former disgruntled employees grandstanding before Congress." The former prosecutors, of course, had been subpoenaed to appear.

Roehrkasse replaced the former director, Tasia Scolinos, after she retired from the Department. Scolinos is perhaps best known for her brainstorming on how to handle the U.S. attorney firings, for instance suggesting in an email that the "one common link" among the fired prosecutors was that "three of them are along the southern border so you could make the connection that DOJ is unhappy with the immigration prosecution numbers in those districts." Scolinos' suggestion, of course, was duly employed.

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Here are your taxpayer dollars at work in Issa's office, part of the effort to cover up the real motives for the USA firings.

Rep. Issa, Former U.S. Attorney Carol Lam to Testify at Subcommittee Hearing on Removal of Seven U.S. Attorneys
March 5, 2007 - http://issa.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.View&ContentRecord_id=435&CFID=16888&CFTOKEN=22569094

Washington, DC – Rep. Darrell Issa (CA-49) will testify at a Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law hearing scheduled for Tuesday at 2 PM on the removal of seven U.S. Attorneys including Carol Lam, the former U.S. District Attorney for the Southern District of California. Carol Lam and other removed U.S. Attorneys will also testify at the hearing.

“As U.S. Attorney, Carol Lam compiled a number of notable achievements including the successful prosecution of former Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham,” said Issa. “These achievements, while significant, did not excuse the fact that her office neglected border crimes – particularly prosecuting the foot soldiers of alien smuggling cartels.”

“For three years I wrote Ms. Lam, the U.S. Attorney General, and the President asking that more be done to prosecute those who traffic in human beings. Only someone who believes that trafficking human beings isn’t a serious crime could look at Carol Lam’s record and say she was removed for no good reason,” added Issa.

FACTS ABOUT CAROL LAM:


A Department of Justice evaluation of Carol Lam’s office in February 2005 found:

*The number of immigration cases per attorney in Carol Lam’s office was the lowest among the five U.S. Attorneys offices on the Southwest border.
*Carol Lam had made efforts to reduce the number of border cases assigned to the General Crimes trial teams.
*The Border Patrol believed that revisions to the guidelines to for prosecuting alien smugglers would constrict them to an “unacceptably low level” of prosecutable apprehensions.

*A number of law enforcement agencies disagreed with the prosecutorial guidelines thresholds and felt the guidelines thresholds unduly hampered their enforcement efforts.

*There was a perception that the less experienced attorneys assigned to the team that processed all immigration and border cases needed more support and instruction before, during and after court proceedings and during plea negotiations.
In June 2006, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein wrote to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to express concerns about Carol Lam's performance in office:

“It has come to my attention that despite high apprehension rates by Border Patrol agents along California's border with Mexico, prosecutions by the U.S. Attorney's Office Southern District of California appear to lag behind. . . . It is my understanding that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California may have some of the most restrictive prosecutorial guidelines nationwide for immigration cases, such that many Border Patrol agents end up not referring their cases … I also want to stress the importance of vigorously prosecuting these types of cases so that California isn't viewed as an easy entry point for alien smugglers because there is no fear of prosecution if caught.”

In July 2006, San Diego Border Patrol Sector Chief Darryl Griffen expressed concerns about changes made by Carol Lam to prosecutorial policies related to smugglers in front of a bipartisan House panel:

“Foot guides are the foot soldiers for the criminal cartels that traffic cargo, narcotics and contraband across our border,” said Griffen who explained how Lam's policies reduced prosecutions of foot guides from 367 in one fiscal year to only five under the new policy in the following year. “What would happen then, we would apprehend people that were guiding people across the country, many times at risk. And without meeting prosecution guidelines, they were simply voluntarily returning back to Mexico where they could continue to conduct illicit activity. There is no level of consequences,” Griffen stated.

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Interested in more. Plug in to the DU archive on May-09-07:
US Attorney Firing: Voter Fraud, Medicare Fraud, WHICH IS IT ???
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x853813

[L. Coyote]

1. TPM Document Collection: The Incriminating Letter. Premeditation shown.

"...you could make the connection that DoJ is unhappy with the immigration prosecution numbers..."

Justice Department Spokesman Brainstorms on Reasons for Firings
03-27-2006
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/border-districts/?resultpage=1&

In essence, this communication evidences a conspiracy to slander the job performance of the fired USAs to cover up the politically motivated firings.

[L. Coyote]

2. Darrell Issa (R-CA) provides false information to AP about Lam

Consider the timeline, and how long this had been going on.

May 18, 2006 - Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) provides false information to AP that Lam has prosecuted only 6% of 289 suspected immigrant smugglers.

Nov. 17, 2006 - Tasia Scolinos communicates with [e-mail], Scott Jennings, and others about the cover up plan and using the immigration excuse.

So, who is coordinating the conspiracy spanning the Republicans in Congress, EOP, DoJ, and ??.

From the questioning by Issa and others at the Congressional hearings, we see that the use of then renamed "coyote" problem was still an active cover up attempt by Republican Congress members. This continuing recent complicity is particularly alarming. When will they get it.

[Supersedeas]

3. hopefully employers will remember the 'grandstanding' diatribe when Rokeass applies

[L. Coyote]

4. A lot of people on the USG payroll are thinking about their own futures, not Bush's!

Good point. What you do in one job becomes baggage you cannot leave behind.

As Halderman explained to Nixon when Nixon ordered an illegal break-in, "You have to get people to do this."