Cummins Confirms That Justice Dept. Used Pregnancy As Excuse To Appoint Griffin
Cummins Confirms That Justice Dept. Used Pregnancy As Excuse To Appoint Griffin
In June 2006, the Justice Department fired Bud Cummins as U.S. attorney in Arkansas and replaced him with Karl Rove-protege Tim Griffin.
In a Dec. 26, 2006 article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse explained that they “temporarily” appointed Griffin, rather than Bud Cummins’ deputy Jane Duke, because Duke was pregnant:
He noted that often, the first assistant U.S. attorney in the affected district will serve as the acting U.S. attorney until the formal nomination process begins for a replacement. But in this case, “the first assistant is on maternity leave,” he said, referring to Jane Duke, who gave birth to twins earlier than expected the same week of the announcement.
As ThinkProgress noted earlier, on Jan. 11, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) wrote a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and expressed concern with the maternity leave excuse, saying that it “concerns me on several levels, but most importantly it uses pregnancy and motherhood as conditions that deny an appointment.”
Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee made public Cummins’s written testimony following his March 6 appearance before the panel. Cummins confirmed that pregnancy and motherhood were used as excuses to deny an appointment. He added that Roehrkasse’s statement was “ridiculous” and “mocked” by people in the Arkansas legal community because Duke would have been perfectly able to serve as an interim U.S. attorney “for six weeks or more” if she would have been asked:
I told Elston that most people in our relatively small legal community had instantly mocked that statement because it was obvious Tim Griffin had been here for months for the purpose of taking over on my departure, because no person was aware of any conversations or other communications that might demonstrate that appointing the First Assistant was EVER a consideration, and because even though she actually had left the office a week before (on or about December 14) to give birth to twins, her due date was much later in early February and until she went out for an emergency delivery the week before she had been widely expected to continue to work in the office until February, so she actually could have been available for six weeks or more to serve as an interim had anybody ever considered that option. Nobody had and that was obvious. I told them it was a ridiculous thing to say in light of what many people here knew and that they shouldn’t repeat it.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act states that employers, including the federal government, cannot discriminate on the “basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.”
Using discrimination against women as an excuse to install a political loyalist is no better.
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37 Responses to “Cummins Confirms That Justice Dept. Used Pregnancy As Excuse To Appoint Griffin”
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Mark Pryor is not the representative from Alaska.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:11 amBy any means necessary
I never realized just how insidious that sort of thinking is when you use it to justify your actions
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:11 amTim Griffin is pregnant?
He doesn’t LOOK pregnant.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:16 amAlaska Senators are Barb Merkowski and Ted “Bridge To Nowhere” Stevens, both Repukes.
I’ve been to Alaska. Lots of dumbass redneck Repukes up there. It is not like “Northern Exposure” at all. They’re barely literate.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:18 amI’m surprised someone found still found a small legal community, left in the Justice Department?
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:20 amThewse Bush f**** did not do enough to prepare for the onslaught of technocrats.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:21 amWhat were they thinking?
Something is up. I have a bad feeling the shit is about to hit the fan.
Chimpy is stacking all federal agencies, including Justice, with Religious Reich Wingnuts who are only loyal to themselves and their beloved Chimp. They have no loyalty to the Constitution. They put party before country.
I think they are getting to the tipping point where they can take over the US and there will be nothing we can do about it.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:21 amWhen the Gonzales DoJ thinks of women, they order pizza.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:26 amI think they are getting to the tipping point where they can take over the US and there will be nothing we can do about it.
Comment by Tom3
I bet we’d think of something.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:27 amIt just keeps piling up deeper & deeper…
Folks, this is our Department of Justice! You know, the one that stays apolitical to ensure ‘liberty and justice for all’.
Will we have to change the pledge of allegiance now? Suggestions?
How about ‘I pledge allegiance to my Party, not the United States of America. One Nation, we are God, with liberty and justice for all those who voted for the President’.
Constitution is next…
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:35 amWhat, Republicans screw pregnant women for political gain? That’s a new one.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:35 amTom 3,
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:38 amYou’re onto something…
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=10895
OT, but a goodie:
http://www.dailykos.com/ storyonly/ 2006/ 7/ 31/ 155532/ 359
The Bush joking about WMD. A classic.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:38 amI believe the tipping point has been reached to where justice will prevail, and the criminal neo-con right is soon to be spinning down the drain.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:40 amI shudder to think what could have happened had the Democrats not regained control of the legislature last November.
Even the Republican commitee chairs who sat and did no oversight and no investigation must feel pretty… sheepish…. right about now.
They made the announcement the same week she had the babies?!?
Does it seem to anyone else that they were waiting for her to give birth to go ahead and get rid of Cummins and replace him with their own boy?
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:40 amRemember, today is “National Prayer Day”, a fake holiday set up by Focus on the Family’s James Dobson.
Focus on your own damn family, Dobson. I bet your sons are still traumatized from having to take showers with you, you pervert.
If you’re not a good fundy Christian, your attendance at National Prayer Day is not desired. Their website says so. Non-Christians not invited.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:41 amZooey, I believe you are referring to what Thomas Jefferson was talking about, the right to bear arms.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:44 amI was talking about post #9.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:46 am#7 and #12, another good article about what’s going on:
Fascist America, in 10 easy steps
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:49 amhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2064157,00.html
Shouldn’t that be the Right to Bear Children? Women shouldn’t be punished just because they’re the only ones with wombs.
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:52 amZooey, I believe you are referring to what Thomas Jefferson was talking about, the right to bear arms.
Comment by the Lone Voice of Reason
We do have the right. I just hope it doesn’t come to that.
May 3rd, 2007 at 11:05 amthe family values party strikes again!
May 3rd, 2007 at 11:21 amWhenever you have sexually repressed individuals in power, crazy shit will happen.
The only thing Karl Rove hates more than democrats is women.
May 3rd, 2007 at 12:07 pmI’m so unimpressed that the DoJ’s own spokesperson would cite pregnancy as an excuse not to promote someone. It indicates a fascinating lack of familiarty with the law.
May 3rd, 2007 at 12:15 pmSue for discrimination!
May 3rd, 2007 at 12:25 pmIs anyone else getting scandal fatigue? I can’t even keep up with all of the illegal and immoral shit that comes out of this administration.
May 3rd, 2007 at 2:06 pmI do have to hand it to the hard working committee chairmen and women in Congress, they are doing a heroic job of catching up on 6 years worth of corruption.
May 3rd, 2007 at 2:24 pmIt’s unfortunate that bringing to justice the corrupt bush/chainee regime requires so much time and energy, while health, environment, education and economic issues go by the wayside.
“The only thing Karl Rove hates more than democrats is women.”
The only thing KKKarl hates more than Democrats and women is himself. That’s why he needs male prostitutes to give him discipline.
May 3rd, 2007 at 4:20 pmMark Pryor is a Democrat from AR.
May 3rd, 2007 at 4:21 pm“Alaska Senators are Barb Merkowski and Ted “Bridge To Nowhere†Stevens, both Repukes.”
Or, as the rest of us say, LISA MURkowski, and Ted “Bridge To Nowhere and I’ll throw a tantrum on the floor of the Senate if I don’t get it†Stevens.
The Repuke part is OK, though…
May 3rd, 2007 at 5:15 pmSaddam is alive and well in the form of one George W. Bush.
Welcome to the new Baath Party: the Republican Party.
May 3rd, 2007 at 5:35 pmGriffin may not be pregnant-it’s because he’s a clone - Have you ever noticed that Rove, Griffin and even Sampson look like clones of Rush Limbaugh? Same body types, same pudgy hairless faces. Maybe their vitriol comes from low testosterone!
May 3rd, 2007 at 6:09 pmPryor is (D) not (R).
May 4th, 2007 at 1:12 amI was born and raised in Alaska, Tom3 and Rich Miles, and believe me there are also lots of literate and (super-literate) non-repukes “up there.” There is an active community of democrats, progressives, evironmentalists, etc., scattered throughout the state and on every level of government. just because you didn’t meet any when visiting doesn’t mean they don’t exist, they’re just not as organized or vocal as the others. If you’d pull your head out of your misinformed tuckus, maybe you’d notice things like that. That, and the spelling of our esteemed nepotism-challenged junior Senator. Also, as someone who also spent time with the native populations, Northern Exposure is pretty much right on the money. At least as much as the West Wing.
May 4th, 2007 at 6:23 amLaws?? We don’t need no steenking laws!!
May 4th, 2007 at 12:02 pmWhat is that running down his chin?
May 4th, 2007 at 9:23 pmPut the democrats back in power for a while, I want to read all about how corrupt they are for a change…
That is all that happens, the party in charge sucks up all the money they can get..
May 21st, 2007 at 1:08 am