Like Goodling, Schlozman Politicized Hiring At Justice Dept’s Civil Rights Division
Like Goodling, Schlozman Politicized Hiring At Justice Dept’s Civil Rights Division
During her testimony before the House Judiciary Committee last week, former Gonzales aide Monica Goodling admitted that she had “crossed the lines” of the law by screening the political backgrounds of applicants for non-political jobs at the Justice Department. Yesterday, the DoJ announced that it was expanding its investigation of Goodling’s partisan hiring practices to include “scrutiny of hiring in the Civil Rights Division, which oversees voting rights.”
A central figure in the expanded probe is Bradley Schlozman, a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division currently serving in the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. He is set to appear next Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Schlozman is reported to have repeatedly inquired about applicants’ political affiliations:
However, former employees of the division’s Voting Rights Section, whose decisions can affect the outcome of elections, told McClatchy that eight lawyers had been hired there since 2004 largely because of their Republican or conservative connections.
Two former department lawyers said that when they’d applied for jobs elsewhere in the division in early 2005, Schlozman had asked them to delete mention on their resumes of Republican affiliations and resubmit them. Both attorneys were hired.
One of them, Ty Clevenger, said Schlozman “wanted to make it look like it was apolitical.” Clevenger also said that when he’d passed along a resume from a fellow Stanford University Law School graduate, Schlozman had asked, “Is he one of us?”
Additionally, “half of the 14 career lawyers hired under Schlozman were members of the conservative Federalist Society or the Republican National Lawyers Association, up from none among the eight career hires in the previous two years” while “the average US News & World Report ranking of the law school attended by new career lawyers plunged from 15 to 65.”
While serving in the Civil Rights Division, Schlozman appears to have put ideological loyalty above prosecutorial ability. His upcoming appearance before Congress should shed more light on just how deeply he politicized the division.
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What do minorities know about civil rights anyway?
May 31st, 2007 at 3:29 pmThe Bush Administration: Turning Justice into “Just Us,” since 2001.
May 31st, 2007 at 3:32 pmcan’t wait to watch this slime ball fry on Tuesday!
Im sure he has the I can’t recall what I forgot to remember syndrome too.
May 31st, 2007 at 3:32 pmHo hum, the smoking gun will be turned over to Alberto for prosecution.
May 31st, 2007 at 3:36 pmYes, we’d like more political hacks from lousy law schools working to enforce civil wrongs. Or something. I can ‘t remember.
May 31st, 2007 at 3:36 pmSo!!! What is going to happen here with this crap. The out CIA agents, steal, lie a country into war on and on and what happens?
May 31st, 2007 at 3:38 pmIsn’t “politicized hiring” from this regime pretty much standard operating procedure now? I mean, it’s not like it’s news.
May 31st, 2007 at 3:40 pm“Is he one of us?” What are these, the pod people?
Cheers.
May 31st, 2007 at 3:52 pmI don’t think considering a “U.S. News” college ranking should be a factor in hiring somebody. That’s a partisan system all on its own. U.S. News rankings have been criticized, and smart students can go anywhere, not just brand-name schools.
May 31st, 2007 at 3:57 pm“Schlozman had asked, “Is he one of us?—
“one of us! one of us!” —”Freaks”
May 31st, 2007 at 3:58 pmIsn’t this from that Star Trek episode?
Are you of the body?
Landru, help us!
May 31st, 2007 at 4:00 pmWhen you have a face that looks like an Anus, political affiliation means something.
Talk about a pie hole! Is this who’s been blowing KKKarl?
JAKE!? Do you know anything about this? It looks like someplace you’ve visited.
Q: Why can’t Neocons grow facial hair?
May 31st, 2007 at 4:04 pmA: Same reason they can’t serve; they have no balls.
Right you are, Patrick1! The minorities just want special rights so they can be like us.
This Schlozman fellow sounds Jewish, but he may be useful for now.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:10 pmSchlozman had asked, “Is he one of us?â€
“the average US News & World Report ranking of the law school attended by new career lawyers plunged from 15 to 65.â€
I guess “one of us” means not one of the best and brightest.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:10 pmThis is getting nastier and nastier. But, none of it surprises me. The Republics seem to have some sense of ownership of our government and the country. Since the Republics are mostly represented by corporate interests, they have pretty much made this country into the United Corporations of America.
To all you remaining Republics out there. Do you really want to encourage this kind of thinking and behavior? What would you be saying/doing now if this was being done by a Democratic President? You really don’t need to answer that question because I know the answer. If you yelled as loud as you did over a blow job, I can’t imagine how loud you would be yelling about a Democratic takeover of our government and our country.
Anyone who has any morals and ethics who can still say they are a Republic needs to think long and hard about their loyalty.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:10 pmWill he cave? Will he be Alexander “Oval Office Tapes” Butterfield? Sooner or later one of these clowns has got to decide to save his own skin.
James K. Sayre – not pod people – the Borg.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:13 pmSo:
1. he knew it was wrong since he tried to hide it
2. they came from inferior schools, but had the right friends
Wow. So much for conservatism. Now it’s just who you know. I wonder how long it will take the trailer park to find out?
May 31st, 2007 at 4:16 pm.
Right you are, Patrick1! The minorities just want special rights so they can be like us.
This Schlozman fellow sounds Jewish, but he may be useful for now.
Comment by Jake — May 31, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
Special rights – like you? A dim witted clod that would never have gotten anywhere in life without “white man’s welfare”? BAHAHAHAA, yeah, sure son!
Just for the record, a bag of sh*t is smarter than Jake!
May 31st, 2007 at 4:18 pmThey can tell if someone is one of them by looking at them. If they aren’t, they point and scream.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:29 pmJAKE!
May 31st, 2007 at 4:33 pmYou haven’t answered my question yet.
this is all about the fact they have always been misfits and dorks who weren’t very smart nor could they fit in or get a date
cheating to win elections, what a bunch of WIMPS
they can’t win fair, so they stack the deck in their favor and steal votes
even THEN they couldn’t win and we took back the House
barely!
May 31st, 2007 at 4:34 pmYou know, this is good stuff. They’ve got enough material on most of the ring-leaders that we can pronounce them all GUILTY AS CHARGED.
So now becomes the question: What are they going to DO once all this is out in the open? Who loses their job? Who does jail time? Are they going to reinstate the attorneys that were fired? What exactly do we get out of this?
May 31st, 2007 at 4:34 pmswordsbane,
it’s coming and it will include jail time.
I know the waiting is agonizing but the wheels of justice move slowly
bit by bit they are doggedly wrapping the noose tighter and tighter, starting at the bottom and working their way up all the way to the sociopath in the Oval Office
May 31st, 2007 at 4:42 pmWhen I look at pictures of this guy and Monica Goodling, I see two people who were so happy they had a job for which they were grossly underqualified.
In her testimony, it appeared to me that Monica was only sorry that she got caught doing what she knew was wrong, but was blinded by her loyalty to the Chimp and the GOP.
I can’t wait to see what this chump has to say for himself on Tuesday.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:51 pm“all the way to the sociopath in the Oval Office”
While I really love the idea of Bush having to face jail time, I seriously doubt he will even face impeachment. If anyone seriously thinks he’ll get more than a “You’ll never work in this town again” admonishment from the Democrats, I have a bridge to sell you. Even Alberto has to resign or the president fire him (which is a polite way of saying “please resign before I have to humiliate you”) I doubt Gonzo will serve time either. Those two are the ones most directly responsible for this. Gonzo because the Justice department is his responsibility, never mind all that crap about “I didn’t know what was going on right under my nose” and Bush is responsible because he picked Gonzo and in all likelyhood he came to Gonzo with the firing plan in the first place, or worse it was standing orders after they slipped in that law that took away congressional confirmation.
The rest of them could honestly take the position that they were following orders, but Gonzo and the Shrub were the instigators, and if by some miracle neither of them knew anything about this, then at least Gonzo is guilty of grave stupidity because it’s his JOB to know what’s going on in the Justice Department.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:54 pmdoes anybody figure the appointment of administrative law judges over at social security might have been corrupted too?
seems like the petitioner’s attorneys are being made to jump through hoops for their disabled clients, who are still turned down because the judges don’t even know or abide by the law.
there are literally thousands of cases backed up in appeals courts around the country.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:55 pmOf the many revelations in the DoJ scandal, this one seems the least impressive.
OK, so the number of new hires with Republican affiliations went from 0 to half.
So what? In a Republican administration, I would expect a certain number of Republican new hires. Why wasn’t there something wrong with the process when it produced zero Republican hires?
May 31st, 2007 at 4:56 pmFluffy, you’re missing the point. It’s not if the hires were 0 or all Republicans, it’s if they were appointed BECAUSE they were Repulicans, instead of for their qualifications.
May 31st, 2007 at 5:04 pmHe may be an evil, corrupt little future felon, but there’s no reason to Photoshop his smile like that to make him look like the “We love the moon” Quiznos ad characters.
May 31st, 2007 at 5:08 pmswordsbane
I see one big glaring problem we have, even though we finally have a majority now is that people are so jaded by years and years of the “do nothings” getting away with their criminal activity that they have lost faith in Justice. I know they feel that way for good reason BUT we have to keep up the pressure, and SUPPORT them. They have a mountain of evidence we are unaware of to date but the system has this long drawn out process they have to utilize.
May 31st, 2007 at 6:10 pmI know the frustration is palpable but they are doing it RIGHT. Many of them still feel the sting of what happened with Iran Contra and they do not want that to happen again, they are being thorough as possible.
Everyone is so disappointed that we had to capitulate on Iraq but they had NO CHOICE, they did not have the votes.
keep the faith, believe in our Justice system and be involved and vocal. We WILL get results.
keep the faith, believe in our Justice system and be involved and vocal. We WILL get results.
Comment by justice — May 31, 2007 @ 6:10 pm
No you won’t. You will keep losing, while real Americans, here in the heartland, win the war of freedom against terror. Liberals and democrats are terrorists because they do not support our president in time of war.
May 31st, 2007 at 6:22 pmBetter: Conservatives and Republicans are terrorists because they do not support our country in time of takeover by extremistse — xtremists who corrupt the justice system, piss on the Constitution, and bankrupt the country and weaken the military to advance bin Laden’s goals.
May 31st, 2007 at 6:30 pmHey Gary, it’s not a time of WAR. It’s a period of OCCUPATION in a hostile land, and it is not supported by the majority of real Americans in the heartland.
And I live in the heart of it all.
May 31st, 2007 at 6:33 pmPeople like Gary will always go to the disparagement of presumed loyalty because they have nothing else to offer. I have heard this all too often. I was one of the last Draftees during the Vietnam was. I chose to enlist instead and served my time honorably. However, becase I oppose this criminal was, I have endured the questioning of my patriotism by many non-serving friends and acquaintances. It has nearly come to violence on a couple of occasions. People like Gary make me sick. He thinks he gets to define what a “real American” is. I smell a chickenhawk. If you are so for it, get your butt into the military now and do your part. The guys I served with would have slapped you back to podunk.
May 31st, 2007 at 7:10 pm2006 Missouri’s election was ground zero for GOP
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/17168196.htm?source=rss&channel=krwashington_nation
Missouri attorney a focus in firings
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/05/06/missouri_attorney_a_focus_in_firings/?page=full
GOP sought to suppress votes in Missouri, critics say
May 31st, 2007 at 7:14 pmhttp://www.kansascity.com/115/story/94097.html
No you won’t. You will keep losing, while real Americans, here in the heartland, win the war of freedom against terror. Liberals and democrats are terrorists because they do not support our president in time of war.
Comment by Gary Ruppert — May 31, 2007 @ 6:22 pm
Then why are you traitors, and support us occupying our “friends” in Iraq, while Osama goes free – TRAITOR?
May 31st, 2007 at 7:33 pmScholzman…hum…sounds like one of those minorities we don’t want….yeah, might be a likud party member…we dont want any of those in the division…might have some foreign ideas…and are they really amerkun enuff?
May 31st, 2007 at 8:43 pmTurn that fat face on its’ side and it looks an awful lot like a p***y. He must have been popular in the College Republi-SCUM.
May 31st, 2007 at 10:13 pmwhile “the average US News & World Report ranking of the law school attended by new career lawyers plunged from 15 to 65.â€
I wonder how much of that “plunge” is attributable to the infusion of Regent Law grads. Probably plenty.
Tuesday, eh? (/burns)
Pass the popcorn.
May 31st, 2007 at 11:20 pmfox, meet hen house.
June 1st, 2007 at 1:58 pm