On April 23, the Senate unanimously approved the Inspector General Reform Act (S. 2324), a bill meant to enhance the independence of federal agency watchdogs.

Yet it passed only after Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) inserted a little-noticed amendment to water down the bill. His amendment deleted a provision giving the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) jurisdiction to investigate misconduct amongst senior officials. The National Law Journal reports:

Unlike all other OIGs who can investigate misconduct within their entire agency, Justice’s OIG must refer allegations against department attorneys to the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). The latter office, unlike the OIG, is not statutorily independent and reports directly to the attorney general and the deputy attorney general.

In October, the House passed a similar IG bill, except that it eliminated the requirement that the Justice Department’s IG refer misconduct allegations to OPR. The White House had threatened to veto the House bill, and the Kyl amendment “was seen by many as a vehicle for the White House’s objections.”

In the past, the White House has repeatedly used OPR to block investigations. Last year, then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales directed OPR to investigate the U.S. attorney scandal, even though it would face a conflict-of-interest by having to look into its two bosses — the attorney general and the deputy attorney general. Justice Department IG Glenn Fine objected, and eventually a joint OPR-OIG investigation was conducted.

More significantly, President Bush personally stepped in and blocked OPR from investigating the administration’s wiretapping program in 2006. CBS News reported:

The memos from OPR chief H. Marshall Jarrett to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, in February, March and April of this year show that while Gonzales publicly told the Senate that OPR was investigating, Jarrett was complaining to higher-ups that he was “unable to move forward” because of the lack of security clearances for himself and six staff members.

At the time, Gonzales attempted to defend the stonewalling, stating, “The president of the United States makes decisions about who is ultimately given access.” This rationale is precisely why IGs, who are statutorily independent, need the power to investigate misconduct.

In an interview with the New York Daily News, the former top U.S. commander in Iraq, retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, said former NYC Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik’s efforts to train Iraqi police in 2003 were “a waste of time and effort.” Kerik, who was once nominated by President Bush to be the Secretary of Homeland Security, served as the interim minister of interior in Iraq for roughly 90 days. During that time, Sanchez said Kerik focused more on “conducting raids and liberating prostitutes” than training the Iraqis. Sanchez himself has also been criticized for his performance in Iraq, especially his handling of the Abu Ghraib scandal. (HT: TPMmuckraker)

On Friday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) raised eyebrows when he implied that the U.S. invaded Iraq for oil by saying at a townhall meeting that his plan for energy independence would “prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.” Later in the day, McCain stumbled while trying to clarify his comment by claiming he was talking about the first Gulf War.

Ironically, one of McCain’s biggest supporters, fellow Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl (R) implicitly criticizes McCain today in a column attacking lawmakers who want Iraq to pay for more of its reconstruction with oil revenues, writing that “we must never make it appear as if we went into Iraq for its oil“:

It’s one thing to ensure that the Iraqis continue to shoulder more of the burden; it’s quite another to punish our troops if Iraq falters in its efforts. And we must never make it appear as if we went into Iraq for its oil.

At a press conference in Arizona today, McCain tried to recalibrate his oil remarks again, this time saying he will make sure that “dependence” on oil “will never be the source or any reason for us to be in a conflict in the Middle East.” Watch it:

As ThinkProgress noted on Friday, McCain’s comments echo the words of former Fed Chief Alan Greenspan, who wrote in his memoir that he is “saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.”

Llewellyn Werner, chairman of C3, a Los Angeles-based holding company for private equity firms, is pouring millions of dollars into developing the “Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience.” In pitching his Disneyland idea to a deputy Baghdad mayor, Werner – displaying little sense for Iraqi culture – said the waterpark is “integral to the sex appeal” of the new amusement center. Speaking in deliberately slow English, Werner told the Iraqis, “One of the fastest growing sports in the world is skate…boarding.” NPR’s Eric Westervelt reported:

After explaining skate…boarding, Werner tells the assembled Iraqi business and government men, “I’m a businessman. I’m not here because I think you’re nice people. I think there’s money to be made here.”

Listen here:

Today, Rush Limbaugh appeared on Fox News to discuss to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) joke that he has a crush on her. Limbaugh responded with a story about how President Bill Clinton once allegedly tried to hit on his date. He said that Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was with Clinton, distracted him, because he wasn’t sure if Villaraigosa was a “shoe shine guy” or a “Secret Service agent”:

I understand now why Bill Clinton hit on my date about a year ago at the Kobe Club in New York. I was minding my own business and Clinton came in. And the short version is he used the mayor of Los Angeles to distract me, while hitting on my date. [...]

He came over three or four times, had Ron Burkle with him and the mayor of Los Angeles, who I thought was either the shoe shine guy or a Secret Service agent.

Watch it:

More here on Limbaugh’s knowledge of the “Spanish” people.

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