White House emails

[link|http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/17062558.htm|McClatchy] (via [link|http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/|TPMM]):

WASHINGTON - In his day job, Christian Adams writes legal briefs for the voting rights section of the Justice Department, a job that requires a nonpartisan approach.

Off the clock, Adams belongs to the Republican National Lawyers Association, a group that trains hundreds of Republican lawyers to monitor elections and pushes for confirmation of conservative nominees for federal judgeships.

Vice President Dick Cheney credited the 3,000-member association in 2005 with helping the Republicans win the previous two presidential elections. Last year, President Bush's political adviser Karl Rove shared with the group his insights on winning elections in key battleground states. At a conference the association organized last month, speakers called the controversy over whether eight U.S. attorneys had been fired for partisan political reasons "farcical" and "ridiculous."

According to the group's Web site, Adams is one of dozens of Bush administration appointees or civil servants who are members, including at least 25 in the Justice Department, nine in the Department of Defense and others in the Labor and Commerce departments, the White House and the Office of Special Counsel, which oversees investigations into allegations of ethical misconduct by government employees.

[...]

While government employees are permitted to be members of political organizations, the prominent listings on the Republican National Lawyers Association's Web site strike some current and former Justice Department lawyers as inappropriate, especially given that several members of the group work in the Justice Department's voting section, criminal division or as assistant U.S. attorneys.

Lawyers in those jobs are supposed to be especially careful to avoid the appearance of partisanship, because of the sensitive political nature of the cases they may handle, including voting access lawsuits and public corruption cases.

Justice Department officials deny any improper politicization, but after McClatchy Newspapers contacted Adams, his affiliation with the Justice Department was removed from his listing on the association's Web site. He declined to comment.

The work phone number, e-mail address and biography of counterterrorism adviser Frances Fragos Townsend also were removed at her request after McClatchy contacted the White House.

[...]

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said membership in the lawyers' group was allowed under department policy and under the federal Hatch Act, which governs executive branch employees, so long as it didn't "conflict substantially with the performance of his or her duties as a department employee."

But Roehrkasse said employees couldn't use government resources for partisan political activity, and "if we learn that an employee's work number or e-mail is listed on a partisan Web site, the employee will be advised to contact the organization and have this contact information removed."

[...]

There's little doubt that NRLA is an arm of the Republican party, at least from a straight-forward reading of their [link|http://www.rnla.org/Members/Application.asp|application]. As such, non-political government employees have no business listing their official contact information there.

The Bush administration has been so thoroughly politicized that every aspect of the Justice Department is suspect. These two revelations today are just another reflection of that.

Cheers,
Scott.

Post #281,448 by rcareaga 4/11/07 7:50:20 PM Reply	White House emails Comment would seem superfluous: WASHINGTON - The White House said Wednesday it had mishandled Republican Party-sponsored e-mail accounts used by nearly two dozen presidential aides, resulting in the loss of an undetermined number of e-mails concerning official White House business. [link\|http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/17062173.htm\|More here.] cordially, Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist.
Post #281,449 by JayMehaffey 4/11/07 7:56:57 PM Reply	Excellent Now we know there was some incriminating evidence in them. Jay
Post #281,452 by Silverlock 4/11/07 8:05:23 PM Reply	Move fast. Seize the servers. It's doubtful they thought of everything in their drive shredding orgy. ----------------------------------------- You can fire an at will employee for good cause or no cause, but not bad cause.
Post #281,457 by Simon_Jester 4/11/07 9:08:34 PM Reply	More importantly.... those "outside the offical channel emails" might not be covered by Executive Priviledge.
Post #281,459 by bepatient 4/11/07 9:11:09 PM Reply	More likely none of the emails will qualify. Doesn't stop them from trying though...and delaying the process. Too much of today's music is fashionable crap dressed as artistry._{Adrian Belew}
Post #281,468 by boxley 4/11/07 10:01:26 PM Reply	are they still using gore's servers? you think they might have fixed them since then. thanx, bill Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 51 years. meep reach me at [link\|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net\|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net]
Post #281,471 by Another Scott 4/11/07 10:43:00 PM Reply	But wait, there's more! [link\|http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/17062558.htm\|McClatchy] (via [link\|http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/\|TPMM]): WASHINGTON - In his day job, Christian Adams writes legal briefs for the voting rights section of the Justice Department, a job that requires a nonpartisan approach. Off the clock, Adams belongs to the Republican National Lawyers Association, a group that trains hundreds of Republican lawyers to monitor elections and pushes for confirmation of conservative nominees for federal judgeships. Vice President Dick Cheney credited the 3,000-member association in 2005 with helping the Republicans win the previous two presidential elections. Last year, President Bush's political adviser Karl Rove shared with the group his insights on winning elections in key battleground states. At a conference the association organized last month, speakers called the controversy over whether eight U.S. attorneys had been fired for partisan political reasons "farcical" and "ridiculous." According to the group's Web site, Adams is one of dozens of Bush administration appointees or civil servants who are members, including at least 25 in the Justice Department, nine in the Department of Defense and others in the Labor and Commerce departments, the White House and the Office of Special Counsel, which oversees investigations into allegations of ethical misconduct by government employees. [...] While government employees are permitted to be members of political organizations, the prominent listings on the Republican National Lawyers Association's Web site strike some current and former Justice Department lawyers as inappropriate, especially given that several members of the group work in the Justice Department's voting section, criminal division or as assistant U.S. attorneys. Lawyers in those jobs are supposed to be especially careful to avoid the appearance of partisanship, because of the sensitive political nature of the cases they may handle, including voting access lawsuits and public corruption cases. Justice Department officials deny any improper politicization, but after McClatchy Newspapers contacted Adams, his affiliation with the Justice Department was removed from his listing on the association's Web site. He declined to comment. The work phone number, e-mail address and biography of counterterrorism adviser Frances Fragos Townsend also were removed at her request after McClatchy contacted the White House. [...] Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said membership in the lawyers' group was allowed under department policy and under the federal Hatch Act, which governs executive branch employees, so long as it didn't "conflict substantially with the performance of his or her duties as a department employee." But Roehrkasse said employees couldn't use government resources for partisan political activity, and "if we learn that an employee's work number or e-mail is listed on a partisan Web site, the employee will be advised to contact the organization and have this contact information removed." [...] There's little doubt that NRLA is an arm of the Republican party, at least from a straight-forward reading of their [link\|http://www.rnla.org/Members/Application.asp\|application]. As such, non-political government employees have no business listing their official contact information there. The Bush administration has been so thoroughly politicized that every aspect of the Justice Department is suspect. These two revelations today are just another reflection of that. Cheers, Scott.
Post #281,669 by Ashton 4/13/07 4:05:25 AM Reply	Nicely documented - but 'pervasive' seems the operative word Just think: they've had 2282 days in which (each new investigation suggests) they have been subverting the Constitution in ways already demonstrated + all that "stuff we do not Know that we do not know.") And there's a further ~640 days in which to intensify, shred, revise and otherwise camouflage the persiflage via decoupage... Unless our 'representatives' grow an inordinate number of New Spines. Odds?

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