DoJ has been a ‘political arm of the White House’

June 11, 2007

Perhaps I can offer one last news item before the Senate takes up its no-confidence resolution regarding Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. If anyone in the chamber is still undecided, they may want to consider the perspective of a former senior Justice Department official who came forward to say Gonzales has run the department like “a political arm of the White House.”

Daniel J. Metcalfe, the former director of the Justice Department’s Office of Information and Privacy, said he resigned in January because he could no longer tolerate the “sheer political expediency, avoidance of individual responsibility, defensive personal aggrandizement, irresponsible ‘consensus’ decision-making (and) disregard for longstanding practices and principles.”

And that was before the controversy erupted over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys last year.

Metcalfe, who worked for the department during the Nixon administration’s infamous “Saturday night massacre,” said the dismissals had been handled like nothing he has ever seen before.

“I think the way in which the firings themselves were handled was abominable, the way in which the ensuing controversy was handled was abysmal, and the way in which Gonzales has handled himself is absolutely appalling,” Metcalfe said. “As a long-term Justice Department official, I am embarrassed and increasingly incensed that he is still in there.”

Everyone in the Senate chamber, regardless of party or intellect, knows that Metcalfe’s perspective is a) accurate; b) frightening; and c) common among career officials at the DoJ. To vote against the no-confidence resolution is to endorse the indefensible status quo.

For what it’s worth, we already know one high-profile Senate Republican will be voting with the Dems on the resolution.

The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Monday he will vote for a no-confidence resolution against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he’s concerned like others in his party that the resolution, sponsored by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and up for a test vote later in the day, was a Democratic effort to embarrass Bush and push Gonzales to resign.

But Specter has long said that Gonzales has exercised poor leadership on a host of issues, from the firings of eight federal prosecutors to the Justice Department’s handling of wiretapping authority under the USA Patriot Act.

“If you ask Arlen Specter, do I have confidence in Attorney General Gonzales, the answer is a resounding no,” Specter said during a news conference in Philadelphia. “I’m going to vote that I have no confidence in Attorney General Gonzales.”

Will Specter be the only Republican breaking ranks? I seriously doubt it. Will it be enough to overcome the GOP’s obstructionist tactics? Unfortunately, I doubt that, too.

“If all senators who have actually lost confidence in Attorney General Gonzales voted their conscience, this vote would be unanimous,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. “We will soon see where people’s loyalties lie.”

We sure will.

Schumer is so right. The main problem with the Democrats is that they vote with their mind and beliefs, not with their party. It’s their strength and their weakness. The Republicans seem much better at following the leader.

  • Um, this is the so-called Arlen Specter we are talking about here, the man who said the MCA with its habeus stripping provisions was morally indefensible, and then voted for it. Just like always, he will always talk tough and then vote exactly how the Bush administration wants him to

  • I won’t hold my breath for Specter, who has been pretty vocal all along that this is up to the president, not him. He’ll probably vote against it and then say that his “yes” vote in committee was because he wanted it to get a full Senate vote.

    I really have no respect for the man.

  • Dems keep making the point with their ongoing efforts (although blocked) by letting Republicans make it clear to voters.
    The only way to get change in 08 is to remove more Republicans.

  • Specter has always talked tough, and then acquiesced to the will (the pleasure, if you will) of his president.

    But I think he’s a man of his word. Let me rephrase that. I think HE THINKS he’s a man of his word. He’s always parsed his [hrases and bitten his tongue by saying things along the lines of “I’m bitterly disappointed, but ultimately, I have to give the President the benefit of the doubt and hope he’s right.” For him to say “I WILL vote that I have no confidence in Gonzales,” and then not vote that way has the potential to bite him in the ass far worse than keeping his word.

  • Like everyone else, I’ll believe Specter’s a man of his word when I finally see it, not before. And I agree that the Dems need to keep this stuff up. The fact that they didn’t on the Iraq appropriation has already cost them significant support. (I understand that they probably would never had had the necessary votes for passage, but they should have tried a few more times anyway, just to make the point that it’s the GOP’s war.)

  • The public who has been paying attention to this whole fiasco have no confidence in Gonzales. Anyone watching him on TV quickly saw what a joke he is. The Senate is just voicing what we already know. Congress has enough evidence to impeach Gonzales if they wanted to but they want to use him to win elections and to discover more corruption in the WH but they don’t plan to “do” anything about it.

    Republican senators voting against the no confidence vote do so at their own peril especially those that face reelection in ’08 because the voting public already lost confidence and would view it as an approval of incompetence and criminality.

    But why should Bush care? To him it’s “mission accomplished “, a mostly Republican DoJ, including judges, loyal to the party rather than the law, which has allowed Bush to get away with anything, including stealing elections.

  • Well, at least this whole mess has derailed Bush’s desire to put this hack (Gonzales) on the Supreme Court.

  • Votes like this point out the hypocrisy of Republicans who pretend to run away from Bush, but, when push comes to shove, toe the party line at every opportunity. Bush is not an isolated individual but representative of the party itself. That’s what Dems need to pound into voters heads between now and November 08. Republicans place party before country.

  • What’s it gonna look like when the government starts losing cases in Federal Court due to “politicization” “neglect” and “malfeasance”, not to mention Regent U incompetence.

  • […] Gonzales has run the department like “a political arm of the White House.”

    Is there anyone “out there” still, who claims that the White House is incompetent? They’re competent enough to get what they want, when they put their mind and will to it…

  • Sure, Gonzo is an embarrassment, but the Democrats had the gall to suggest that the Congress ought to officially take notice. (Not to actually DO anything about it, just go on record as having noticed that he’s pathetic and nobody trusts him.) Of course Republicans could never be part of something so crass and partisan as that, so they blocked it.

  • Republicans may have voted with Dems but then there is Lieberman. I think he just votes this way as a way of stick his tongue out to the left.

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