Credit where credit is due. When Republican staffers were stealing documents from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and those documents started showing up in conservative media outlets, GOP lawmakers insisted that no one on their side had done anything wrong.
Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch (R), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dismissed any notion that Republicans could have stolen the documents.
“To have one or two of the Democrats start to scream that somebody stole [the memos]… is how they try to get around the criticism,” Hatch said. He added that he believed the information may have been leaked to the conservative press by a “conscience-stricken” Democratic staff member.
Since then, as it became obvious that GOP staffers did steal thousands of memos, there has been considerable debate within the Republican caucus as to how best to proceed. Democrats have been demanding a criminal investigation; the Republicans have resisted.
Until now. To their credit, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee apparently have reversed course and now acknowledge the need for a criminal probe.
The Washington Post said today that the lawmakers are “breaking ranks with conservative activists” who insist that a probe may paint the GOP in a negative light. (Why? Just because they’re stealing secret memos?)
Despite some expectations that the normally quarrelsome committee’s first public discussion of the investigation could set off political fireworks, [yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee] session was unusually harmonious, marked by bipartisan expressions of outrage over computer snooping.
“Conservatives who offer justification for this based on politics have missed the boat,” said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.). “As a conservative, it runs against my philosophy of what the law is all about.”
The investigation, conducted by Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William H. Pickle, should proceed “wherever it goes, and let the chips fall where they may,” said Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). “No senator can permit unethical behavior.”
“I don’t want my confidential files looked at by anyone else,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.).
Finally. A little common sense.