Posted on Sun, Mar. 18, 2007
U.S. attorney's firing may be connected to CIA corruption probe
By Margaret Talev and Marisa Taylor
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - Fired San Diego U.S. attorney Carol Lam notified the Justice Department that she intended to execute search warrants on a high-ranking CIA official as part of a corruption probe the day before a Justice Department official sent an e-mail that said Lam needed to be fired, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Sunday.
Feinstein, D-Calif., said the timing of the e-mail suggested that Lam's dismissal may have been connected to the corruption probe.
Story at the link.
http://tinyurl.com/yutpel
Firing U.S. Attorneys "Good Management"
-
Dardedar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 8193
- Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:18 pm
- Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0
- Location: Fayetteville
- Contact:
Sen. Schumer: “We do have evidence” Gonzales lied under oath
During his January 18, 2006 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Alberto Gonzales said this:
GONZALES: "I would never, ever make a change in a United States attorney position for political reasons or if it would, in any way, jeopardize an ongoing serious investigation. I just would not do it."
When asked on Meet the Press this morning if he "had any evidence that a U.S. attorney was removed and that removal jeopardized an ongoing investigation," Senator Schumer said he does and that the evidence is "becoming more and more overwhelming."
This is why the prosecutor purge is a genuine scandal. Not only is there clear evidence that the firings were unprecedented and purely politically-motivated, but Alberto Gonzales lied about it under oath and the White House keeps changing it's story. What conclusion can we draw from these lies and revisionisms other than they have something to hide? Namely, that these eight prosecutors were selectively fired because they did not sufficiently politicize their offices and succumb to pressure to do so, only later to be fired for "performance-related" reasons despite receiving exemplary evaluations.
LINK
During his January 18, 2006 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Alberto Gonzales said this:
GONZALES: "I would never, ever make a change in a United States attorney position for political reasons or if it would, in any way, jeopardize an ongoing serious investigation. I just would not do it."
When asked on Meet the Press this morning if he "had any evidence that a U.S. attorney was removed and that removal jeopardized an ongoing investigation," Senator Schumer said he does and that the evidence is "becoming more and more overwhelming."
This is why the prosecutor purge is a genuine scandal. Not only is there clear evidence that the firings were unprecedented and purely politically-motivated, but Alberto Gonzales lied about it under oath and the White House keeps changing it's story. What conclusion can we draw from these lies and revisionisms other than they have something to hide? Namely, that these eight prosecutors were selectively fired because they did not sufficiently politicize their offices and succumb to pressure to do so, only later to be fired for "performance-related" reasons despite receiving exemplary evaluations.
LINK
-
LaWood
Let's look a little deeper.
The U.S. Senator who first sounded off about the midterm
firings was none other than Mark Pryor, one of Bush's more
reliable butt-boys who hangs a "D" around his name for
mysterious reasons. He voted for the Torture Bill and renewal
of the Patriot Act obviously without reading it, again.
But why is Mark upset? It's re election time. Why have a Rove
operative [Griffin] sitting in your guest room during re election time?
Pryor's 85% pro Bush voting record bought him NO loyalty.
They want a 100%er wingnut. Who knows who may have been
Mark Pryor's opposition. Ex Rev Guv Huckabuck was rumored,
especially since his Prez campaign cannot generate over a 1%
victory in any poll.
One thing's for sure Pryor doesn't want Griffin's dirty tricks done
on his election nor did he wish to be avoided when it came to
choosing USA who may run for office against Bush's other Ark
ho, Miss Blanche.
The U.S. Senator who first sounded off about the midterm
firings was none other than Mark Pryor, one of Bush's more
reliable butt-boys who hangs a "D" around his name for
mysterious reasons. He voted for the Torture Bill and renewal
of the Patriot Act obviously without reading it, again.
But why is Mark upset? It's re election time. Why have a Rove
operative [Griffin] sitting in your guest room during re election time?
Pryor's 85% pro Bush voting record bought him NO loyalty.
They want a 100%er wingnut. Who knows who may have been
Mark Pryor's opposition. Ex Rev Guv Huckabuck was rumored,
especially since his Prez campaign cannot generate over a 1%
victory in any poll.
One thing's for sure Pryor doesn't want Griffin's dirty tricks done
on his election nor did he wish to be avoided when it came to
choosing USA who may run for office against Bush's other Ark
ho, Miss Blanche.
-
LaWood
>Huckabuck... his Prez campaign cannot generate over a 1% victory in any poll.<
Bad, poor syntax on my part. Should have been his campaign cannot generate over 1% approval in any poll. Forget victory.
_
BTW anyone gone over to Lonely Hearts Club aka NWApolitics? last post was
7 weeks ago. What bunch of delirious losers. But look at the leader!
_
Bad, poor syntax on my part. Should have been his campaign cannot generate over 1% approval in any poll. Forget victory.
_
BTW anyone gone over to Lonely Hearts Club aka NWApolitics? last post was
7 weeks ago. What bunch of delirious losers. But look at the leader!
_
-
Dardedar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 8193
- Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:18 pm
- Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0
- Location: Fayetteville
- Contact:
DAR
I wonder why this part of the sordid story hasn't blown up more.
I wonder why this part of the sordid story hasn't blown up more.
-
LaWood
Clinton did it too
DAR
What's so implicity ridiculous with this new wingnut argument is that
they are now setting standards based upon what Bill Clinton did.
That is so rich.
_
What's so implicity ridiculous with this new wingnut argument is that
they are now setting standards based upon what Bill Clinton did.
That is so rich.
_
-
Barbara Fitzpatrick
- Posts: 2232
- Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:55 am
- Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0
Clinton didn't fire attorneys, even through 8 years of witchhunts, because he knew he hadn't done anything illegal and trusted the justice system to vindicate him. (The justice system did, the MSM still hasn't - so the wingnuts are still hauling out the "but Clinton" excuses.) Nobody likes being investigated, but people who have things to hide fire investigative attorneys (or hire them into private firms at megasalaries).
Barbara Fitzpatrick
-
Dardedar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 8193
- Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:18 pm
- Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0
- Location: Fayetteville
- Contact:
Passed along from LaWood:
***
Rep. Boozman (Rwingnut, AR) in on the U.S. attorney's firings and hirings-
In Arkansas, Representative John Boozman, the state’s highest ranking Republican in Congress, said he recommended Mr. Rove’s protégé, Mr. Griffin, for prosecutor vacancy in 2004, in part because of his ties to Mr. Rove.
A prosecutor in the Army Reserves, Mr. Griffin worked for Mr. Rove as an opposition researcher attacking Democratic presidential candidates in 2000. In between, for six months, the Justice Department had dispatched him to Arkansas to get experience as a prosecutor.
“I could tell that Karl thought highly of him,” Mr. Boozman recalled.
Mr. Griffin was out of the running in 2004 after accepting a campaign job
DAR
Hasn't Griffin turned out to be a crook, as in felon (election tampering or something)?
***
Rep. Boozman (Rwingnut, AR) in on the U.S. attorney's firings and hirings-
In Arkansas, Representative John Boozman, the state’s highest ranking Republican in Congress, said he recommended Mr. Rove’s protégé, Mr. Griffin, for prosecutor vacancy in 2004, in part because of his ties to Mr. Rove.
A prosecutor in the Army Reserves, Mr. Griffin worked for Mr. Rove as an opposition researcher attacking Democratic presidential candidates in 2000. In between, for six months, the Justice Department had dispatched him to Arkansas to get experience as a prosecutor.
“I could tell that Karl thought highly of him,” Mr. Boozman recalled.
Mr. Griffin was out of the running in 2004 after accepting a campaign job
DAR
Hasn't Griffin turned out to be a crook, as in felon (election tampering or something)?
-
Barbara Fitzpatrick
- Posts: 2232
- Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:55 am
- Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0
-
LaWood
U.S. Attorney Plot thickens..big time
"typical case of Bush Administration Attention Deficit Disorder—the competing scandals are coming in faster than the main stream media seems to want to address them.
Here’s one I’ll bet you’ve never even heard of: In 2005, The New York Times’ Eric Lichtblau broke the story of Department of Justice political appointee Associate Attorney General Robert D. McCallum’s intervention in a long-running tobacco case.
McCullum sought to reduce the fraud and racketeering penalties leveled against the tobacco industry from $130 billion to $10 billion. Mr. McCallum, No.3 at the department, is a close friend of President Bush from their days as Skull & Bones members at Yale, and he was also a partner at Alston & Bird, an Atlanta law firm that has done legal work for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, part of Reynolds American, a defendant in the case.
Fast forward to last week. With the new Congress vigorously exercising its oversight duties in response to Purgegate, Sharon Eubanks, the lead attorney in the tobacco industry case, finally spoke publicly with The Washington Post. She described how her superiors, including McCallum, ordered her to lower the penalty and even tried to change the testimony of government witnesses despite her protests. They even went so far as to change her court statements:
“The most stressful moment, Eubanks said, came when the three appointees ordered her to read word for word a closing argument they had rewritten. The statement explained the validity of seeking a $10 billion penalty. ‘I couldn't even look at the judge,’ she said.”
And then there’s the report, also from 2005, that DOJ political appointees overruled civil rights lawyers who found the infamous 2003 redistricting plan—remember the one that former Representative Tom Delay came up with?—violated the law. As with the administration’s Iraq policy, Iran policy, North Korea policy, tax policy, and environmental policy, there are too many scandals to keep straight.
But where’s the coverage? Glenn Greenwald at Salon calls attention to a remarkable segment from The Chris Matthews Show
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/ ... baadd.html
According to The Gallup Organization, 72 percent of Americans want Congress to investigate the White House’s involvement in the prosecutor scandal. Sixty-eight percent think that Congress should issue subpoenas to force testimony from administration officials.
Here’s one I’ll bet you’ve never even heard of: In 2005, The New York Times’ Eric Lichtblau broke the story of Department of Justice political appointee Associate Attorney General Robert D. McCallum’s intervention in a long-running tobacco case.
McCullum sought to reduce the fraud and racketeering penalties leveled against the tobacco industry from $130 billion to $10 billion. Mr. McCallum, No.3 at the department, is a close friend of President Bush from their days as Skull & Bones members at Yale, and he was also a partner at Alston & Bird, an Atlanta law firm that has done legal work for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, part of Reynolds American, a defendant in the case.
Fast forward to last week. With the new Congress vigorously exercising its oversight duties in response to Purgegate, Sharon Eubanks, the lead attorney in the tobacco industry case, finally spoke publicly with The Washington Post. She described how her superiors, including McCallum, ordered her to lower the penalty and even tried to change the testimony of government witnesses despite her protests. They even went so far as to change her court statements:
“The most stressful moment, Eubanks said, came when the three appointees ordered her to read word for word a closing argument they had rewritten. The statement explained the validity of seeking a $10 billion penalty. ‘I couldn't even look at the judge,’ she said.”
And then there’s the report, also from 2005, that DOJ political appointees overruled civil rights lawyers who found the infamous 2003 redistricting plan—remember the one that former Representative Tom Delay came up with?—violated the law. As with the administration’s Iraq policy, Iran policy, North Korea policy, tax policy, and environmental policy, there are too many scandals to keep straight.
But where’s the coverage? Glenn Greenwald at Salon calls attention to a remarkable segment from The Chris Matthews Show
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/ ... baadd.html
According to The Gallup Organization, 72 percent of Americans want Congress to investigate the White House’s involvement in the prosecutor scandal. Sixty-eight percent think that Congress should issue subpoenas to force testimony from administration officials.
-
Savonarola
- Mod@Large
- Posts: 1475
- Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 10:11 pm
- antispam: human non-spammer
- Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 50
- Location: NW Arkansas
-
Dardedar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 8193
- Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:18 pm
- Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0
- Location: Fayetteville
- Contact:
Monica Goodling, One of 150 Pat Robertson Cadres in the Bush Administration
By Max Blumenthal Fri Mar 30, 2007
Monica Goodling, a previously unknown Justice Department official who served as liaison to the White House, has become a key figure in the Attorneygate scandal. When newly released emails revealed the prominent role Goodling played in engineering the firing of seven US Attorneys, Goodling pled the Fifth Amendment, refusing to testify under oath....
Goodling's involvement in Attorneygate is not the only aspect of her role in the Bush administration that bears examination. Her membership in a cadre of 150 graduates of Pat Robertson's Regent University currently serving in the administration is another, equally revealing component of the White House's political program.
Goodling earned her law degree from Regent, an institution founded by Robertson "to produce Christian leaders who will make a difference, who will change the world." Helping to purge politically disloyal federal prosecutors is just one way Goodling has helped fulfill Robertson's revolutionary goals.
Regent has assiduously cultivated close ties to the administration and its Republican outriders. Gonzales's predecessor, John Ashcroft, is currently cooling his heels at Regent as the school's "Distinguished Professor of Law and Government." Christian right super-lawyer Jay Sekulow, who also teaches at Regent and shares a Washington office with Ashcroft, participated in regular briefings with the White House on court appointments....
When the Bush administration came into power, it looked to Regent for a reliable pool of well-groomed Republican ideologues eager to wage the culture war from the inside. The former dean of Regent's Robertson School of Government, Kay Coles James, was promptly installed as the Director of the Office of Personnel Management.
LINK
By Max Blumenthal Fri Mar 30, 2007
Monica Goodling, a previously unknown Justice Department official who served as liaison to the White House, has become a key figure in the Attorneygate scandal. When newly released emails revealed the prominent role Goodling played in engineering the firing of seven US Attorneys, Goodling pled the Fifth Amendment, refusing to testify under oath....
Goodling's involvement in Attorneygate is not the only aspect of her role in the Bush administration that bears examination. Her membership in a cadre of 150 graduates of Pat Robertson's Regent University currently serving in the administration is another, equally revealing component of the White House's political program.
Goodling earned her law degree from Regent, an institution founded by Robertson "to produce Christian leaders who will make a difference, who will change the world." Helping to purge politically disloyal federal prosecutors is just one way Goodling has helped fulfill Robertson's revolutionary goals.
Regent has assiduously cultivated close ties to the administration and its Republican outriders. Gonzales's predecessor, John Ashcroft, is currently cooling his heels at Regent as the school's "Distinguished Professor of Law and Government." Christian right super-lawyer Jay Sekulow, who also teaches at Regent and shares a Washington office with Ashcroft, participated in regular briefings with the White House on court appointments....
When the Bush administration came into power, it looked to Regent for a reliable pool of well-groomed Republican ideologues eager to wage the culture war from the inside. The former dean of Regent's Robertson School of Government, Kay Coles James, was promptly installed as the Director of the Office of Personnel Management.
LINK
-
Dardedar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 8193
- Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:18 pm
- Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0
- Location: Fayetteville
- Contact:
Prosecutor Posts Go to Bush Insiders
LINK
About one-third of the nearly four dozen US attorney's jobs that have
changed hands since President Bush began his second term have been
filled by the White House and the Justice Department with trusted
administration insiders. Some lacked experience as prosecutors or had no
connection to the districts in which they were sent to work, the records and
biographical information show.
LINK
About one-third of the nearly four dozen US attorney's jobs that have
changed hands since President Bush began his second term have been
filled by the White House and the Justice Department with trusted
administration insiders. Some lacked experience as prosecutors or had no
connection to the districts in which they were sent to work, the records and
biographical information show.
-
LaWood
Monica Goodling resigns
Monica Goodling resigns..
The poster girl of Pat Robertson's Regents University law school first promised to cop the 5th Amendment if subpeonaed in U.S. Attorney-Gate,
now she quits.
Her attorney previously said she would take the 5th because of the Committee's bias, that it was so set-up and after what happened to Scooter Libby (guilty of lying under oath to Grand Jury).
Truth is she "coached" potential witnesses in the Attorney-Gate investigation.
As an attorney, even from Pat Robertson's joke of a school, she knows that's a very sick bird, ie, illegal.
http://www.gonzaleswatch.com/2007/04/07 ... s-resigns/
The poster girl of Pat Robertson's Regents University law school first promised to cop the 5th Amendment if subpeonaed in U.S. Attorney-Gate,
now she quits.
Her attorney previously said she would take the 5th because of the Committee's bias, that it was so set-up and after what happened to Scooter Libby (guilty of lying under oath to Grand Jury).
Truth is she "coached" potential witnesses in the Attorney-Gate investigation.
As an attorney, even from Pat Robertson's joke of a school, she knows that's a very sick bird, ie, illegal.
http://www.gonzaleswatch.com/2007/04/07 ... s-resigns/
-
LaWood
The darling graduate of Pat Robertson's Regent U. Law School knows when she is in deep doo...so do her lawyer
Gonzales Aide to Invoke Fifth Amendment
By LAURIE KELLMAN
AP
WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' liaison with the White House will refuse to answer questions at upcoming Senate hearings about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, citing her Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, her lawyer said Monday.
"I have decided to follow my lawyer's advice and respectfully invoke my constitutional right," Monica Goodling, Gonzales' counsel and White House liaison, said in a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
www://blackvoices.aol.com/black_news/headlines_features/canvas_
news_articles/_a/gonzales-aide-to-invoke-fifth-amendment/n20070326202909990017?ecid=RSS0001
April 06, 2007 Goodling Quits
Monica Goodling has resigned as a counselor to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. She's the Justice Department staffer who announced last week she would take the Fifth Amendment rather than testify before Congress in the U.S. attorney scandal. Legal Times wrote an in-depth profile of Goodling in its Apr. 2 issue and the key role she played in placing U.S. attorneys across the country.
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2007/ ... quits.html
Gonzales Aide to Invoke Fifth Amendment
By LAURIE KELLMAN
AP
WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' liaison with the White House will refuse to answer questions at upcoming Senate hearings about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, citing her Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, her lawyer said Monday.
"I have decided to follow my lawyer's advice and respectfully invoke my constitutional right," Monica Goodling, Gonzales' counsel and White House liaison, said in a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
www://blackvoices.aol.com/black_news/headlines_features/canvas_
news_articles/_a/gonzales-aide-to-invoke-fifth-amendment/n20070326202909990017?ecid=RSS0001
April 06, 2007 Goodling Quits
Monica Goodling has resigned as a counselor to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. She's the Justice Department staffer who announced last week she would take the Fifth Amendment rather than testify before Congress in the U.S. attorney scandal. Legal Times wrote an in-depth profile of Goodling in its Apr. 2 issue and the key role she played in placing U.S. attorneys across the country.
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2007/ ... quits.html
-
Barbara Fitzpatrick
- Posts: 2232
- Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:55 am
- Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0
Another instance of the MSM ignoring a ball (I'm not going to call it "dropping the ball" because they aren't paying enough attention to notice there's one coming, much less catching it but dropping it). The 5th amendment only protects against self-incrimination in a capital criminal case. Check your friendly, neighborhood Bill of Rights. The 5th doesn't protect you from indictment, congressional hearings, or civil cases of any kind. That's why Clinton couldn't use it during that 10-year long witch hunt. Anyone telling the press they are going to plead the 5th in a congressional hearing is an absolute "head's up" (hint, hint - I have some really juicy stuff to tell, but I don't want my bosses to know I'm going to tell it) to subpeona immediately.
Barbara Fitzpatrick
-
Dardedar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 8193
- Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:18 pm
- Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0
- Location: Fayetteville
- Contact:
DAR
Oh what a tangled web....
"At a recent "prep" for a prospective Sunday talk-show interview, Gonzales's performance was so poor that top aides scrapped any live appearances. During the March 23 session in the A.G.'s conference room, Gonzales was grilled by a team of top aides and advisers—including former Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie and former White House lawyer Tim Flanigan—about what he knew about the plan to fire seven U.S. attorneys last fall. But Gonzales kept contradicting himself and "getting his timeline confused," said one participant who asked not to be identified talking about a private meeting. His advisers finally got "exasperated" with him, the source added. "He's not ready," Tasia Scolinos, Gonzales's public-affairs chief, told the A.G.'s top aides after the session was over, said the source." --Newsweek
As Kevin Drum put it: “Everyone prepares for congressional testimony, but this is ridiculous.”
"If Gonzales was planning to simply tell the truth, he wouldn't "keep contradicting himself" in practice sessions and he wouldn't need to bring his schedule to a standstill in order to figure out what he's planning to say. He'd just review the appropriate documents to make sure he had his dates straight and then tell Congress what happened.
Obviously, though, that's not quite what he's planning to do, is it?"
Oh what a tangled web....
"At a recent "prep" for a prospective Sunday talk-show interview, Gonzales's performance was so poor that top aides scrapped any live appearances. During the March 23 session in the A.G.'s conference room, Gonzales was grilled by a team of top aides and advisers—including former Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie and former White House lawyer Tim Flanigan—about what he knew about the plan to fire seven U.S. attorneys last fall. But Gonzales kept contradicting himself and "getting his timeline confused," said one participant who asked not to be identified talking about a private meeting. His advisers finally got "exasperated" with him, the source added. "He's not ready," Tasia Scolinos, Gonzales's public-affairs chief, told the A.G.'s top aides after the session was over, said the source." --Newsweek
As Kevin Drum put it: “Everyone prepares for congressional testimony, but this is ridiculous.”
"If Gonzales was planning to simply tell the truth, he wouldn't "keep contradicting himself" in practice sessions and he wouldn't need to bring his schedule to a standstill in order to figure out what he's planning to say. He'd just review the appropriate documents to make sure he had his dates straight and then tell Congress what happened.
Obviously, though, that's not quite what he's planning to do, is it?"
-
LaWood
More on "Good Management" scheme re: replacing Federal prosecutors with political operatives. This provides good insight how Rove works his schemes, but sometimes they don't work.
Wis. official's jailing 'ridiculous'
FEDERAL COURT | U.S. attorney's office denies White House pressed for case
April 10, 2007
BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Legal Affairs Reporter apallasch@suntimes.com
An unusual development in a Chicago court Thursday is adding fire to the national debate about whether the Bush administration pressures federal prosecutors to play politics and replaces them if they don't.
The case against former Wisconsin state purchasing agent Georgia Thompson was so "ridiculous" that the judges ordered her freed from prison immediately after hearing oral arguments on the case.
Supporters of Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, for whom Thompson worked, had accused the Bush administration of bringing the fraud charges against Thompson to aid the campaign of Doyle's Republican challenger Mark Green. And Green exploited the charges against Thompson, running ads that sought to link Doyle to the alleged fraud.
Doyle won re-election anyway.
A jury decided that Thompson's actions in awarding a state contract to a firm that donated $20,000 to Doyle was a violation of state law. But the three judges of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago noted that Thompson didn't know about the donations.
"That's a pretty thin set of facts to show some type of political relationship between Gov. Doyle and the people who own Adelman Travel," Judge Diane Wood said.
The U.S. attorney's office said it had not been pressured by the White House in the case.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/3 ... 10.article
Wis. official's jailing 'ridiculous'
FEDERAL COURT | U.S. attorney's office denies White House pressed for case
April 10, 2007
BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Legal Affairs Reporter apallasch@suntimes.com
An unusual development in a Chicago court Thursday is adding fire to the national debate about whether the Bush administration pressures federal prosecutors to play politics and replaces them if they don't.
The case against former Wisconsin state purchasing agent Georgia Thompson was so "ridiculous" that the judges ordered her freed from prison immediately after hearing oral arguments on the case.
Supporters of Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, for whom Thompson worked, had accused the Bush administration of bringing the fraud charges against Thompson to aid the campaign of Doyle's Republican challenger Mark Green. And Green exploited the charges against Thompson, running ads that sought to link Doyle to the alleged fraud.
Doyle won re-election anyway.
A jury decided that Thompson's actions in awarding a state contract to a firm that donated $20,000 to Doyle was a violation of state law. But the three judges of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago noted that Thompson didn't know about the donations.
"That's a pretty thin set of facts to show some type of political relationship between Gov. Doyle and the people who own Adelman Travel," Judge Diane Wood said.
The U.S. attorney's office said it had not been pressured by the White House in the case.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/3 ... 10.article