Raided

When subpoenas don't work...

The FBI has raided the office of U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch in an inquiry of whether he obstructed justice by having his computer files erased.

FBI officials said computers and documents were seized from Bloch's office during the raid Tuesday morning.

Investigators say Bloch is suspected of hiring an outside company to scrub his computer amid a federal investigation of alleged misconduct in his office.

  Raw Story

I’m sure it was all innocent just like he said at the time.

The Office of Special Counsel is responsible protecting the rights of federal workers and ensuring that government whistle-blowers are not subjected to reprisals.

[Bloch] is himself being investigated for retaliating against whistleblowers and politicizing his office.

[...]

To give you an idea how fraught this investigation is with unique issues, Bloch is not only busily investigating the White House for political briefings Karl Rove and his aides made to various agencies, but he's also conducting an investigation of the politicization at the Department of Justice and issues related to the U.S. Attorney firings -- a probe that he complained was being blocked by the DoJ. Of course, he can't do much to block the DoJ investigation of him.

  TPM

Up to Our Nostrils in Slime

The federal official helming a probe into potentially illegal partisan political activities conducted by Karl Rove and other White House officials is himself the focus of a federal investigation.

Scott Bloch, the Bush-appointed head of the US Office of Special Counsel, is under investigation for the alleged improper deletion of emails on office computers.

[…]

"Mr. Bloch had his computer's hard disk completely cleansed using a 'seven-level' wipe: a thorough scrubbing that conforms to Defense Department data-security standards," the report continues, describing a process which makes it "nearly impossible for forensics experts to restore the data later. Technicians were also directed to erase laptops used by Bloch's former political deputies.

  Raw Story

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

They Pretend to Investigate

We pretend to believe them.

Previously I posted on the appointment of Scott Bloch to investigate Karl Rove for political misdeeds. Here's an excerpt of the post I called The Fox Appointed to Guard the Hen House :

The decision to have the Office of Special Counsel investigate Karl Rove has Karl Rove's fingerprints all over it.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Scott Bloch, who will be investigating Karl Rove, is not exactly a paragon of virtue. He is a Bush appointee to take the place of the openly gay Clinton appointee Elaine Kaplan. The facts that the Office of Special Counsel doesn't normally handle this type of investigation (the news folks have been referring to this as "a little known" agency in the government), and that Bloch is who he is, make me greatly suspicious that Karl himself ordered this particular investigation to avoid having the Democrats inevitably demand an independent counsel investigation into his activities.

And here's an excerpt from Turdblossom Gets His Own Investigation:

This isn't a Democratic party initiated investigation from Congress. It comes from within the executive branch - "The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency." Therefore, I'm thinking the investigation is a ploy to "exonerate" Rove on all counts.

Well, surprise, surprise. Bloch has run out of money, and can't continue the investigation. Who would have imagined anything could have gone wrong?

You may remember Scott Bloch as Bush's associate director of the Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives before his appointment to the OSC. He's the guy who scrubbed protections for gays against discrimination in the workplace. And, just to put old political jokes into perspective, Bloch is himself under investigation. (Cue Bush's White House Correspondents' Dinner Stooge video searching for WMD in his office.)

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

The Fox Appointed to Guard the Hen House

The decision to have the Office of Special Counsel investigate Karl Rove has Karl Rove's fingerprints all over it.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Scott Bloch, who will be investigating Karl Rove, is not exactly a paragon of virtue. He is a Bush appointee to take the place of the openly gay Clinton appointee Elaine Kaplan. The facts that the Office of Special Counsel doesn't normally handle this type of investigation (the news folks have been referring to this as "a little known" agency in the government), and that Bloch is who he is, make me greatly suspicious that Karl himself ordered this particular investigation to avoid having the Democrats inevitably demand an independent counsel investigation into his activities.

Bloch's appointment wasn't popular with the Log Cabin Republicans (a gay organization - and how any gay could be a Republican is beyond me, but...) nor other people concerned with civil liberties. But it was in fact a typical Bush choice.

Yesterday, in testimony before the United States Senate, Bloch said that he did not believe current law protects federal employees from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

[...]

"Scott Bloch has made it clear that he is not enforcing the law and is openly defying the President, accordingly he should resign immediately," said Log Cabin Political Director Chris Barron.

  SourceWatch 2005 article

I have to say here that, although the President may avoid officially enacting gay discriminatory laws, one would not actually be defying him by practicing discrimination. He wouldn't have appointed this particular man to a whistle-blower protection agency if he were really concerned about gay rights.

Scott Bloch, is decimating the ability of government employees to turn in their bosses for wrongdoing -- which is apparently the way George W. Bush wants it. After all, Bush has spent five years replacing the government's inspectors general -- each agency's watchdog for investigating whistleblower complaints -- with partisan hacks.

[...]

The Office of Special Counsel exists to protect federal workers from job discrimination and whistle-blowing retaliation. Here's how Scott Bloch turned it into a haven for gay-bashing and partisan politics.

  Alternet article

Bloch, from Kansas, was appointed to the OSC in 2003 after serving in Bush's Office of Faith Based Initiatives.

WaPo photo

Turdblossom Gets His Own Investigation

[T]the Office of Special Counsel is preparing to jump into one of the most sensitive and potentially explosive issues in Washington, launching a broad investigation into key elements of the White House political operations that for more than six years have been headed by chief strategist Karl Rove.

  LA Times article

More explanation for Karl's recent testiness.

The list of the Rove investigation topics includes the missing emails, US Attorney firings, and use of government agencies to promote party politics scandals.

This isn't a Democratic party initiated investigation from Congress. It comes from within the executive branch - "The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency." Therefore, I'm thinking the investigation is a ploy to "exonerate" Rove on all counts. Either that, or like I mentioned in an earlier post, an effort to protect the Boy Who Would Be King by sacrificing the guy next to him.

Update :

No sooner penned....

The guy heading up the OSC's investigation of Rove is under investigation himself:

The Office of Personnel Management's inspector general has been investigating allegations by current and former OSC employees that Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch retaliated against underlings who disagreed with his policies -- by, among other means, transferring them out of state -- and tossed out legitimate whistle-blower cases to reduce the office backlog.

[...]

The probe is the most serious of many problems at the agency since Bloch, a Kansas lawyer who served at the Justice Department's Task Force for Faith-based and Community Initiatives, was appointed by President Bush three years ago. Since he took the helm in 2004, staffers at the OSC, a small agency of about 100 lawyers and investigators, have accused him of a range of offenses, from having an anti-gay bias to criticizing employees for wearing short skirts and tight pants to work.

  WaPo article

The employees are complaining that Bloch has been steadily obstructing the investigation.

I don't know about you, but I'm thinking my first thought about the Rove investigation was probably the correct one.

Online action

Act For Change would like to flood Condi Rice's office with demands for her to appear before the 9/11 Commission. Take that action here.

And, a letter to Scott Bloch...

The Bush administration has taken steps to make it easier to fire a Federal employee on the basis of their sexual orientation. Since 1980, it has been official Federal policy to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. This policy, along with other forms of discrimination, has been enforced by the Office of Special Counsel, an independent office.

The new head of the office, Scott Bloch, was recently appointed by President Bush, after serving as associate director of the Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives. This roll back not only contradicts campaign promises by then candidate Bush, but promises made during the confirmation hearings by Mr. Bloch himself.

Take that action here.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

I'd like to see them try

Fire or demote somebody for being gay?

Go ahead. I dare you.

This is getting insane.

Gay and lesbians in the entire federal workforce have had their job protections officially removed by the office of Special Counsel. The new Special Counsel, Scott Bloch, says his interpretation of a 1978 law intended to protect employees and job applicants from adverse personnel actions is that gay and lesbian workers are not covered. [Bloch was appointed by President Bush to a five year term beginning in January.]

Bloch said that the while a gay employee would have no recourse for being fired or demoted for being gay, that same worker could not be fired for attending a gay Pride event.

In his interpretation, Bloch is making a distinction between one’s conduct as a gay or lesbian and one’s status as a gay or lesbian.

“People confuse conduct and sexual orientation as the same thing, and I don’t think they are,” Bloch said in an interview with Federal Times, a publication for government employees.

Bloch said gays, lesbians and bisexuals cannot be covered as a protected class because they are not protected under the nation’s civil rights laws.

“When you’re interpreting a statute, you have to be very careful to interpret strictly according to how it’s written and not get into loose interpretations,” Bloch said. “Someone may have jumped to the conclusion that conduct equals sexual orientation, but they are essentially very different. One is a class . . . and one is behavior.”

It is the first time that Bloch has explained his position on the issue of gay workers despite pressure from unions and Federal Globe an organization that represents LGBT government workers after the OSC began removing references to sexual orientation-based discrimination from its complaint form, the OSC basic brochure, training slides and a two-page flier entitled "Your Rights as a Federal Employee."

  365 Gay article

....but hey, do what you want....we'll see what happens.