Contempt

The [House voted] 223-32 Thursday to hold presidential chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers in contempt. The citations charge Miers with failing to testify and accuse her and Bolten of refusing Congress' demands for documents related to the 2006-2007 firings.

  Yahoo

Much good may it do them.

The White House said the Justice Department would not ask the U.S. attorney to pursue the House contempt charges.

Uh-huh. Which is one reason maintaining a crook as the AG is so important.

With great contempt for the contempt vote, "scores" of Republican Congresslugs got up and stormed out.

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

Miers to House: How Many Ways Do I Have to Say No?

Former White House Counsel Harriet Miers has again rejected calls from the House Judiciary Committee to comply with a subpoena for her testimony on the firing of 9 US Attorneys in 2006 and 2007.

  Raw Story

Well, there's a big surprise.

Conyers had set 5 PM, July 17, as the deadline for Miers to make her intentions known about complying with the committee's subpoena. The Judiciary Committee had warned last week that it would contemplate other actions, including criminal contempt proceedings, if Miers failed to comply with the subpoena.

Knock your lights out "contemplating." Somehow I don't think that's going to scare anybody.

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

Contempt Hearing Next?

Harriet Miers testifying before the House Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee today.

Ongoing Battle

Sara Taylor appeared before the Senate Committee investigating the attorney firings, but apparently didn't say much other than that she didn't talk to Bush about it. Harriet Miers says, in accordance with Bush's wishes, she won't even appear tomorrow, which could leave her in contempt.

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

Battling It Out

The ball is back in Congress' court.

The White House claims executive privilege covers ex-aide Sara Taylor and ex-counsel Harriet Miers. Bush's handlers say the two can speak privately off the record, but not under oath. No explanation of how executive privilege applies to the testimony of these two (or even why they'd need it). The Commander Guy doesn't have to explain. Remember? "That's the interesting thing about being president."

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

Purge

I'm a little concerned about Josh Marshall's and TPM Muckraker's coverage of the attorney purge. Sometimes their headlines and synopses are, I think, misleading. It seems almost as though, having been the first to open this can of worms and dig into it, they are determined to put as bad a face on it as possible. Actually, I don't think that's necessary, anyway. Its face is pretty ugly as it is.

For instance, two corresponding articles on Gonzo's testimony today make it seem like he testified that Harriet Miers (former White House Counsel) may have fired US attorney Debra Wong Yang because she knew Yang was looking for a more lucrative job and wanted to help her out, and that's laughable.

Doing her a favor by firing her, eh?

Josh Marshall comments:

Gonzales on why White House Counsel Harriet Miers wanted Lewis prosecutor Debra Yang fired: Because she was sensitive to Yang's financial situation and that she wanted a more lucrative job. Said Gonzales: "Ms. Miers may have known about Ms. Yang's concern about being able to remain on the job due to financial reasons."

[...]

Needless to say it's always helpful to fire someone when they're looking for more profitable employment.

But if you look at the video that TPM's Muckraker site provides, you realize that Gonzo was more likely saying that Miers didn't want to leave someone in such an important position who was seeking other employment. Whatever Harriet Miers' real reason was, that excuse seems like a reasonable one to me. In fact, Yang did find other employment - in the offices of the law firm that was defending a Republican Representative that Yang's US Attorney's office was investigating. Now that's weird.

I don't think this particular instance supports Marshall's continuing raking of the muck in this case. But you wouldn't know that if you didn't read "below the headlines" of his reporting.

In fact, the comment about Miers being sensitive to Yang's concern wasn't the last thing Gonzo said, and Josh cutting off the quote before he (Gonzo) indicates that the position was too important to have someone looking for a higher paying job in it I think smacks of misleading reportage.

I read Marshall's posts daily, and normally I think he does an excellent job, but this is by no means an isolated incident of this kind of reporting, and I'm really sorry to see it every time I do. I don't want liberal propaganda any more than I want conversative propaganda.

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

The reason we hold truth in such respect is because we have so little opportunity to get familiar with it. --Mark Twain

Purge

Remember how we've talked about the US attorney purge being essentially a voter purge aimed at controlling elections? Greg Palast has some more evidence in the firing of Arkansas Attorney Bud Cummins (who says he was warned to keep quiet about it). Or more exactly, the replacing of Bud Cummins with Rove buddy Tim Griffin.

Timothy Griffin, Karl Rove’s assistant, the President’s pick as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Griffin, according to BBC Television, was the hidden hand behind a scheme to wipe out the voting rights of 70,000 citizens prior to the 2004 election.

[...]

In October 2004, our investigations team at BBC Newsnight received a series of astonishing emails from Mr. Griffin, then Research Director for the Republican National Committee. He didn’t mean to send them to us. They were highly confidential memos meant only for RNC honchos.

However, Griffin made a wee mistake. Instead of sending the emails — potential evidence of a crime — to email addresses ending with the domain name “@GeorgeWBush.com” he sent them to “@GeorgeWBush.ORG.” A website run by prankster John Wooden who owns “GeorgeWBush.org.” When Wooden got the treasure trove of Rove-ian ravings, he sent them to us.

And we dug in, decoding, and mapping the voters on what Griffin called, “Caging” lists, spreadsheets with 70,000 names of voters marked for challenge. Overwhelmingly, these were Black and Hispanic voters from Democratic precincts.

Palast also has an article on Harriet Miers' role in the attorney purge, plus some background on previous firing and hiring Harriet has done for Bush and why he needs to keep her on his good side, going back to the days when George was helped into the Texas Air National Guard.

[C]ontrol over a US Attorney and what is called their “prosecutorial discretion” is worth its weight in gold to politicians. They can provide protection for cronies and exact punishment on enemies. And no one knows that better than “Justice” Harriet Miers and her boss, fighter pilot George W. Bush.

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

Update: The Boston Globe today has more on this same theme, but dealing with Brad Schlozman in Missouri.

Schlozman is emerging as a focal point of the investigation into the firing of eight US attorneys last year -- and as a symbol of broader complaints that the Bush administration has misused its stewardship of law enforcement to give Republicans an electoral edge.

[...]

"Schlozman was reshaping the Civil Rights Division," said Joe Rich , who was chief of the voting rights section until taking a buyout in 2005, in an interview. "Schlozman didn't know anything about voting law. . . . All he knew is he wanted to be sure that the Republicans were going to win."

And TPM Muckraker talks about Schlozman's efforts as US Attorney in Missouri to file last minute voter fraud charges in the elections.

And now the Justice Department is inventing "unwritten exceptions" to its policies to cover for him.