No Dissent on Spying Program, Says Justice Department
“The Justice Department said yesterday that it will not retract a sworn statement in 2006 by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales that the Terrorist Surveillance Program had aroused no controversy inside the Bush administration, despite congressional testimony Tuesday that senior departmental officials nearly resigned in 2004 to protest such a program. The department’s affirmation of Gonzales’s remarks raised fresh questions about the nature of the classified dispute, which former U.S. officials say led then-Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey and as many as eight colleagues to discuss resigning.” (Washington Post)
Senators Renew Call for Gonzalesâ Ouster
“Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is under new political heat after two more Republicans came out against him and Democrats broadened their probe of prosecutor firings to questions of whether he politicized the Justice Department at the White House’s behest. Gonzales, who some believed had survived the furor over the firings, came under new pressure Wednesday when Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), became the fourth Republican senator to urge him to resign. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), also said the attorney general should consider stepping down.” (Associated Press)
AP Is On the Story About DOE Using Private Emails
“The Associated Press picked up CREW’s request for an investigation of whether Department of Education staffers were violating the law by using private e-mail accounts for official business. CREW’s counsel, Dan Roth, had two separate conversations recently with Education Department officials in which he was told that some information he was seeking regarding a reading program might be unavailable because it was not stored in e-mail accounts accessible to the government. Department officials told Roth that agency employees often use private e-mail accounts rather than their government-issued accounts to do official business.” (CREW)
Former EPA Chief Refuses to Testify on Post-9/11 Air Quality
“Christine Todd Whitman, the former administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency, has refused to testify before a congressional subcommittee, regarding the government’s handling of the air quality at the World Trade Center site following the 9/11 attacks. In refusing to testify, Whitman’s attorney cited that the former New Jersey governor is named as a defendant in two lawsuits involving her statements on air quality following the attacks.” (ABC’s The Blotter)
Commerce Inspector General Broke Whistle-Blower Law
“The Commerce Department’s inspector general, who is supposed to look into complaints of wrongdoing by government officials, committed “egregious violations” of the federal law that protects whistle-blowers by retaliating against two subordinates, a government investigation has concluded. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel found that Inspector General Johnnie E. Frazier wrongly demoted the two employees during an investigation of his spending, according to a copy of the report obtained by The Washington Post. It concluded that Frazier’s actions violated the Whistleblower Protection Act.” (Washington Post)
US Reading Program Benefits Bush Friend
“A Texas businessman listed as a major fundraiser for President George Bush has made millions of dollars in profits from a federal reading program that critics say favored administration cronies at the expense of schoolchildren. A company founded and owned by Randy Best, who is listed by the nonprofit group Public Citizen as a Bush ‘Pioneer’ during the 2000 presidential campaign, received the lucrative contracts under a Bush administration initiative called Reading First.” (ABC’s The Blotter)
CIA Leak Case Set to Resume
“The legal fallout from the 2003 CIA leak scandal continues as lawyers seek dismissal of a lawsuit against members of the Bush administration. Former CIA operative Valerie Plame contends the administration violated her constitutional rights by leaking her identity to reporters in 2003. She is demanding compensation from Vice President Dick Cheney; one of his former aides, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby; White House political adviser Karl Rove; and former State Department Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage.” (Associated Press)
Wolfowitz-World Bank Negotiations Stalled
“World Bank officials say the negotiations between the bank’s board and a lawyer for World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz stalled today when the two sides could not agree on an ‘exit strategy’ to allow Wolfowitz to ‘save face’ over the issue of his efforts to seek a promotion and pay raise for his girlfriend at the bank. The officials said the bank’s board had hoped to accept Wolfowitz’s resignation but also acknowledge that the World Bank’s Ethics Committee bears ‘some responsibility’ for giving him bad advice on the issue of his girlfriend.” (ABC’s The Blotter)
Lobby Bill in Trouble
“Rising opposition from the House Democratic Caucus is imperiling a push by party leaders to deliver the lobbying overhaul they promised on the campaign trail. With details of the reform plan sinking in a day after leaders unveiled it, Members from several corners of the Democratic Caucus said they were considering blocking the plan. ‘I think itâs half of our entire Caucus,’ said Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA). ‘A lot of us believe the measures are unworkable. … Weâre OK with tough reform, but itâs got to be written well, and this isnât.'” (Roll Call)
Doolittle States His Case in Memo
“In case you might have missed what Rep. John Doolittle has had to say about his run-ins with the Justice Department recently, his office has reduced it to a “talking points” memo. The four-page memo summarizes as “background” the Roseville Republican’s views on the FBI’s search of his Oakton, Va., home on April 13. It stresses his belief that the search will bring quicker “resolve” of the investigation into his and his wife’s connections to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff that began almost three years ago.” (Sacramento Bee)
Calvert Mounts Defense on Earmarks Allegations
“In an effort to respond to criticism surrounding his recent appointment to the Appropriations Committee, Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) intends to have the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct vet his future earmark requests. ‘Iâm going to do that, to ask the ethics committee, âIs that an appropriate thing for me to do?â because obviously I can be objective about it as much as I like … but Iâd rather have a letter stating that,’ Calvert said in a Tuesday interview arranged at his officeâs request.” (Roll Call)
