If you’re following the reactions to the Hamdan decision today, check out this follow up from Marty Lederman. If Lederman’s right, outlawing the administration’s tribunals isn’t the biggest part of this decision. It also seems to knock the legal foundations — if you can call them that — out of under the president’s legal arguments for using torture or quasi-torture as an instrument of state policy.
Oh. Bad, bad days for Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH).
We seem 
to have arrived at the run-for-the-hills phase of the Ney probe. Roll Call‘s John Bresnahan is reporting (sub.req.) that three of Ney’s key staffers are quitting their jobs with the ensnared congressman.
Will Heaton, his Chief of Staff and Brian Walsh, his long-suffering communications director are both leaving. And Chris Otillo, his legislative director, apparently bailed last Friday.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the nomenclature of the congressman’s staff, that’s pretty much it.
Not that there aren’t more people. But that’s the troika.
Another good sign is Matt Parker, Ney’s District director, just got tagged with a subpoena.
Walsh told Bresnahan he thanked Ney “for the chance to work for him, which was great”, thus showing that Walsh may have to have a period of post-Ney detox because he can work out of the habit of making comically ridiculous statements.
Cmdr. Charles Swift, Navy lawyer who brought today’s suit on behalf of Hamdan: Today’s ruling is “a return to our fundamental values. That return marks a high-water point. It shows that we can’t be scared out of who we are.”
Okay, I think we’ve really got a live one on the line with Mike McGavick, Republican senate candidate this year in Washington state.
As I noted yesterday, we hear that in private conversations, McGavick is a die-hard phase-out man, a big supporter of President Bush’s plan to phase 
out Social Security and replace it with private accounts. That squares with the recent fundraiser held for him in DC by the Financial Services Roundtable, a key Social Security privatization pressure group.
Only he won’t come clean about it in his election campaign. On the contrary, McGavick is opening new territory in the uncharted wilderness of Social Security bamboozlement. Here’s his position on Social Security from his campaign website: “A voluntary system should be instituted allowing those who can afford to do so, to return their Social Security payments.”
Apparently folks tried to find out earlier this year in Yakima, Washington. McGavick said “I think we’d be amazed at the response” after he appeals to seniors to voluntarily send back in their monthly Social Security checks.
The most we’ve been able to find McGavick saying is that “personal accounts are one solution that should be evaluated.”
Anyway, it seems pretty clear he’s a diehard supporter of phase-out but won’t come clean about it with the public, which brings us to our contest.
President Bush says he’s going to come back again try to phase out Social Security after the November election. So we’re trying to find out where McGavick stands on Social Security. Is he for preserving it in its current form or does he support President Bush’s plan to phase it out and replace it with private accounts? And we need your help to find out.
So here’s the deal. We’re holding a contest to see who can get a straight answer out of Mike McGavick on Social Security — against phase out or in favor of it. To the winner goes a special TPM ‘Privatize This’ t-shirt, a TPM mug and … and a special place in our new TPM Hall of Social Security Heroes. Anyway, it’s really exciting stuff.
Also, even if you can’t get a straight answer out of McGavick, if you get a chance to ask him, you can win a special TPM mug, even if he refuses to answer or gives you that lame voluntary give back ridiculousness. We’ll follow up with details about rules.
More details on the contest to come soon.
Coming Soon: Contest expands to include New Jersey’s Tom Kean, Jr.!
Annals in the history of brave faces.
Bob Ney’s announcement in response to reports that his entire senior staff is quitting …
As with every office on Capitol Hill, where staffers work very long hours, there is inevitably turnover. In fact, according to a recent study by the Congressional Management Foundation, the average tenure for staff is a little over three years. What is notable however, is that all three of the staff members who will soon be leaving my office all worked for me for much longer than the average tenure and in fact my chief of staff, Will Heaton, has been with me for roughly five years. I wish them well as they pursue their individual career paths.
That being, I am very proud to say that I have recently promoted another longtime staffer and Harrison County native to be my new Legislative Director in Washington and another longtime staffer to take-over media relations responsibilities. In addition, we also recently hired two new staff members to fully staff the legislative operations arm of my office. Again, this is exactly what every single office on Capitol Hill does and in fact, what many others often have to do with more regularity than myself.
Therefore any suggestion or implication that the office of Ohio’s 18th Congressional District is operating at anything less than full speed ahead is baseless and without merit.”
Inevitable turnover. I guess we can agree on that.
So where do things stand now on Net Neutrality? Art Brodsky brings us up to date. The news is better than you think.
Which former DeLay pal is goin’ to California with an achin’ in his heart? That and more of the day’s news in today’s Daily Muck.
Bush White House shoplifter Claude Allen looking to cut a plea deal.
Mike McGavick Social Security contest rules update coming later today. Remember, you can win by finding out where NJ’s Tom Kean Jr. stands too.
Late Update: Oddly enough it seems this Maryland blogger can’t find a position statement from senate candidate Michael Steele either. Anyone know whether Steele is for keeping Social Security or whether he supports President Bush’s plan to phase it out and replace it with private accounts?