Did Scott Bloch Spike the Doan Investigation?

by emptywheel

You might remember the last installment of the Lurita Doan saga, where her claims to be distracted from Scott Jennings' political presentation by her crackberry were disproved by her own crackberry files. In that post I noted that the actions of the person who liberated this report and got it to at least the WaPo and the LAT had probably increased the chances of Lurita Doan getting fired for her Hatch Act violations.

I'll bet Doan and her lawyer are pissed this report got leaked--kudos to whatever person in OPC liberated this report, which was provided to at least the WaPo and LAT. As the report notes, only President Bush can implement the recommendation of the report, which is to fire Doan. Any bets on whether, by leaking the report, the chances are greater that Doan will actually be canned for her illegal political activities?

As it turns out, I was more right than I knew. You see, according to POGO, the version that got liberated was not the final draft. And there was at least one rather significant difference between the liberated version and the version now on the WaPo website. The new version concluded that:

Due to Administrator Doan's status as a Presidential appointee confirmed by the Senate, the President, and not the Merit Systems Protection Board, must make regarding imposition of disciplinary action. Therefore, ... the Special Counsel hereby submits this report of Prohibited Political Activity, together with any response of Administrator Doan, to the President for appropriate action.

Whereas the liberated version made a strong recommendation that Bush fire Doan. After reviewing that the law dictates that "a violator must be removed from her position," the report continues:

Due to Administrator Doan's status as a Presidential appointee confirmed by the Senate, the President, and not the Merit Systems Protection Board ("MSPB"), must make regarding imposition of disciplinary action. There is no authority holding that the President is bound by any standard applied by the MSPB. Further, as a purely executive officer, it would most likely be within the President's constitutional authority to take any disciplinary action, including termination, against the Administrator for any reason.

In our view, the evidence in this case supports a conclusion that whatever standard the President uses to review the evidence in this case, we recommend the President take disciplinary action against Administrator Doan. Because Ms. Doan, as the head of GSA, engaged in conduct before her subordinate employees that violated a Federal law that is intended to protect the workplace from political influence and ensure that government resources are being administered in a nonpartisan fashion, her disregard for such protections and safeguards is serious and warrants punishment.

Gosh, you think that Scott Bloch, under attack by the Bush Administration, might softpedal such harsh conclusions?

Not surprisingly, Doan's lawyers are using this double leak--showing the strong recommendation to terminate her--as an excuse to ignore her egregious violations of the Hatch Act.

I am writing on behalf of GSA Administrator Lurita A. Doan, whom we represent, to express utter outrage that the confidentiality of the report concerning allegations against her has not been maintained.

[snip]

In addition to the extraordinary unfairness to Administrator Doan caused by this misconduct, the objectivity and impartiality of the Office of Special Counsel in this matter has been irreparably damaged. The Office of Special Counsel has an obligation to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. No action by your office now could erase the stigma of impropriety that now overshadows this case.

We intend to pursue alternative disposition of this matter with the Office of the President, and we believe it would be appropriate, under these very exceptional circumstances, if you disapprove the current report and support any further consideration of this matter by an investigative body outside the Office of Special Counsel.

I love me some false lawyer outrage with my coffee in the morning. Beats sugar and cream any day.

Now, I can only speculate as to what happened here--whether the White House instructed Bloch to back off its harsh recommendation, whether Bloch did so on his own, or whether this is an elaborate plot on Bush's part to simultaneously discredit OSC and get his buddy Lurita off for breaking the law.

But in any case, do you see how perfectly it works? In addition to the Doan actions, the OSC is also currently investigating Monica Goodling and the DOJ as a whole for their use of partisan tests in hiring for merit positions. More importantly, it is investigating Karl Rove for doing business on the RNC server, for his political PowerPoints, and, um, just about everything else he does. No matter how you slice this, this serves to discredit OSC (either Bloch did spike the investigation, or the whole leak is orchestrated). Now, neither Rove nor Goodling fall under the same Senate-approved category as Doan (so, for example, OSC might be able to fire the already-resigned Goodling; I'm less sure about Rove). But all of those discussions will now take place against the background of this leak.

To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to Doan's upcoming visit to Waxman's committee before this. Now, I am.

Comments

[pity the fools]

Doan will be sacrificed, but she is a (minor) danger to Karl Rove's operation.

She's very much on the record for having no memory, so should her memory come back, she'd certainly be in danger of having lied to Congress.

That said, if she can return with something real meaty on Rove (threats, promises, payments or otherwise) should her memory return, now that might be interesting.

[Daniel]

See this and this.

[JEP]

"false lawyer outrage:

Is there really ever any other kind of lawyer outrage?

Kind of like "lawyer tears", has there ever really been any that weren't patently "false?"

Politicians, too.

Boehner's blubbering is just one good example.

[JEP]

One of the abiding factors in all this is that each of these over-strong women (add Palouse to that list) were despised almost immediately by the experienced professionals they so carelessly and despotically "oversaw."

Just how many "designated office bitches" did this administration install, as part of their patent politicization process? And why is it they all seem to share this meaqn-lady "unlikability" factor, what does that say about the Republicans and their management skills as a whole?

Brings to mind Michael Moore's description of Republicans in general, his childhood memories recalled them all as "mean, old businessmen." Nowadays, add "mean old businesswomen" to the mix and it's a whole picture.

[earlofhuntingdon]

True, Ann Coulter and Tweety are lawyers (or at least have their law degrees), like David Addington and Lil' Scooter. But Christy Hardin Smith is a lawyer, as is Glenn Greenwald and lots of other columnists and bloggers. Just as there are a few doctors who help the poor, some stock brokers and car salesmen who tell the truth, and government administrators whoh really are there to help.

What separates them from many of their peers is that they retain their humanity, their honesty and integrity, and their lack of ruthless triumphal selfishness. The very attributes that get you fired when working for George Bush.

[rukus]

"The very attributes that get you fired when working for George Bush."

Nothing gets you fired when you work for George Bush.

[Dismayed]

Come on white girl - get it right. It should be "I LOVES me some false lawyer outrage"

[Mimikatz]

Nothing except going public with disagreements. See Eric Shinseki, Paul O'Neill and Larry Lindsey, among others.

[Sara]

Well, I have a legislative cure all solution. Let's require that along with the background check, Political Appointees be required to be assessed by a qualified memory-expert psychologist for memory retention in the high normal range before their appointments are confirmed.

What I can't understand is where Bush found all these totally forgetful people to appoint to office. Did his talent search involve looking for early onset dementia? How do they remember to go to work, can they find their house and car keys, can they remember where they parked when visiting a mall?

[Dismayed]

Yeah, Sara there's a point at which all this I can't remember BS get absurd. Perhaps they've simply forgotten that we have 150,000 guys occupying Iraq at the moment? I used to advocate for people with metal imparements, and I can tell you that you'd have to have an IQ under about 85 to remember as little as these people do. And I'm not joking here. Clearly, lying is an honored Republican Value, they might as well put it in the platform. Oh, hang on that would be truthful. Nevermind.

[earlofhuntingdon]

Humanity, honesty, integrity, and not being a selfish petard will get you fired by Geo. Bush. Nothing will get your career thrown down a rat hole faster than knowing more than your neocon boss, or being right about something the administration doesn't want anyone to know about. How do you suppose Monica, for example, had all those empty slots to fill? "Normal" attrition? And that's just one department.

[Nola Sue]

Can anyone please explain if -- or why or why not -- a violation of the Hatch Act would only be punishable by termination by POTUS, not some sort of legal (criminal or civil) consequences, e.g, jail time or fine?

It sure seems like We The People have some interest here. Just askin'.

Cookies, anyone?

[P J Evans]

Over at TPM they're saying that the DoJ is having trouble filling its empty USA slots. I can't imagine why ... (/snark)

[Sailmaker]

Subpoena Scott Jennings and Sara Taylor (she who cleared out her desk last weekend). Political ops giving 28 EPA briefings? Somebody must have a record of what was said. Maybe they would give up Doan, Jennings, and Taylor?

Twenty-Eight EPA Appointees Attended Briefing At White House in July 2006. “Twenty-eight political appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency attended such a briefing last July 17 at the White House executive office complex, and an unknown number attended one at those offices the following month, according to EPA spokeswoman Jennifer Wood. She said that Jennings gave the presentation at the first meeting and that Sara M. Taylor, who directs the White House Office of Political Affairs, gave the second one.” [Washington Post, 4/26/07] Scroll down to the article at this link http://thinkprogress.org/rove-empire/

[pseudonymous in nc]

Jennings needs to be put in front of Waxman or Leahy. Or ideally both.

He's Rove's little helper, and the Rove-Goodling-Sampson triangle needs completing.