The End of the Month

by emptywheel

Via TPMM, the Director of DOJ's Civil Rights Division has resigned.

Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, today announced his resignation, effective at the end of this month. President Bush nominated Mr. Kim to the position on June 16, 2005, and the Senate unanimously confirmed his appointment on November 4, 2005. Mr. Kim, whose career in the Department of Justice has spanned more than a decade, started in the Department of Justice Honors Program as a trial attorney in the Criminal Division, and later served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia. [my emphasis]

Um, today is August 23. The "end of the month," August 31, is approximately 6 business days away.

Where I come from in the business world, when a top executive quits with less than a month's notice, he's trying to hide something, usually the imminent collapse of his business unit. When a top executive quits with less than two week's notice, that thing he's hiding may involve legal repercussions.

Mr. Kim is getting out of Dodge in an awfully big hurry.

Comments

[bmaz]

What is this guy's background? Any chance he just saw the whole shithouse going up in flames; didn't give notice until he found a job, and he got a job confirmed starting after labor day (a big time for starting off new hires in big firms)? Or he is just a bad egg from the get go? Thought there might be an outside chance he wasn't a pod person because he has been there over a decade, which goes back to Clinton....

[emptywheel]

bmaz

No, he's part of the Shorter Schloz set, by all appearances. In fact, the close timing of their departure pretty much indicates they're feeling some heat.

[bmaz]

Good enough for me. Hope the door bruises his butt on the way out.

[orionATL]

let's see

rove leaves,

schlossman leaves,

kim (whoever the hell he is) leaves,

any connection?

nah, couldn't be.

alternative answer:

how would you know if rove's departure was connected to the latter two,

since rove was the beating sociopathic heart of all this administration's domestic misconduct.

[MayBee]

Where I come from in the business world, when a top executive quits with less than a month's notice, he's trying to hide something, usually the imminent collapse of his business unit.

You must have worked with some troubled companies. Where I come from, it often means they have another job lined up.

[joanneleon]

Rule of thumb for execs is to give as much notice as you have vacation leave (usually 4-6 weeks), and if they don't they're leaving on bad terms in some way.

I'm starting to wonder about this whole thing about WH employees having to commit to stay until Jan 09 or else leave by the end of August. It's sounding more and more like a cover story. Did they know that there was going to be a mass exodus, and they were trying to prevent it? Or is something coming down? Or are they finding those leakers they were searching for? (The job of finding such leakers should be a bit easier now since the FISA court has been legislated out of the way. Well, that's just a wild speculation.)

[njr]

Mr. Kim also has worked on the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee for former Chairman Orrin G. Hatch

no dates in the article to help us build a time line... but looks like he's rubbed elbows with some less savory types...

[bmaz]

Worked with Orrin Hatch? He's a witch - drown him!

[Rayne]

Will there be a document dump tomorrow, coincident with Waxman's request for info on (18) departments? I am wondering if there was a hidden or implied emphasis at the Speaker's blog when the DOJ was mentioned twice as a dept. from which Waxman expected documents in relation to possible Hatch Act violations. Perhaps Schloz-munk and Kim are leaving in advance of such a doc dump...or perhaps it's because they think an exit in August will generate less interest than a departure in September. I don't think Bolten's alleged line-in-the-sand has anything to do with locking folks down for the rest of the administration as much as it does with preventing greater interest (you don't introduce new products in August for this reason, yes?).

But it's possible that Kim did give notice much earlier, just didn't make it formal and public; there are rumors about Kim's possible departure dating back to the first week of July, right around the holiday doldrums. Was there any possible link with testimony heard in front of Congress about the same time?

[bmaz]

Rayne - all good questions. But it is still the calm in the normal news cycle. Politicians are gone, pundits kind of scarce, new people off a lot too. Labor day coming, no one is doing squat right now. Even EW is bailing for some "quality time with the family" (much deserved by the way). Good time for rats to scurry around before everybody gets back up to speed after Labor day. Good time for document dump too.....

[Rayne]

bmaz -- yeah, I figure there might be a dump the next two weekends in a row. They'll figure we aren't up to digging...and they know EW will be out of pocket for the weekend. ;-)

[Jodi]

MayBee,

you are correct. Usually one of those "opportunities" that just came up, is a great fit, and isn't going to stay available very long.

It is an "Adiós muchachos" time.

Maybe a "roasting!"

[G. Florence Scott]

Yep...

The Justice Dept. is just about totally broken. I have more information about this sort of dysfunction on http://whistleblowersupporter.typepad.com

Take a look at all the information on "No-Bid Contracts" another gigantic goat-rope.

GFS

[casual observer]

The way things are going, staying on past the recess is a possible career-killer, if one is guilty of anything or not. I'm perfectly happy to suspect the worst of any uppper-level DOJ, but at the same time I know we're well into the end-game for many political appointees and they have to look to the future.

[mighty mouse]

bmaz--are you sending a copy of your (GREAT!!!) response to Bobbitt to the Public Editor at the Times?

[AJ]

Maybee I've worked for a couple of big (very big) companies and I've never heard of your "rule of thumb".

If you are an executive, you are usually escorted to the door shortly after you tender your resignation since you are more than likely leaving to take a job with a competitor.

I's the low-level grunts who make the executives look good who usually are expected to give notice.

[AJ]

oops that last post was not for maybee but for joaneleon.

[bmaz]

mighty mouse - Why yes, yes I am. In fact, that was done right off the get go.

[victoria2dc]

Is Kim the one who hacked Ted Kennedy's e-mail for over a year before they discovered it?

Imagine them taking someone who is a criminal and moving them to Main DOJ!