Why Rove Resigned? To Grant the Administration Immunity

by emptywheel

There have been a flurry of stories depicting the degree to which the Bush Administration has politicized ... everything. McClatchy described how Treasury and Commerce were making decisions based on the political value for the Republican party. And today, the WaPo describes how Interior and Labor were doing the same. And based on interviews and documents, the WaPo describes the whole process as more systematic than anything before.

But Rove, who announced last week that he is resigning from the White House at the end of August, pursued the goal far more systematically than his predecessors, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The Washington Post, enlisting political appointees at every level of government in a permanent campaign that was an integral part of his strategy to establish Republican electoral dominance.

[snip]

Investigators, however, said the scale of Rove's effort is far broader than previously revealed; they say that Rove's team gave more than 100 such briefings during the seven years of the Bush administration. The political sessions touched nearly all of the Cabinet departments and a handful of smaller agencies that often had major roles in providing grants, such as the White House office of drug policy and the State Department's Agency for International Development.

Well, so what? What are you going to do about it?

See, for the most part, we're talking about civil Hatch Act violations. And the punishment for civil Hatch Act violations? To be fired from your job. Shall we review the names of those most involved in leading this process?

• Karl Rove
• Sara Taylor
• Scott Jennings
• Barry Jackson
• Ken Mehlman
• Susan Ralston

Rove, Taylor, Mehlman, and Ralston are gone, and Jackson is rumored to be leaving. Add in Monica Goodling, who only admitted to her massive Hatch Act violations after she resigned. So how are you going to hold the White House responsible for its massive Hatch Act violations, if the people involved have already mooted the only punishment available?

FWIW, with the David Iglesias firing and cover-up, the Administration has strayed into criminal Hatch Act violations, which carry a criminal penalty (if we can find anyone who would actually charge them for it). And there may be more examples where you could make the case. But most of what the recent flurry of reporting talks about? By resigning, Rove basically made the Administration immune from any punishment for it.

Comments

[Joe Klein's conscience]

Can't they still be tried in a court of law?

[emptywheel]

Joe Klein's conscience

That's my point--no. Not for civil violations.

And for many of the people in question, Bush might be the one who gets to decide whether they get fired or not. Like Lurita Doan, whom Bush has yet to fire.

[the third man]

Good point re: hatch act, but that only gets one of the many scandals off the 'tubes. Not that I am sad to see him go...

[scory]

Could the Hatch Act violations be reframed as a conspiratorial attempt to defraud the Federal government (misuse of Federal property and requiring Federal employees to participate in activities prohibited by the Hatch Act) and be prosecuted under RICO?

[looseheadprop]

You could use a hatch Act violation as proof of motive and intent for other crimes, like my old friends wire fraud and mail fraud.

Be of good cheer. If anyone actually WANTED to prosecute these guys, there is plenty of sows ear availbale to fashion into a silk purse.

The problem is not being able to make a prosecutable case. The problem is finding someone who actually wants to do that and is in an office that give them the power to do that.

DOJ is broken my friends. Hollowed out. It will take years ( and really stellar leadership--you are gonna need a superstar) to repair the damge that has been done.

[Frank Probst]

I don't think this is the other shoe. Rove could've ridden out any sort of Hatch Act scandal. The fact that it's blantantly illegal isn't enough--just look at all the other things this Administration has gotten away with. It's either got to be something that's going to get him indicted, or it's got to be something that's painfully easy to understand.

The only thing in the "indictment" column is Fitz, because Gonzo isn't going to allow any new investigations to go forward. The only two hole cards I can think of that Fitz might play are "Sealed v Sealed" or a very slim chance that Libby flipped.

The two big things in the "painfully easy" column are sex and money. When Larry Flynt is throwing money around, you never know what's going to happen. Remember that weird "Karl hit on me in the 80s" story? Why did that even come up? Maybe someone was sniffing around for dirt. The other "sex" possibility is that Mrs Rove is getting ready to file for divorce, and she's learned a trick or two after being married to him. I tend to think this is the most likely scenario. After all, he said he was quitting for his family. So where the hell is his family? Why aren't there pictures of spin-master Rove with his adoring wife and loving child?

On the "money" side you've got any number of bribes Rove might have taken. Abramoff is the big one. Susan Ralston may have finally gotten tagged, and her lawyer may have told her that she needs to cut a deal. Bribes may be boring, but they're easy to understand.

I think it's got to be one of these. I just can't see Rove resigning over "improper PowerPoint presentations". That's just too easy to spin away.

[Albert Fall]

Scory

I like the way you think.

I would like to see the existence of Hatch Act violations used (if it can be) to strip civil service protections from Federalist Society and Regent law school sleeper cell infiltrators who maintain federal employment.

[Sally]

Rove should be worried about a President Clinton and her DOJ. Yes!

[dougR]

It's all very sad. Both my parents were civil service employees in the federal government--NON-political appointees, in other words--and the Hatch Act was taken as holy writ, and something everyone tiptoed around, for fear of violating it, even inadvertently. Now I find the Hatch Act is little more than a piece of used kleenex and, as a practical matter, is utterly meaningless! What a miraculous new understanding of the Rule of Law George Bush and Karl Rove have brought!

What's even more disheartening is that not one of these maggots has gone to jail yet. Jail, I'm afraid, is my yardstick for measuring whether Democrats are making things better or not. I'd sure like to see criminal penalties attached to Hatch Act violations, but after Reid and Schumer got taken like a couple of yokels on the FISA re-write, I'm not sure the Democratic leadership has the guts, the brains, or the 'try' to un-do the massive, wholesale trashing of the rule of law we've suffered under for the last eight years.

[dougR]

It's all very sad. Both my parents were civil service employees in the federal government--NON-political appointees, in other words--and the Hatch Act was taken as holy writ, and something everyone tiptoed around, for fear of violating it, even inadvertently. Now I find the Hatch Act is little more than a piece of used kleenex and, as a practical matter, is utterly meaningless! What a miraculous new understanding of the Rule of Law George Bush and Karl Rove have brought!

What's even more disheartening is that not one of these maggots has gone to jail yet. Jail, I'm afraid, is my yardstick for measuring whether Democrats are making things better or not. I'd sure like to see criminal penalties attached to Hatch Act violations, but after Reid and Schumer got taken like a couple of yokels on the FISA re-write, I'm not sure the Democratic leadership has the guts, the brains, or the 'try' to un-do the massive, wholesale trashing of the rule of law we've suffered under for the last eight years.

[John Lopresti]

Several months months ago GPalast was imploring folks to go lite on Gonzales because, GP averred, Gonz was the fall-person for Rove. The month prior to the GPalast article Jonston and Lewis chronicled in NYTimes a junket by Gonzales himself, which must have figured in many articles ew wrote at the time, yet which for me retains some atmosphere of enticement as if a map to one of Gonzales' and Rove's important webs, as some folks in the NYT article received promotions and others remained loyal about what occurred in those meetings on Gonzales' nationwide dual purpose bandaid tour. Besides the departments in the excellent WaPo article ew linked, I would begin a deconstruction research pathway to look into other departments omitted from the WaPo review; for example, it is known that EPA has taken many recent belligerent stands defending its right to remain ignorant. I could imagine top appointees at that agency lapping at the Hatch Act pecadillo slideshow saucer, and planning, for example, subsequently to align private research labs inside of industries EPA is supposed to regulate so the environmental review process input data is guaranteed to be biased. That would seem to fit the patronage and plums governance style Rove oversaw.

[Mimikatz]

What about Qui Tam?

[OK]

Immune from punishment? What a crock. If these massive violations had happened during a democratic administration, the media would be screaming bloody murder, and the right would be demanding scalps.

[bmaz]

Mimikatz - How does this activity fit into the False Claims Act for purposes of a Qui Tam action? I know I have shied away from Qui Tam before because of the stories I have heard from other litigators about their difficulty; but if you can tell me how we could make a serious run at it, I might be about ready.

[victoria2dc]

I have a very good (nasty and mean-spirited) idea: (1) Rove is cited for inherent contempt and brought in to testify. (2) He won't do it and continues to cry out, "executive privilege, executive privilege." (3) So rather than listen to his tearful story, he's taken back to the deep, dark dungeon down in the basement of the halls of congress to sit until January 21, 2009.

While he is there, the US Congress uses him as a negotiation tool. The people in charge of negotiations are Senators Whitehouse and Schumer, with Whitehouse leading the pack.

The scene: Whitehouse and Schumer are preparing their negotiation strategy, gathering their documentation and preparing a winning case. Rove is still in jail, and Conyers, Leahy and Waxman are meeting with Dick and George to prepare the way for the negotiations.

Who is it that Dick and George will now throw under the bus to protect themselves?

* Rove
* Gonzo
* Dick
* George

What is it that we need to know more than anything else about the crimes of this White House?

What would they negotiate for so that what they have now could be documented and eventually cause both Dick and George to resign or be impeached?

Are those e-mails (the Republican Party e-mails) incriminating in a criminal way if they validate the attorneygate plan and other White House crimes?

What about the NM story? Could there be criminal activity that would force both the good senator and the congresswoman to resign amidst the news that the Senate Judiciary Committee is negotiating for the evidence they need, promising to release Rove to the local authorities *after* they get a full confession and whatever they need to impeach?

What is the ultimate knock down evidence that Conyers, Leahy and Waxman need to bring this cabal down?

[larue]

I'm gonna pull a Chertoff here . . ;-)

There's too much deep and exposed info about the Abramoff Sitch.

Given the history of criminal ops around weapons dealing The Bush Family has, the Abramoff is gonna be the tip of the burg we see, and it needs to be followed downward into the frozen cold ocean.

The ONLY problem with this is that there are likely DEMOCRATS involved in it somewhere, also. And that's why it's not moving forward fast enuff . . . the Dem's are still trying to win an election, and they WANT to win a LANDSLIDE VICTORY!!!

So they pussyfoot around and dance around and keep cards real close to their vests.

At some point, the Dem's HAVE to realize, if they keep pussyfootin, they gonna get spayed AND neutered, and may lose an election OUTRIGHT, that they shoulda won in a landslide.

The Abramoff Ops are the keys . . . political figures bribed and gifted for influence peddling, legislation drafting to benefit arms deals . . and the NUT of that all is, dramatic pause, The House Of Bush, and The House Of Saud . . . .

A Dem will have to break rank with the party, to save our nation . . . methinks. Right now, the DLC and the Usual Suspects (MIC/Big Biz) is leveraging and leaning on anyone with ammo to use . . . and sqelching ANY thoughts of total exposure of the Abramoff Sitch . . .

We live in interesting times . . . will Abramoff break before Iran is invaded . . .

[Citizen92]

Marcy:

Don't forget about Jane Cherry, former Associate Director of Political Affairs, but now NASA White House Liaison. She's on record asking about the GSA-managed "African American Burial Ground" in New York, NY.

She also had a pretty big hand in the US Attorneys firings, and no one has said a peep about her yet.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/7/31/8364/55557

Jane Cherry story