Will A Dark Cloud Follow Karl Rove Back To Texas?: Congress Is Still Investigating Serious Criminal Abuses of Executive Powers
By JOHN W. DEAN
from Findlaw.com
When Congress returns from its summer recess, it will again turn its investigative powers on questions regarding the Bush Administration's politicalization of operations in the Executive Branch that, by custom and law, are not political. By "not political," I mean these activities are properly conducted without partisan interest. With respect to them, it is improper for one political party to use the machinery of government for its own political benefit or to the detriment of its political opponents. Yet in several areas, that appears to be exactly what the Bush Administration has done.
The most prominent among these investigations are those being undertaken by the chairmen of the House and Senate's Judiciary committees, Representative John Conyers (D. MI) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D.VT), who are investigating the politicization of the Department of Justice, particularly in the hiring and firing of United States Attorneys. But an even broader inquiry is underway, initiated by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, under the direction of Chairman Henry Waxman (D. CA), and that inquiry has uncovered the extensive use of federal resources by the Bush Administration to assist its political friends and punish its political enemies.
So far, the Bush White House has successfully stonewalled all these inquiries by invoking executive privilege, which it construes in a manner so extreme as to lead it to instruct White House witnesses under subpoena to not even show up at the hearings at which they are scheduled to testify. Among those now so defying the Congress is Karl Rove, the Bush White House player many believe to be at the center of virtually all of the Bush Administration's politicalization efforts.
Rove, of course, has announced his departure from the White House. While I do not much like speculation, a secretive presidency like Bush's invites it. This fact calms any qualms I might have about exploring possibilities as why Rove is leaving now, in particular.
(Continued here.)
from Findlaw.com
When Congress returns from its summer recess, it will again turn its investigative powers on questions regarding the Bush Administration's politicalization of operations in the Executive Branch that, by custom and law, are not political. By "not political," I mean these activities are properly conducted without partisan interest. With respect to them, it is improper for one political party to use the machinery of government for its own political benefit or to the detriment of its political opponents. Yet in several areas, that appears to be exactly what the Bush Administration has done.
The most prominent among these investigations are those being undertaken by the chairmen of the House and Senate's Judiciary committees, Representative John Conyers (D. MI) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D.VT), who are investigating the politicization of the Department of Justice, particularly in the hiring and firing of United States Attorneys. But an even broader inquiry is underway, initiated by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, under the direction of Chairman Henry Waxman (D. CA), and that inquiry has uncovered the extensive use of federal resources by the Bush Administration to assist its political friends and punish its political enemies.
So far, the Bush White House has successfully stonewalled all these inquiries by invoking executive privilege, which it construes in a manner so extreme as to lead it to instruct White House witnesses under subpoena to not even show up at the hearings at which they are scheduled to testify. Among those now so defying the Congress is Karl Rove, the Bush White House player many believe to be at the center of virtually all of the Bush Administration's politicalization efforts.
Rove, of course, has announced his departure from the White House. While I do not much like speculation, a secretive presidency like Bush's invites it. This fact calms any qualms I might have about exploring possibilities as why Rove is leaving now, in particular.
(Continued here.)
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