1 Boring Old Man

Bush isn’t the only person looking back. I have been too. Of all the people who testified at the U.S. Attorney Hearings, one person stands out in my mind as the most odious – Bradley Schlozman. He was my choice for the worst person in the world. He combined physical awkwardness, an obnoxious demeanor, moral corruption, and despicable behavior into a package born to be hated. He’s the kind of person that nice people even pick on on the playground, he’s so obnoxious noxious. Congress released an excoriating report on him in June. The DoJ has declined to prosecute him [imagine that], so the report is finally public. Here’s just a snippet:

An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring and

Other Improper Personnel Actions in the Civil Rights Division

Employment Litigation Section Chief David Palmer also told us that he heard Schlozman express pleasure about his bringing “RTAs,” meaning “right-thinking Americans,” and Republicans into the Division. Palmer added, “I don’t want to say that [Schlozman] had a preference, but [he] liked hiring conservatives.” Lelling told us that Schlozman “was always very unapologetically clear about the kind of people he wanted hired into the Department . . . . [H]e want[ed] people in the Department who [were] conservative on the legal issues, maybe conservative period.”

Accounts from several other people we interviewed and e-mails provided further evidence that political and ideological affiliations were factors in Schlozman’s hiring decisions throughout his tenure in the Civil Rights Division. According to Appellate Section Chief Diana Flynn, Schlozman was open about his disdain for and lack of trust in the attorney staff of the Appellate Section. She told us that in conversations with her Schlozman alternately referred to the Appellate Section lawyers hired during prior administrations as “Democrats” and “liberals” and said they were “disloyal,” could not be trusted, and were not “on the team.” Flynn said Schlozman pledged to move as many of them out of the Civil Rights Division as he could to make room for the “real Americans” and “right-thinking Americans” he wanted to hire. As discussed previously, based on accounts from numerous Division  employees and officials – including Kim and Section Chiefs Cutlar and Flynn – and from the context of Schlozman’s use in e-mails of terms such as “real American,” “right-thinking American,” and being “on the team,” the evidence indicated that these terms were Schlozman’s way of referring to politically conservative applicants and attorneys.

A May 9, 2003, e-mail provides additional evidence of the meaning of Schlozman’s phrases. Luis Reyes, then Counsel to the AAG for the Civil Division, sent an e-mail to Schlozman in connection with a legal matter, endorsing an attorney in the Department’s Office of Legal Policy as a “right thinking american to say the least.” In an e-mail response, Schlozman wrote that he “just spoke with [the attorney] to verify his political leanings and it is clear he is a member of the team.”

Other e-mails showed that Schlozman viewed applicants unfavorably who were Democrats or deemed liberal. For example, in November 2003, when a Department attorney forwarded to Schlozman the résumé of a recent law school graduate clerking for a federal judge who was interested in working at the Department, Schlozman forwarded the résumé to a Division front office Counsel, commenting that “this has lib written all over it. let’s discuss”…

It reminds me of a whole parade of wormy people who have passed before us over the Bush years – from low levels like Bradley Schlozman, low downs like Thor Hearne, John Bolton, or John Yoo, up to low lifes like Karl Rove. The Bush Administration had a high concentration of them, some in high positions. One that was right up there with  Bradley Schlozman in the line-up of toxic characters was Douglas Feith, assistant to Paul Wolfowitz in the DoD. Since I’m on a roll. Who could forget Lurita Doan?

What ties all of these people together? They are people who would not have been selected based on merit, but they were willing to forgo their oath of office as government servants and become political pawns of the Republican Conservative Bush machine. We think of people in government jobs as sometimes dedicated and sometimes mediocre, but we’re not used to thinking of them as political agents. That’s how these people functioned, and it was blatant. "Schlozman pledged to move as many of them out of the Civil Rights Division as he could to make room for the ‘real Americans’ and ‘right-thinking Americans’ he wanted to hire." "Investigators state that the Hatch Act may have been broken when the question ‘How can we help our candidates?’ was asked by Lurita Doan."

It is remarkable that Bush’s government by loyalist dweebs continued for four and a half years. It finally bubbled up into national awareness in August 2005 with Hurricane Katrina. FEMA Director, Michael Brown was the Judges and Stewards Commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association from 1989-2001. After numerous lawsuits were filed against the organization over disciplinary actions, Brown was forced to resign. He was then hired by the Bush Administration and was running FEMA by 2002! His dismal performance during Katrina [equalled by that of Bush] finally began to open the eyes of Americans to the reality that we had a government of mediocres chosen mostly for their Republican Party loyalty. A couple of months later, Bush nominated Harriet Miers, his counsel, to the Supreme Court – nice lady, loyal Bushie, but in no way qualified for that job. By that time, it was becoming apparent that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was also just another loyal lightweight.

Katrina, the 2006 Mid-Terms, the Libby Trial, and the U.S. Attorney Hearings all clustered together to awaken the country, and the Administration has limped along to this inglorious ending ever since. But throughout it all, Bradley Schlozman stands out as the paradigm for the Bush featherweights…