1 Boring Old Man

Politicization of Career Hiring at Justice Department?

…Calling themselves "A Group of Concerned Department of Justice Employees," they have penned an anonymous letter to the House and Senate Judiciary committees asking them to look into "the politicization of the non-political ranks of Justice employees, offices which are consistently and methodically being eroded by partisan politics."

The controversy is related to the Attorney General’s Honors Program, which is how recent law school graduates get hired by DOJ, as well as through the Summer Law Intern Program. The Attorney General’s Honors Program is the "only way that the Department hires entry-level attorneys," according to the website for DOJ’s Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management…

Under normal circumstances, the various divisions at Justice review applications from potential hires, set interviews and send the list to the Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management, which gives the green light to proceed. But recently, a number of divisions’ requests to interview certain applicants were turned down, and the career employees started to wonder why…

These career employees got a meeting with Michael Elston, McNulty’s chief of staff and a central figure in the prosecutor purge. This meeting took place on Dec. 5, and it didn’t go well. According to the career employees’ letter, obtained by The Crypt, Elston "was offensive to the point of (being) insulting." Elston has since taken a personal leave from the Justice Department.

"Claiming that the entire group had not ‘done their jobs’ in reviewing applicants, (Elston) said that he had a ‘screening panel’ to go over the list and research these candidates on the Internet; he refused to give the names of those on his ‘panel,’" the career employees wrote. "Mr. (Elston) said that people were struck from the list for three reasons: grades, spelling errors on applications and inappropriate information about them on the Internet.

So, in their own words, the career employees did some checking of their own. They reportedly detected a "common denominator" for "most of those" struck from the interview list: They had "interned for a Hill Democrat, clerked for a Democratic judge, worked for a ‘liberal cause’ or otherwise appeared to have ‘liberal’ leanings. Summa cum laude graduates at both Yale and Harvard were rejected for interviews."

Such partisan tests are illegal. You know. Illegal. The stuff DOJ is supposed to be protecting us from."

Shades of the Red Guard. The Bush Administration has stepped way over the line here. Way over the line. Loyalty oaths from Monica Goodling, quotas for Administration Agenda cases, this outrageous screening of applicants, interference in cases by Congressmen, mass resignations at the top with pre-emptive 5th Amendment claims, lost emails from the White House Servers, alternative email accounts, refusal to testify in front of Congress, etc. And Mr. KR@georgewbush.com is right in the middle of this one. Damn the Torpedos! Full Speed Ahead!