Reply #41: They did it In 2003 -- a GOP Judic. Comm staffer hacked Dem e-mails

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and then leaked them. Robert Novak was among those who spun the story to make it seem that a Dem dirty-tricks operation to thwart White House plans had been outed by an intrepid GOP staffer. Does anyone else see a pattern here?

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Senate Republican staffer put on leave for accessing Democratic files
- JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/11/25/national1948EST0744.DTL

(11-25) 16:48 PST (AP) --

WASHINGTON(AP) -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said Tuesday he had put one of his staffers on administrative leave for improperly obtaining data from the secure computer networks of two Democratic senators. Hatch, R-Utah, said preliminary interviews suggested that a former Republican member of the committee staff may have also been involved in penetrating the Democratic computers.

"I was shocked to learn that this may have occurred," Hatch said in a statement. "I am mortified that this improper, unethical and simply unacceptable breach of confidential files may have occurred on my watch." Hatch launched an investigation after Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., protested what they said was the theft of memos from their servers. The memos, concerning political strategy on blocking confirmation of several of President Bush's judicial nominations, were obtained and reported on by The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Times.

Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle informed Hatch on Monday that the committee's four computer servers had been disconnected and that daily backup tapes had been given to the U.S. Capitol Police for safekeeping. He said an outside expert would conduct a forensic assessment to determine if there had been unauthorized access to files. Hatch said that, at his direction, two federal prosecutors assigned to the committee had conducted interviews with about 50 people.

He said the interviews revealed that at least one current staff member had improperly accessed at least some of the documents that appeared in the media reports and which have been posted on the Internet. The person has denied leaking the information to the press, he said. The staff member, who was not identified, was put on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of Pickle's investigation, Hatch said.

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AND, then, this is how Novak spun the story a few days later:

Senate Democratic Plumbers
Chairman Orrin Hatch angered fellow Republicans last week by opening Senate Judiciary Committee Republican e-mails to investigators probing leaks of Democratic e-mails.
Nov 29, 2003
by Robert Novak

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/robertnovak/2003/11/29/160364.html

WASHINGTON -- Chairman Orrin Hatch angered fellow Republicans last week by opening Senate Judiciary Committee Republican e-mails to investigators probing leaks of Democratic e-mails.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist ordered full cooperation in the investigation of how Republicans obtained the committee's Democratic e-mails, which detailed the strategy for blocking President Bush's judicial nominations. Hatch responded with his order to open GOP e-mails to investigators. The Republican chairman also put one staffer on administrative leave.

The investigation was triggered by Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the assistant Democratic floor leader who received some of the more important leaked e-mails. Rank-and-file Republican senators grumble that Frist and Hatch have permitted Durbin to obscure the substance of the e-mails, which showed left-wing special interest groups behind the filibusters preventing judicial confirmations.

Strangely, this story about GOP wiretapping simply disappeared. But, there seems to be larger pattern here that the Republicans improperly reveal classified or sensitive information, and when caught, allege the Democrats are involved in a witchhunt or "Plummer's" operation, as Novak had the temerity to call Durbin's attempt to get to the bottom of the 2003 Senate e-mail hack. This is a variation on the same strategy used in the Plame outing.