Mark Crispin Miller On Karl Rove's U.S. Attorney For Utah

[Hissyspit]

http://markcrispinmiller.com/2009/04/karl-roves-us-attorney-for-utah.html

Karl Rove's U.S. Attorney for Utah

When BushCo fired David Iglesias, Carole Lam, John McKay and a few other principled
US Attorneys, the media made much of it (briefly) - while uttering not a peep about all
those US Attorneys who remained in place. Certainly those characters stayed on the job
because, unlike Iglesias et al., they did as Karl Rove ordered, working not as civil servants
but as party operatives, devoted to facilitating "victories" for the GOP.

We've heard of some of them: most infamously, Alice Martin and Leura Canary, who did
their bit, in Alabama, to nail Don Siegelman; and then there's Dunn Lampton, who indicted
Paul Minor, Wes Teel and Oliver Diaz in Mississippi. Those three--all of whom are still
in place--have been the objects of (a little) press attention. But most of those who were
not sacked at Rove's command have gone completely unexamined by the press (and so our
president just lets them do their thing).

Here's a little item about one of them: Brett Tolman, US Attorney for Utah. As you'll see,
his story is well worth some critical attention. (Tolman made a tiny bit of news--i.e., in
the blogosphere--on April 1, when he indicted U. of Utah student and eco-activist Tim
DeChristopher on political grounds: http://oneutah.org/2009/04/01/tim-dechristopher-indicted/.)

Why are these people still in office? Eric Holder has a mighty big broom in his office. Isn't
it past time for him to use it?

MCM


WHY ISN'T BRETT TOLMAN IN PRISON YET?

http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2007/03/why-isnt-brett-tolman-in-prison-yet.html

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2007
WHY ISN'T BRETT TOLMAN IN PRISON YET?


There may be legitimate reasons why Brett Tolman isn't in prison; I'm not sure. But there are certainly none that would explain why he is still the U.S. Attorney for Utah. Yes, another U.S. Attorney-- but one, unlike crimebusters Carol Lam, David Iglesias, John McKay, etc-- that wasn't fired. In fact, if not for Mr. Tolman none of them would have been fired. But that goes back to his old job when he was a staffer for Arlen Specter at the time when Specter was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Tolman was a counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee when they were reauthorizing the so-called "Patriot Act" in 2005-06. He reported to Snarlin' Arlen-- or at least that is what Specter believed. Specter was unaware of the Bush Regime's tight-knit "Mormon Mafia" operated by Karl Rove at the heart of the U.S. government. He learned the hard way.

One night, before passage of the bill, Tolman surreptitiously inserted a paragraph into the legislation that basically removed Senate oversight and approval of replacements for U.S. Attorneys. Tolman didn't ask Specter and didn't tell Specter or, as far as we know, any other senators. He just snuck it into the bill and none of them knew they were voting for that provision. Is that embarrassing, or what? I think so. And I think it plays a role in why the senators have been pretty mum on this episode. And what made it worse is that the Senate unanimously approved Bush's nomination of Tolman, soon after... as U.S. Attorney for Utah!

When Specter finally did discover he had been duped by Tolman and tried to get to the bottom of it, all he was told was that Tolman had acted on behalf of the Justice Department! No names. The question remains, did Rove tell Tolman to do it directly or did he use Gonzales as his messenger boy?

MORE AT LINK

[lala_rawraw]

1. excelent post, kick and rec

[crazylikafox]

2. k&r

[Gregorian]

3. Widespread corruption.

What do we do? Holder is just one man. A democracy requires an educated and involved public. If we had that, we might be able to have something worthy of the Founder's dreams. But then they weren't even unified. Man, what a mess.

[starroute]

4. Brett Tolman may have inserted that provision at Orrin Hatch's request

Tolman was originally Hatch's aide -- Specter only inherited him when he took over the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee. The blog entry quoted in the OP does mention Hatch in passing -- but I believe he's far more important than generally credited. In particular, Hatch was a strong supporter of Alberto Gonzales and was thoroughly obsessed with terrorism.

When Hatch ran the Judiciary Committee from 1995 to 2001, it was kind of a breeding ground for the people who later became loyal Bushies -- people like Kyle Sampson, who went on to work under Gonzales in the White House counsel's office and then moved over to the Justice Department in 2003. Or Jeffrey Taylor, who was with the DoJ in 2002-06 before becoming interim US Attorney for Washington DC. Or Dabney Friedrich, who was an associate White House counsel under Harriet Myers in 2003-06.

There are webs of connections among many of the people involved in the US Attorney scandal that haven't really been explored -- and I've only scratched the surface myself.

[glitch]

5. K & R for MCM who never sleeps. nt