Bud Cummins Wants An Apology

The Fort Smith Times Record is reporting that ousted US Attorney Bud Cummins wants an apology. Sara Taylor said in a Feb. 16 e-mail that “Bud is lazy — which is why we got rid of him in the first place.” Nobody else has ever suggested Cummins is lazy. "I feel very strongly that she misspoke. As to why she misspoke, I don’t know,” said Rep. John Boozman (R-AR), "It’s unfair to imply that Bud was in any way not doing an outstanding job in his capacity as U.S. attorney.”

Since Sara is the only one who ever said Bud was lazy in public, I don't think Bud's reputation is in jeopardy.

I, on the other hand, would like to know what lead Sara to say "Bud is lazy--which is why we got rid of him in the first place?" Lazy doing what? Using his office to attack Democrats? Failing to suppress Democratic votes?

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Flash--Two Congressional Committees Are Issuing Subpoenas to Miers and Taylor

Fox News and AHN Globial News are reporting that subpoenas are being issued to secure the testimony of Harriet Miers and Sara Taylor. According to AHN's Julie Farber

the Senate Judiciary Committee's subpoena for Taylor will force her to testify on July 11, while the House Judiciary Committee's subpoena for Miers calls for her testimony on the firings the following day.

Undoubtedly more will follow. I am getting sick of popcorn. Maybe we can switch to mixed nuts.

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Document Release Implicates Sara Taylor

Think Progress is reporting that the Department of Justice has released new documents connecting former White House political chief (and top aid to Karl Rove) Sara Taylor and her deputy Scott Jennings to the U.S. Attorney scandal. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy has released the following statement.

These documents, which should have been released by the Department long ago, provide further evidence that White House officials like former Political Director Sara Taylor were deeply involved in the mass firings of well-performing prosecutors. The Department of Justice should not be reduced to a political arm of the White House. We need an end to the White House’s stonewalling of our investigations so we can learn the truth.

Here is a link to the released documents.

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New York Times To Congress--It's Subpoena Time

An editorial in this morning's New York Times neatly sums up Bradley Schlozman's testimony concerning the ACORN indictments and his role in the politicization of the Department of Justice.

Mr. Schlozman said it did not occur to him that the indictments could affect the campaign. That is hard to believe since the Justice Department’s guidelines tell prosecutors not to bring vote fraud investigations right before an election, so as not to affect the outcome. He also claimed, laughably, that he did not know that Acorn was a liberal-leaning group.

Mr. Schlozman fits neatly into the larger picture. Prosecutors who refused to use their offices to help Republicans win elections, like John McKay in Washington State, and David Iglesias in New Mexico, were fired. Prosecutors who used their offices to help Republicans did well.

All roads in this scandal lead to the White House. The White House refuses to make Harriet Miers, Karl Rove, Scott Jennings, Sara Taylor and William Kelley available for testimony under oath and have generally stonewalled regarding critical emails. At long last the Times editorial board has concluded

This noncooperation has gone on long enough. Mr. Leahy should deliver the subpoenas for the five White House officials and make clear that if the administration resists, Congress will use all available means to get the information it needs.

The Nattering Nabob says, "My God, even the New York Times gets it." The Nattering Nabob is right.

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Tim Griffin Out In Arkansas

I first became interested in blogging because I became really, really interested in Tim Griffin, the protege of Karl Rove and former boss of Monica Goodling, who was named US Attorney in Arkansas after Bud Cummins was asked to leave. I just couldn't understand why that happened. Anyway, it can be argued that the entire US Attorney scandal started with Tim Griffin.

The Arkansas Times reports that Griffin is out as US Attorney effective June 1,2007. According to the TPMMuckraker Griffin is talking with the Thompson campaign about a top job.

Last week Sara Taylor left the Administration. Griffin this week. Both tied to caging activities in the 2004 election. I wonder. Can Sara be far behind. And what about Karl Rove. Shouldn't he be looking for work about now?

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Goodling White House Contact Leaves Administration

During last week's hearing Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) asked Monica Goodling what Karl Rove knew about the firing of the US Attorneys. She responded that

There was an e-mail that Mr. Sampson forwarded to me, I think, on December 4, if I'm remembering correctly, that said that it had been circulated to different offices within the White House and that they had all signed off. I think it said that White House political had signed off. Political is actually headed by Sara Taylor but does report to Mr. Rove, so I don't know for sure.

Michael Roston reports that Sara Taylor has cleaned out her office and is said to be heading to the private sector. Taylor is on the short list of White House people facing a subpoena.

The blog Born at the Crest of the Empire speculates that Taylor may have resigned over Goodling's testimony concerning Tim Griffin and "caging."

Think Progess describes "caging" as an illegal voter suppression technique. The particular "caging" activity associated with Taylor and Griffin was aimed as suppressing the votes of African American service members living in Florida during the 2004 election.

"Voter suppression?" Hummmm. Where I have we heard that term lately?

I guess the holiday is over. Back to the Gonzales 9.

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