Last December, the Justice Department fired eight U.S. Attorneys for no good reason. The purge threw a monkey wrench into several ongoing investigations of political corruption. One large-scale probe was uncovering a scandal-ridden trail leading from the CIA to the Congress and possibly the White House. Were these prosecutors getting too close for comfort for this Administration?
Bush's Justice Department was using a little-known part of the so-called "Patriot Act" reauthorization passed by the 109th Congress. The law allows the President to replace the fired prosecutors indefinitely with stand-in partisan cronies who are less likely to investigate wrongdoers in the Bush Administration.
Thankfully, many of the fired prosecutors have spoken out and Congress is responding. Hearings are being scheduled in the Judiciary Committees in the House and Senate. Also, legislation has been introduced that would put an end to this dangerous partisan cudgel by restoring previous limitations on the ability of the President to appoint U.S. Attorneys indefinitely.
U.S. Attorneys committed to cleaning up politics should be honored, not summarily fired. The mass firings send a chilling message to all who are working to expose government corruption. Let's stop this dangerous misuse of presidential power and restore our system of checks and balances so we can clean up Washington, instead of making it worse.
TAKE ACTION now! @
http://action.citizen.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6903
SOURCE: Public Citizen's Congress Watch
Bush's Justice Department was using a little-known part of the so-called "Patriot Act" reauthorization passed by the 109th Congress. The law allows the President to replace the fired prosecutors indefinitely with stand-in partisan cronies who are less likely to investigate wrongdoers in the Bush Administration.
Thankfully, many of the fired prosecutors have spoken out and Congress is responding. Hearings are being scheduled in the Judiciary Committees in the House and Senate. Also, legislation has been introduced that would put an end to this dangerous partisan cudgel by restoring previous limitations on the ability of the President to appoint U.S. Attorneys indefinitely.
U.S. Attorneys committed to cleaning up politics should be honored, not summarily fired. The mass firings send a chilling message to all who are working to expose government corruption. Let's stop this dangerous misuse of presidential power and restore our system of checks and balances so we can clean up Washington, instead of making it worse.
TAKE ACTION now! @
http://action.citizen.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6903
SOURCE: Public Citizen's Congress Watch
