Justice Department Losing Top Officials at Busy Time...#2 James B. Comey

[ElsewheresDaughter]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/11/AR2005081101651.html?nav=E8

The Justice Department's second-in-command, James B. Comey, is clearing out his desk today to take a job as Lockheed Martin Corp.'s general counsel. The department's sprawling criminal division has been without a permanent chief for three months. And two other divisions covering antitrust and civil rights investigations are operating under temporary leadership.




Amid a major department reorganization, a Senate battle over the Supreme Court and an ongoing probe into the leak of a CIA operative's name, the Justice Department is stuck with vacancies in some of its most high-profile and politically sensitive jobs.

Justice officials say they are particularly concerned about the appointments for deputy attorney general and criminal division chief, which have been held up by disputes in the Senate and are unlikely to be approved until mid-September at the earliest.

The delays have resulted in a rare bout of friction between Congress and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, who has vowed to mend frayed relations between Justice and Capitol Hill since his contentious confirmation battle early this year.

"There's a huge concern that we're sitting without confirmed leadership for this many weeks," said one senior Justice official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of ongoing negotiations over the appointments.

The candidate to replace Comey, former deputy White House counsel Timothy E. Flanigan, came under sharp questioning from some senators last month about his role in setting U.S. policy on torture and his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was indicted yesterday. A confirmation vote has yet to be scheduled.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. Comey was the guy that appointed Fitzgerald, and Gonzales had to....

...recuse himself from the Plame case. That doesn't leave anyone else at Justice that can, or would, remove Fitzgerald from his current position.

Additionally, Fitzgerald was given powers equivalent to that of an Independent Counsel, placing him outside the reach of the so-called "Executive Branch" of the NeoCon Junta.

Evidently, Fitzgerald is getting support not only from the Democrats in Congress but also very quietly from a number of Republicans.

[faithnotgreed]

2. could you give more information about your "evidently" sentence

thanks mld

[goforit]

3. Hmmmm.........Interesting to see what may happen.