Interior Clears Rove Against Kerry Claim

[Khephra]

WASHINGTON -- The Interior Department's inspector general has found no basis for a claim by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry that White House political advisers interfered in developing water policy in the Northwest.

The inspector general said President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, was not involved in a 2002 decision to divert water from the Klamath River in Oregon to irrigate farms.

While Rove mentioned the Klamath in passing during a briefing with senior Interior officials, "we found nothing to tie Karl Rove's comments ... to the Klamath decision-making process," Inspector General Earl Devaney said in a letter to Kerry, the Massachusetts senator.

A major fish kill and other problems in the drought-plagued region have "fueled the flames of suspicion and distrust," Devaney wrote in the letter dated March 1 and released Friday by the Interior Department.

"However, we conclude that the (Interior) Department conducted itself in keeping with the administrative process, that the science and information utilized supported the department's decisions, and that no political pressure was perceived by any of the key participants," Devaney's letter said.

more........

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-rove-kerry,0,7424347.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[displacedvermoter]

1. For the life of me I can't see why Gail Norton would have any

reason to cover for Karl Rove, can you?

God almighty!!!

[zulchzulu]

2. Time for an independent investigation

Something fishy about Rove and the Klamath River fish kill...seriously.

[Name removed]

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[BigBigBear]

13. I knew Rush was on drugs

but I didn't know he was giving away samples to his fans.

Bush is a micreant, fascist, fratboy coward. My life, and even yours, will improve when he's sent back to his phony ranch.

And I don't even kneel before presidents I like. If you spend a lot of time on your kness for Bush, I hope you have the good hygiene to use a bib and gargle once in a while.

[Jack Rabbit]

3. Wow! What a surprise!

Bush's Interior Department says that there is no basis for claiming that there is wrongdoing by the Bush administration.

Perhaps the claim concerning Rove and Klamath River project is baseless, but I'll be damned if I'm going to take at face value the official word of a government employee about that until the junta is ousted.

These are the same people who lied about Iraq and then ruined the career of a CIA operative when her husband exposed some of those lies. They are not to be trusted not to interfere with an inspector general's report.

[Disturbed]

4. Documentary

I saw a documentary of this issue on TV. Rove is neck deep in this water. The Repubs are lying...again. Their lies could fill a long book.

[PaDUer]

7. What's being done

about it, and the many others?--nothing.

[Gman]

5. This sounds like it came from the Kremlin

once again its "Nothing to see here. Move along."

[ochazuke]

14. Yeah. It's like "Stalin appoints commission to investigage...

accusations of secret prision camps."

Months later:

"No evidence these camps exist, or ever existed."

Next:

"Himmler sees no connection between work camps and disappearance of six million Jews."


Seriously, that's how much credibility shrubco's misadministration has.

[snippy]

6. This is a lie and a criminal coverup.

A summary of Rove's involvement based on the Wall Street Journal story:

Jan. 5, 2002: Rove accompanies Bush, who lost Oregon by less than 1% in 2000, to Portland, Ore.; Bush voices support for Klamath Basin farmers.

Jan. 6: Rove gives presentation to Interior Department officials connecting regulatory actions in key states, including Oregon's Klamath issue, to Republican prospects in the coming elections.

Feb. 2: Rove meets with farmers in Oregon.

March 29: Bush administration sides with farmers, diverts waters for agricultural use.

Sept. 21: Thousands of salmon die in the shallower Klamath River.

June 25, 2003: Regional officials tell Klamath farmers the flow of irrigation water needs to be curtailed; worried congressmen call Rove's office for help. The decision is reversed later in the day.

http://www.pcffa.org/RoveWSJ07-30-03.htm

[Name removed]

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[xchrom]

8. i love the notion

that anyone in this admin would say out loud that rove did anything wrong.

[yardwork]

11. If it's a lie

it will eventually come back and bite Rover and others.

The lies are piling up. W can't be president forever. Sooner or later the truth will out.

[mrdmk]

12. Once again this Administration proves it self

To be able to destroy something and not to be able to construct one dam thing. Instead of a water conservation program, they release the river to the farmers killing the fish river and now the water levels are very low. This is planning for the future folks, now nobody has enough water. What a bunch of idiots.

P.S. Name calling does not constructively fix a problem, I cannot fathom what these people where thinking even the farmers. The courts step in, hear the facts, render a verdict and told by this administration that they to are wrong.:shrug: