so sorry ..this was the conflict of interest not that olson was intern..BUT its as bad IMHO
teddy olson is slipperier than a striped bass..
http://www.thedubyareport.com/olson.htmlRepublicans Rush Olson Nomination Through In-Depth
Special to The Dubya Report
Updated May 25, 2001
"In a move calculated to avoid a partisan floor fight in the early days of the Democratic majority, following Senator James Jeffords defection from the GOP, majority leader Daschle agreed to let the nomination of Theodore Olson to be solicitor general come to the senate floor, where it passed 51-47. The solicitor general is the government's advocate before the Supreme Court. Democrats could have filibustered the nomination, but chose not to. Senators Zell Miller of Georgia and Ben Nelson of Nebraska broke ranks with their party to vote for Olson. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton derided the Republican leadership for rushing the Olson nomination onto the senate floor. "I think it's an act of raw political partisanship to save a nomination that clearly is in trouble and should not go through," she said.
Earlier this month Democratic senators had achieved a modicum of solidarity when the Judiciary committee voted 9-9 along party lines on the Olson nomination. Two previous votes had been postponed because of concerns raised by Democrats about Olson's testimony. Under the current agreement for sharing political power between major parties in the senate, party leaders can take nominations to the floor of the senate in case of deadlock, and following the vote Judiciary Committee chairman Orrin Hatch asked Senator Trent Lott to do so. On the senate floor 60 votes were required to consider the question of the nomination. Democrats asserted that Olson's testimony had been evasive at best concerning his involvement in the "Arkansas Project" -- a group that sought to smear the Clintons. Olson denied being involved in the "origin and management" of the Arkansas project, but that statement has been contradicted in reports by Salon.com and the Washington Post.
Even Olson's current position is questionable in light of available evidence to the contrary. Olson claims he did not know of the project until 1997, despite reports of the 1994 memo. Mr. Olson also changed his story about how came to represent former judge David Hale's. Hale, who has been characterized as a "swindler," and "con-man," became Kenneth Starr's chief witness against the Clintons in the Whitewater investigation. Olson has vacillated about how he met Mr. Hale, but David Henderson, a director of the Spectator foundation and close associate of Richard Scaife, has admitted introducing Hale to Olson. At the time Olson already represented the Spectator, and Mr. Henderson was in charge of the Arkansas Project.
Potential conflict of interest, or at least the appearance thereof, for a Solicitor General designate, surfaced earlier this year when Olson argued for the Bush campaign before the Supreme Court. Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia's son Eugene, it was revealed, is a partner at Olson's law firm. (Another of Scalia's sons, John, joined the firm of Barry Richard who represented the Bush campaign before the Florida Supreme Court). "
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