BOMBSHELL from W. Post on White House politicization at GSA!

[kpete]

BOMBSHELL from W. Post on White House politicization at GSA!
Sun Mar 25, 2007 at 09:01:46 PM PDT

GSA Chief Is Accused of Playing Politics
Doan Denies 'Improper' Use of Agency for GOP

By Scott Higham and Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, March 26, 2007; Page A01

Witnesses have told congressional investigators that the chief of the General Services Administration and a deputy in Karl Rove's political affairs office at the White House joined in a videoconference earlier this year with top GSA political appointees, who discussed ways to help Republican candidates.

With GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan and up to 40 regional administrators on hand, J. Scott Jennings, the White House's deputy director of political affairs, gave a PowerPoint presentation on Jan. 26 of polling data about the 2006 elections.

................

When Jennings concluded his presentation to the GSA political appointees, Doan allegedly asked them how they could "help 'our candidates' in the next elections," according to a March 6 letter to Doan from Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Waxman said in the letter that one method suggested was using "targeted public events, such as the opening of federal facilities around the country."

On Wednesday, Doan is scheduled to appear before Waxman's committee to answer questions about the videoconference and other issues. The committee is investigating whether remarks made during the videoconference violated the Hatch Act, a federal law that restricts executive-branch employees from using their positions for political purposes. Those found in violation of the act do not face criminal penalties but can be removed from their jobs.

So we have proof that arms of the executive branch were actively working to harm political opponents and help allies.

more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032501048.html
via:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/3/25/234756/254


Waxman's letter to Doan http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/pdf/waxman_letter_030607.pdf. It includes allegations of a discussion among the political appointees about how to push Speaker Pelosi (this is January 2007) out of a courthouse opening in CA and how to include Sen. Mel Martinez at a ceremony in FL. The hearings on Wednesday should be interesting, to say the least.

Waxman's requesting all the documents:
http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/pdf/waxman_letter_030607.pdf

[SpiralHawk]

1. Are all republicons corrupt cronies?

Is there not even one honest republicon?

Why do the republicons hate America?

Why do republicons lie, and steal, and cheat America over and over?

Why are republicons all so amoral?

[Lerkfish]

8. In order: yes, no, they're evil, see previous answer, see previous answer

:)

[ChairmanAgnostic]

51. 100% on your test answers. Bravo!

I do believe that being corrupt is a necessary element before they let you into their cabal.

[hootinholler]

9. No.

But, the ones who aren't are in survival mode.

-Hoot

[mwb970]

15. There must be *some* honest Republicans, no?

It's pathetic that one has to ponder for quite a while to even come up with possibilities.

....

Um, Hagel? He's honest, kind of, isn't he?

....

....

I guess I already said Hagel, right?

....

Wait! Wasn't "Honest Abe" a Republican? There's one right there! Oh, that's right, he's dead. Really thought I had one that time.

....

Dang. I have this feeling there's one more possibility but I can't quite think of who it is. Anyone?

[glitch]

25. Hagel, the previous owner of ES&S, vote machine company that gave him 80% return?

That Hagel? :rofl:

[Morgana LaFey]

43. Actually, it was 83% -- THAT Hagel

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3181240&mesg_id=3181240

[glitch]

48. That makes me laugh 3% harder! Or, cry. nt

[renate]

33. Lincoln Chafee

Of course, he's gone now. Only the good Republicans get kicked out of the Senate.

[tridim]

40. Ron Paul? Yea, I know he's really not a republic, but he does have the label.

[MN ChimpH8R]

49. This guy

[cooolandrew]

22. Well there is one Arnie but only in part, his Kennedy wife has her good influence on him...

I mean you have to hand to Arnie on the Environment at least, also he apparently said Limbaugh was irrelevant. It's a move in the right direction at least.

[glitch]

27. Arnie, the one who settled the $9 billion lawsuit against TX energy companies for pennies

on the dollar? That Arnie? :rofl:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

53. John Anderson, Chuck Percy,

and several others. but no modern day GOPers that I can recall.

[WinkyDink]

28. Let me know when he changes parties.

[moodforaday]

45. Ron Paul?

But he's not really a Republican, just tags along for lack of a better forum.

[Atman]

2. So does this mean the "missing W keys" story might not have been true?

:wow:

Say it ain't so!

.

[TomInTib]

6. Speaking of...

Don't you just love how almost all of these bastards use an initial as part of their name?

"J. Scott Jennings", etc.

Do you think they called him J. Scott back in school?

I think that it is part of the Cult of W.

[NewJeffCT]

10. Like I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby?

I keep thinking of "I Claudius" when I see "I. Lewis"

[Hepburn]

17. Yeah, but with Scooter....

...his first name is IRVING. Do you blame him for making that an initial???

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

20. Pretentious little twits.

n/t

[DemReadingDU]

13. What is the 'missing W keys'?

Probably I have read it, but my brain is confused :eyes:

[hang a left]

19. Back in 01

When * moved into the WH. They made claims about the Clintons and staff trashing the big house. There was a story that was all over the airwaves about how they had removed all the "W" buttons from the keyboards.

[NewJeffCT]

21. Not just removing the "W"s from keyboards

They also claimed that the White House was trashed - as in criminally ransacked. This was shrieked all over the airwaves for weeks by Rush, Savage, Hannity, etc.

The GAO later determined there was no truth to the story and that the White House was in the normal condition you'd expect after somebody had just moved out after 8 years...

[DemReadingDU]

31. Ah, I remember that now, Thanks!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

3. Gotta love Henry! eom

[sellitman]

4. Sorry but...

A Republicon being corrupt isn't a "Bombshell" anymore. Maybe finding one that isn't would be though.

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. RW scandal du jour.

Nothing to see here folks, move along.............

[Supersedeas]

32. when all appointees are Party Cronies -- eventually scandal will rise to the surface

[The Count]

7. remember when ostensibly lots of federal employees were sent GOP campaigning?

It was in the papers. henry just followed the news

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

52. That is such a beaurtiful quote - a cat in every tree and a subpoena on every doorstep

There are surely some very nervous repugs out there today.

[Norquist Nemesis]

11. Save me some time, please...What exactly does GSA do?

(dumb question, I know)

Okay, on a certain level I can understand the WH as the 'leader' of the party communicating with others how they can help. But when the 'discussion' goes to a level of manipulating in a PR strategy like this is saying...there's something that goes beyond just seriously wrong.

Sorry, but MY tax dollars should not be used in this way. If I wanted "my money" to go to smearing and ostracizing Democrats, or even just to provide an advantage in support of Republicans then I'd be sending dollars to the RNC!

[williesgirl]

12. k&r - they are all criminals are need to be jailed permanently.

[Robbien]

14. So when they say Dems hate America they mean Dems hate GOPers

because the RNC and the American Government are so intertwined, they are now one unit.

The only Democrats in the American Government are those we elected. Everyone else in the government is a GOPer.

[cooolandrew]

24. Cool you put it that way because Hartmann once said...

... that voters of the GOP define themselves as Republicans and so when we used to say the Republican party they associated personally. That's why I tend to always say GOP or bush supporters. Hartmann tends to be 100 percent on the money.

[Hepburn]

16. Holy crap...

...BushCo makes the Nixon Admin look like a Baptist Ladies' Tea Social. What the heck is gonna be next???? Wow ~~ WaPo, Page A01. Hello impeachment! I think the more that comes out, the more it looks likely and possible.

K&R

[cooolandrew]

26. Yeah, we knew it was bad from outside sources, but once you get more info they shock you more.

[malaise]

18. They have infected every institution they touched

What a fugging bunch of criminals.

[cooolandrew]

29. My guess is, if they hold enough hearings they will find scandal on every republican in congress.

One representative is quoted as saying, '' We've been holding hearings for several weeks and every tree we have shaken there is a car'' a fat cat at that.

[malaise]

34. I suspect you are correct

This is the most corrupt bunch in history.

[Ganja Ninja]

23. There is a cancer growing on the presidency and it's name is

President Bush. It's not that these guys are creative in finding new ways to manipulate the system to their advantage. They're finding old ways that other people never used because it was illegal.

[paparush]

30. Bush/Blair will attack Iran within the month...if nothing else, to clear the headlines

Oh..and to secure the oil.

To stop Iran from revaluing its oil in Euros instead of dollars (Venezuala, Syria, your next)

To mask fading Saudi oil production.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=503509&mesg_id=503509

To make a few more billion for Halliburtion.

[WiseButAngrySara]

35. Sigh! Another scandal another day. k(pete)nr! ...n/t

[annabanana]

36. The WHOLE General Services Administration ?

It looks to me like they subverted the entire GSA and used them as an RNC adjunct committee. With the Chief, a Deputy from Rove's office and 40 (Forty!!) regional administrators!!!

Is this slightly larger than the average scam, even for them?

[Robbien]

37. For six years they only hired GOPers in each and every dept of the government

Remember last year when Jefferson of HHS even said it out loud forgetting he was talking to a non-GOPer.

The only Dems in DC these days are the ones we voted in. Even K street had to go out and beat the bushes to hire some non GOPers when the Dems took control.

You ask if this is not a larger scam. It is not a larger scam. It is just one department here. If you could watch videos of their other department meetings you would probably find the exact same thing going on in each and every department.

[Patsy Stone]

38. Doan did nothing wrong yet...

"In several recent statements, Doan has said she did nothing wrong. She said her troubles are the result of retaliation by the inspector general over her efforts to rein in spending and balance the GSA budget. Doan, a wealthy former government contractor who sold her company before taking over the GSA last May, has hired three law firms and two media relations companies at her own expense to handle inquiries from the federal investigators and the news media."




Like you do when you're innocent.

[Straight Shooter]

50. A wealthy former government contractor?

Did she earn her wealth from government contracts? What kind of contracts, I wonder. Who got her the contracts? Quid pro quo.

Follow the money ............

[EVDebs]

39. The politicization of intelligence agencies is even more frightening

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=506213&mesg_id=506213

Answer THAT question and you end up going into the CIA, NSA, and FBI politicization...

Which tie into the NYC pre convention intelligence gathering on legitimate dissenters...

and guess where the CIA is stationing its illegal domestic spying operations ? Denver, where Dems hold their '08 convention

CIA Plans to Shift Work to Denver
Domestic Division Would Be Moved

By Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 6, 2005; Page A21
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/05/AR2005050501860.html

There's legitimate spying and illigitimate spying. We'll never know which "they" plan for unless we ask, in Congress, under oath.

[tom_paine]

41. Investigate! Indict! Prosecute! Convict!

:mad: :grr: :grr: :mad:

[Morgana LaFey]

42. Evereything this admin DOES violates the Hatch Act

And that's a fact. There IS no other reason to do anything, in their minds, unless it results in political advantage (and/or $$ advantage for their wealthy friends).

[Gabi Hayes]

44. CNN just ran the story, and included a segment on Gore's WH phone calls,

specifically mentioning the Hatch Act

[theothersnippywshrub]

46. Bush politicized every federal agency from the start of his reign.

From the 30 July 2003 Issue of the Wall Street Journal:

Oregon Water Saga Illuminates Rove's Methods With Agencies

TOM HAMBURGER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
July 30, 2003

WASHINGTON -- In a darkened conference room, White House political strategist Karl Rove was making an unusual address to 50 top managers at the U.S. Interior Department. Flashing color slides, he spoke of poll results, critical constituencies -- and water levels in the Klamath River basin.

. . .

Though Mr. Rove's clout within the administration often is celebrated, this episode offers a rare window into how he works behind the scenes to get things done. One of them is with periodic visits to cabinet departments. Over the past two years Mr. Rove or his top aide, Kenneth Mehlman -- now manager of Mr. Bush's re-election campaign -- have visited nearly every agency to outline White House campaign priorities, review polling data and, on occasion, call attention to tight House, Senate and gubernatorial races that could be affected by regulatory action.

Every administration has used cabinet resources to promote its election interests. But some presidential scholars and former federal and White House officials say the systematic presentation of polling data and campaign strategy goes beyond what Mr. Rove's predecessors have done.

"We met together and talked a lot about issues of the day, but never in relation to polling results, specific campaigns or the president's popularity," says Lisa Guide, a political appointee at Interior during the Clinton administration. Frank Donatelli, political director in the Reagan White House, says "we were circumspect about discussing specific administration rulings that had yet to be made."

. . .

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

Substituting polling data for statutory criteria for fulfilling statutory responsibilities. How very republican.

[laugle]

47. Let's just hope they put her under oath!!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

54. we've been saying that the GOPers are corrupt for years now.

the only difference is that the message is getting out into the public. And they are responding with nods and recognition of how bad things have become.