White House Under Investigation Investigators are looking into allegations that the White House has been engaged in illegal political activity, particularly in the office of President Bush's policy adviser, Karl Rove. http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7007144773 I hope they get what they deserve. Clean house!!!
Probed by who??? However, the Los Angeles Times failed to inform its readers that Bloch had been accused of, among other things, homophobia, retaliating against employees who disagreed with his policies, and intimidating them before they were questioned about a whistle-blower investigation inside the Office of the Special Counsel. The whistle-blower probe was launched by the White House's Office of Personnel Management inspector general nearly two years ago, according to a February 16, 2007 story in the Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/15/AR2007021501 725.html Bloch vehemently denied the allegations at the time. On Tuesday, a spokesman in his office reiterated Bloch's position and insisted that the special counsel would still be able to conduct an independent review of Rove's work for the past six years, regardless of the accusations against him. Some Democratic Congressional leaders, such as Rep. Henry Waxman, chair of the Government Oversight Committee, who is also looking into Rove's use of RNC email accounts, as well as his role in the firing of the US attorneys, would not immediately comment on the announcement that Bloch's office is spearheading the probe into Rove's work. However, there are concerns among Democratic officials on Capitol Hill that the investigation as headed by Bloch would amount to a whitewash. Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Bloch's own questionable behavior as special counsel makes him the "wrong choice" to investigate Rove. "Having transformed [the Office of the Special Counsel] into a virtual black hole for legitimate complaints of retaliation, Bloch is decidedly not the right person to tackle the issues of misconduct and illegality that surround top White House officials," Sloan said, "There is a serious question as to whether Bloch will just provide cover for an administration that has been covering for him." In fact, some of the issues Bloch would be in charge of looking into related to Rove's activities in the US attorneys scandal, such as claims that some federal prosecutors were not in sync with White House policies on a variety of issues, mirror Bloch's alleged behavior involving his own employees. "The Office of Personnel Management's inspector general has been investigating allegations by current and former OSC employees that Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch retaliated against underlings who disagreed with his policies - by, among other means, transferring them out of state - and tossed out legitimate whistle-blower cases to reduce the office backlog," the Washington Post reported. "The probe is the most serious of many problems at the agency since Bloch, a Kansas lawyer who served at the Justice Department's Task Force for Faith-based and Community Initiatives, was appointed by President Bush three years ago. Since he took the helm in 2004, staffers at the OSC, a small agency of about 100 lawyers and investigators, have accused him of a range of offenses, from having an anti-gay bias to criticizing employees for wearing short skirts and tight pants to work." A January 13, 2005 story in The New Standard http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/1384 said employees in the Office of the Special Counsel retained a private attorney to protest Bloch's orders that at least 12 staffers in the department move to another city or lose their jobs so Bloch could hire individuals who agree with his policies. In a strange twist, these employees accused Bloch of selectively "purging" employees from his department, a word now associated with the US attorney firings, and an area that Bloch says he will investigate to determine if wrongdoing took place. The New Standard report said a representative for some of the employees in the Office of the Special Counsel had reason to believe that their reassignments "amount to an attempted "purge." "They further suggest that Special Counsel Scott Bloch is gradually doing away with his critics while making way for pliant, fresh-faced replacements, fitting a pattern of "cronyism" they allege he has engaged in throughout most of his thirteen-month tenure as head of OSC," the New Standard reported in a January 13, 2005 story. In February, "the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, the Project on Government Oversight, the Government Accountability Project and Human Rights Campaign and a lawyer for the OSC employees protested in a letter to legislators and to Clay Johnson III, the Office of Management and Budget deputy who ordered the OSC probe," the Post reported "The OSC's memo, the group said, "was only the latest in a series of actions by Bloch to obstruct the investigation. "Other actions have included suggestions that all witnesses interviewed ... provide Bloch with affidavits describing what they had been asked and how they responded," according to the Post. Whether Bloch can truly be effective in the investigation into Rove's political work will likely be an issue of further debate. Bloch believes he can be. He told the Los Angeles Times Monday that his office "will not leave any stone unturned." "We will take the evidence where it leads us," Bloch told the Times.
I can't imagine why the LATimes, of all sources, would fail to inform it's readers of such an important set of facts Excellent post browntwn!
Yeah, I have to agree. When I first saw it, I thought it was another kooky "alien spaceships are coming to get us" conspiracy theory. It's not as bad as the "Bush is King" thread though!
Yes, but better than guru-seo's latest contribution to the forum http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=305236 (gets good around page 3)
Ouch! It must really suck to be caught in outright lies and theft of others content like that. Though he's never let honesty and credibility stand in his way before.
I love how the dems will do absolutly anything to discredit bush....are they scared hes going to run for office again or something? They should be doing more important things, like giving our troops the funding they need.
That would make it easier for democrats to surrender and raise an islamic flag at the whitehouse! What a great idea!