Jeffrey Taylor's bio on the USAO site (http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/dc/US_Attorney/index.html) lists him as being in private practice from 1992 to 1995. Someone with the same name (and middle initial) worked at Latham and Watkins and donated to the Lincoln Club of San Diego County in 1994. Here's what the club has to say about itself: "The Lincoln Club of San Diego County is the premier business-friendly membership organization in the region accustomed to flexing its prowess as a powerful advocate and financial supporter of fiscally conservative candidates and pro-taxpayer causes throughout San Diego County."

I know that Latham & Watkins has popped up before. This is from a press release from their site: "Latham & Watkins LLP is pleased to announce that Alice Fisher is rejoining Latham & Watkins as a partner in the firm’s Litigation Department in Washington, D.C. after serving as Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division in the U.S. Department of Justice since July 2001."

Here's anther (also from their site): "Latham & Watkins LLP is pleased to announce that after nearly three years of service at the White House, the Department of Justice and on the Bush-Cheney Presidential Transition Team, Philip Perry has rejoined Latham & Watkins as a partner in the firm’s Litigation Department in Washington, D.C."

From SourceWatch's page defining the government-industry revolving door: Jeffrey Holmstead
"assistant EPA administrator for air quality. Previously a lobbyist with the firm of Latham & Watkins, Holmstead represented electric utilities trying to fight air pollution restrictions, and he represented the Farm Bureau conglomerate in its fights against pesticide controls. Now inside, he's a key player pushing Bush's Clear Skies initiative, which will allow a 520 percent increase in toxic mercury pollution, a 225 percent jump in carbon dioxide pollution (a global warming contaminant), and a delay in the enforcement of smog and soot pollution until 2016. In charge of writing a new rule to limit mercury poisoning of children by electric power plants, Holmstead embraced a watered-down rule that essentially was written by his old lobbying firm of Latham & Watkins."

One more thing. Alice Fisher (late of L&W) was the lead prosecutor in the Abramoff case. D'oh.

I hope the cajones on our esteemed House members makes sure that she stays for quite a long time in that chair of hers and has on record her pleading the Fifth time and time again.

Is it acceptable to ask a DoJ liason on "voluntary leave" what specific aspect of the Fifth she is invoking? -- Or is that "plead Fifth" in itself?

Monica Goodling has her position due to having a father that served in congress for almost 30 years. She is completely unqualified. Prior to this job her lone legal experience was defending people in traffic court.

Good lord, Jeff Taylor looks like.....
you guessed it.

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/dc/US_Attorney/index.html

The Stepford Men

Mrs. Pantstreppon, you rock! I've been reading your posts about Goodling and wondering if they were getting her ready for a USA job after the 2004 elections. Great info you are digging up.

Joe T2@March 30, 2007 06:27 PM

Wrong.

From Monica Watch:

Former 13-term Congressman William "Bill" Goodling told the York Daily that he is not related to Monica.

Monica is a native of York Haven, PA. DOB is 8/73.

Cindy and William Fitts are her mother and stepfather and they live in Osceola Mills, PA.

Graduated Northeastern High School, Manchester, PA - 1991
Graduated Messiah College - 1995
Attended American U.'s Wshignton College of Law School - 1995-1996
Attended a U. of San Diego U. Law School/U. of Paris sponsored law program in Paris France - 1996
Graduated Regent U. Law School - 1999

Sometime after graduating from Regent U., Monica became an oppo researcher for the Republican National Committee on the Bush campaign where she probably worked for Tim Griffin, major GOP operative.

After Bush was elected, Monica was appointed to a spot in the DOJ press office. In 2005, she became senior counsel to Gonzales and Justice's liaison to the White House.

At one point, Monica did a six-month stint at the USA's office in the Eastern District of VA, probably in the fall of 2004. The six-month stint is the sum total of Monica's legal experience.

The question is why was Monica, a high-level DOJ offical, prosecuting low-level criminal cases in the fall of 2004 in the middle of a presidential campaign? Was she in line for a USA position?

Make her sit there and plead it. It is contempt of congress to refuse to show up. Don't let these scum off the hook. After she pleads it in public, send a letter to Gonzo and demand that she is fired.

I was going to say give her immunity and make her testify, but I like Hmmmmmm's suggestion better.

It would be frightening if someone with Goodling's background was being groomed, or even considered for being groomed, for a US Attorney slot.

The problem is not just Goodling's modest academic qualifications and her odd decision to leave A.U. with top twenty percent standing to go to Regent (even for a scholarship). Goodling could have overcome that through outstanding professional experience.

I believe it was David McKay, for example, who went to the University of Toledo - a good school, but not Harvard or Ohio State - who made USA based on two decades of top DOJ performance. Comparing Goodling's legal experience with McKay's is like comparing a camp counselor to an Army Ranger officer.

Ms. Goodling is a Meet and Greet Her. Even considering her for a USA slot would be a cynical burden on career staffers, and an effective way to erode the administration of justice. Or, is that what Mr. Bush hopes to leave behind? One more problem for his successor to fix.

The Justice Department officials who were selected to be interviewed hit merely the tip of this iceberg. It is extremely important that the House and Senate Judiciary Committee's interview John Nowacki, Principal Deputy Director as well as the Acting Counsel to the Director in the Executive Office of the Justice Department, in order to establish the links between the Justice Department officials, the US Attorney's in the field, and the political operatives who helped remove the targeted US Attorney's. I have gathered and organized every document released so far from the Justice Department relating to John Nowacki as well as background information on his relationship with the Federalist Society. You will be shocked at how many key pieces of information he gives to Paul McNulty, William Moschella, Michael Elston, William Mercer, Monica Goodling, and former employees Michael Battle and Kyle Sampson.
This story on John Nowacki, including updates, can be found at: http://misterapologist.blogspot.com/

How can someone expect to be taken seriously as a professional when they try to look like Alice in Wonderland?

Heard this somewhere:

Monica/Alice works for the Justice Dept.
If she can only plead the fifth in order to not incriminate herself -- then that means she believes she may have done something criminal --- sooooooo how in the world could she stay on with Justice as someone who by their own actions is stating they may have committed a crime?

Re: Jeffery Taylor being dumb.
He made a mistake...a 100 million $ mistake.

what if...this is yet another instance of faking stupid to hide what really happened?
I am sure that if pressed, Taylor would say one of his clerks did a paperwork boo boo.
Follow the money..exactly who GAINED the money?
Every time Bush Co. has taken heat for doing sometihg dumb, it turns out that somebody made money.
Or saved money.

Give her to the Hells Angels for a few days...

mbbsdphil:

What you state makes dynamic sense.

These nunlike creatures, sans family but puffed up with sanctity, yes, could be hard to crack.

On the other hand, monica comes from a broken home. And may be trying to look perfect to conceal a deep well of insecurity.

Wow, I just read the Washington Post article from today. I want this cold hearted bitch to go down!

I just read the WashPost profile of Goodling. She's a nightmare. Protect us all from these young brownshirts. Reading about her clean Christian training, I could hear the strains of "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" playing in the background.

monica passed VA bar in '99 - according to Richmond newspaper

the ethics complaint angle is duly noted

No one should be surprised if Republicans throw their own under the bus bus to protect themselves and their power. One only has to look at the rise of Nazism to see how much they actually valued “loyalty”. The “Night of the Long Knives” is nothing more than a template for the new Republican authoritarians. Would they actually commit murder to further their cause? You tell me.

John Kokal, govt expert on Iraq who was trying to tell Congress the truth right before the war. Google.

“A government operating in the shadow of secrecy stands in complete opposition to the society envisioned by the framers of our Constitution.” - Judge Damon Keith (6th Circuit Court of Appeals)

(codeword = mark)

Monica's leaving American U Washington School of Law after 1 year doesn't pass the smell test. I wonder what really happened. Maybe someone could FOIA her application and character fitness exam from the VA bar. Applications for licensure are usually public records. Is Regent U accredited? What are their admissions standards? Questions, I have questions...

cerebrocrat, I wouldn't be so quick to see the congress take "whatever efforts" necessary to insure Goodling's testimony. If she were offered immunity, she could cop to everything and take the heat of all the other players.

Oliver North was granted immunity and still lied to congress. Although later convicted, his convictions were overturned because of the limited immunity granted to him by congress.

Before immunity is even considered, lawyers from the judiciary committees should have a talk with her lawyers to get a preview of what she has on offer. If she cannot offer unique, substantial, provable evidence as to the criminal conduct of others, the congress should allow the (nearly inevitable) special prosecutor to investigate her conduct.

It's true she was the DOJ liaison to the White House and may have some damning information about White House conduct. But unless she has documents or other people willing to back her up, it's just her word against the White House. Recall that it took 8 witnesses and their notes to convict Scooter Libby. An uncorroborated "she said, he said" is not likely to bring down anyone in the White House.

Now if she could provide a detailed map to a criminal conspiracy within the DOJ and White House, then her cooperation could be worth its weight in gold. But does anyone really think she was that tied into the process? I'm beginning to think the potentially illegal decision making process may never have gone further than the offices of Karl Rove's and his minions.

Turn one of Rove's minions and you'll have the keys to the kingdom.

What a good "christian" girl. Too bad there's not a made up commandment saying "thou shall not lie through your teeth." Of course the entire neocon cabal would be damned if that one was in effect. Not such a bad idea now that I think of it.

If ordinary citizens were to try to pull the stuff this administration does to avoid telling the truth or being held to any degree of accountability we'd thrown in jail before you could say "I respectfully refuse ..."

Apparently the bush administration has become a refuge to duplicate, hypocritical, incompetent, criminal, ideological, morons. No others need apply.

Ben Dover: "Too bad there's not a made up commandment saying 'thou shall not lie through your teeth.'"

Well, one of the Ten Commandments *is* "Thou shalt not lie."

There doesn't seem to be any 'barred teeth' exemption. So I suspect your Commandment Addendum suggestion is probably unnecessary.

How the hell is she able to pay for these lawyers? Whats more, wasn't it brought up that when police officers take the fifth they are usually removed from the force. And the Justice Department urges corporations to fire employees who take the fifth. Yet the taxpayers are still footing the bill for this woman to remain on the payroll after she's said she's gonna take the fifth. Regardless, how long can she afford her lawyer on a gov't salary.
Security Code Word:
when

She'll have no trouble raising a "defense fund" from wealthy right wingers. Now that the GOP is the minority, they can claim victimhood from those mean, mean Democrats on their partisan fishing expeditions of God-fearing graduates of Pat Robertson's university.

Instead of showing a pic of Ms. Goodling (what a name!), why not post a photo of Susan MacDougal in leg-irons? It would make a good point.

More Muck to rake.
Karl Rove spotted and photo taken with Coptix brochure.
Unless the photo is photoshopped.
http://www.correntewire.com/rove_spotted_in_chattanooga_with_brochure_for_gwb43_com_nameserver_host_can_we_subpoena_the_records_now

Code: false

After doing a bit of research, it seems that it may be legal for Goodling to have a legal defense fund.

The office of government ethics has offered contradictory opinions on the legality of legal defense funds for government employees. In one case they gave an opinion that legal fund donations were Not legal.
http://www.usoge.gov/pages/advisory_opinions/advop_files/1985/85x19.html

In another, more recent case they gave an opinion that legal fund donations Were legal.
http://www.usoge.gov/pages/advisory_opinions/advop_files/1993/93x21.html

In both cases, it was stipulated that all donations would be blind, that the fund would not be managed by the defendant, and that no donors could be government employees or have business relationships with the defendant's department.

Congress should have her appear if only to clear up this issue. She can't plead the 5th regarding the funding of her legal defense.

I don't see why the IRS doesn't take the attorney fee payment issue head on. I mean really folks, if I had a "renovate my house fund", or a "fix my yacht" fund, would the IRS not call it income?

What's the difference when it's legal fees?

code: tooth

That article reads like a propaganda piece "OH, LOOK-SHE WAS THE BRAIN THAT RAN EVERYTHING".

I don't know why Truthout put it up without a disclaimer.
Who are the people that wrote that article and what else do they know? They seem to know a heck of a lot about the inner workings of the department. Who'd they get all that from?

The Truthout expose suggests she had FAR more power in the DOJ than almost anyone had speculated.

Maybe her pleading the 5th wasn't a play for immunity? And maybe the Congress should consider immunizing her...

Subpoenaed witnesses cannot refuse a grant of immunity. Once immunity has been granted, witnesses can either testify or go to jail.

Ahh.. The original article is here at the Legal Times.

http://www.law.com/jsp/dc/PubArticleDC.jsp?id=1174912588726&hub=TopStories

They also have a new (low quality) photo of Goodling.
http://www.law.com/images/128_pics/goodling_monica.jpg

Does anyone else think it strange that only 2, poor quality photos of her have appeared so far. Why aren't press photogs camped outside her condo?

The solution is simple. Rendition Goodling an beat the truth out of her. Oh, sorry she is a republican-American-subversive and Democrats don't do renditions.

The firings were by black listing based on undue influence from political cons. Notice, no detailed memo to support the factual and related basis for the firings. Surely, Ken Lay would luved to have had fired about 10 DOJ attorneys.
And what is amazing, is the disclosures that at the top of the DOJ in D. C.( hovering around AG GONZO) were such light weights who had no substantial court room litigation experience.
Cheney and Bush have all these neocon wackos implanted in the top tiers of the government to make the federal government so it won't function.
It seems to be some hate towards a proper functioning Government that Bush has:
Why; so his pals can spin off large wads of $$$$$$, from federal gravey contract booty, and never be held accountable.
Having an unaccountable non-functioning Government is part of the Bush game plan.
Who pays for all of that: you and your kids....
So, wise up, demand something be done before Bush totally wrecks the entire Nation.

did they find out if she completed her semester at American, or did she withdraw? I don't think it is necessarily a big deal - several of my law school class mates already dropped out because they realized it wasn't what they wanted to do and couldn't be serious about the law. I just wonder if maybe she got pregnant and had to have an abortion?

But she transferred the same year the pat robertson university was accredited, so she must have been part of the first accredited graduating class. and i can see that maybe her strong beliefs made that opportunity too good to pass up. i don't think it is a negative, one way or the other.

but as a current law student, i find it interesting.

I say put the whole lot of them under hypnosies and see what we can coax out of them. lol

Do not underestimate the fact that Goodling was a protege of Barbara Comstock, who headed up the RNC's opposition research shop at election 2000, and that she followed Comstock to DoJ where she and Tim Griffin both trained under Comstock. Comstock, of course, is an evil harpy who has been working behind most of our troubles from the hunting of the Clintons to recount 2000 to the "feminization" of Gore and Kerry to Tom Delay's PR blitz to Scooter's slush fund. I'm beginning to think it is Comstock who is running this U.S. Attorney politicization, from outside the WH. She's connected to all the big players and the big scandals.

Congress has two types of immunity it can offer to force someone using the 5th, to truthfully testify before a committee. Limited Use, and Transactional immunity. These date from the early years of the Nixon Administration, and very ironically, it was John Mitchell's assistant, John Dean, who had the job of moving them through Congress. John Dean would, a few years later, make very good use of the immunity laws. The reason Mitchell and Nixon were so interested in creating these means for forcing testimony was because in the late 1950's the Supreme Court in a string of decisions rather sharply limited how Congress could use witnesses in investigations and oversight -- limits that eventually made the kind of committee like HUAC, where Nixon first made his reputation a thing of the past. It was an unintended consequence that one of the functional authors of the immunity legislation, John Dean, would know how it worked, and use it to out the Watergate Conspiracy. Anyhow...

The key to avoiding what happened in the Ollie North situation is to interview and then take sworn testimony all around Monica's job and doings, and then set it up that she interviews, and then negotiates for limited immunity around certain subjects -- and then testifies fully, or face contempt of congress action. North, if you remember refused a pre-testimonial interview, and went first, allowing him to take a full immunity bath. He played it all or nothing and eventually won. Hopefully the committees understand that ploy and don't fall for it again.

Note that if Gonzales leaves DOJ, Monica goes too. Any new AG will want to bring in a new team at the top. In fact, I hope Pat Leahy digs around in the files and finds the written agreement they forced on the AG who followed Elliot Richardson at confirmation hearings, that required appointment of a special prosecutor who could only be fired for extreme cause -- resulting in Jaworski. A Special Prosecutor would take Goodling to a Grand Jury and ask all the questions, And if she broke laws, that is where she belongs.

I have a feeling there may be many many career employees of DOJ who one way or another have gotten word to Leahy or Conyers about where the bodies are buried -- and sooner rather than later Goodling will want to testify for her own good.

Meet[Justice Department official]John Nowacki: Acting Counsel to the Director/ Political Operative

So far the Justice Department and Congress have named only a handful of Senior Justice Department officials who are going to be interviewed before their respective committees and Subcommittees. Those names are as follows: Paul McNulty, William Moschella, Michael Elston, William Mercer, David Margolis, and Monica Goodling (who is pleading the 5th). Former employees Michael Battle and Kyle Sampson will also be interviewed. While this is a good start in the investigation one of the key doors for information has been excluded so far: His name is John Nowacki and he is the Principal Deputy Director as well as the Acting Counsel to the Director.

misterapologist has identified another wacko political operative in the DoJ -- one with critical function in the U.S. Attorney management. This operative formerly worked with the Free Congress Foundation -- right wing religious NUTS. In 2003 he went from Free Congress to the DoJ, where he works as senior counsel in the Justice Department's public affairs office.

She's a coward. Pretty simple. She is guilty of trying to put the Republican Party and the President above the law and now she is hiding behind her rights. If I were the committee I would call her and ask her questions with regard to the law...she has to answer if the questions do not tend to incriminate her.

For instance, a question about Guantanemo detainies might be interesting..."Do you support the application by detainees of their right not to incriminate themselves?" Sad. Really, really pathetic actually.

erection of the penis

hello

Hi, nice page.!
look on my pages:
dedicated organization policy profit public

ok.. bitte