In the wake of what the U.S. attorney firings scandal has revealed about the Bush Justice Department, it’s hard to imagine a more troubling scenario than this:
A Bush-nominated U.S. Attorney launches a corruption case during an election year that implicates the Democratic governor. He pushes the case, which targets an obscure state bureaucrat and obtains a conviction in June; she’s sentenced to 18 months in prison in late September. The case is featured prominently by Republicans in attack ads against the governor.But when the case is appealed (after the election), the circuit court, in a remarkable reversal, rejects the conviction out of hand, saying that the evidence against the bureaucrat “is beyond thin.” Says one of the three circuit judges, “I’m not sure what your actual theory in this case is.”
Well, it happened — in Wisconsin. And the U.S. attorney in the case is Milwaukee’s Steven Biskupic, appointed by Bush in 2002. Somehow he’s been given the privilege of serving beyond his four year term.
Dozens of readers have written in, asking if this is what a “loyal Bushie” looks like. It’s hard to see it otherwise.
Steve Benen has more.