Office of Special Counsel To Investigate DOJ HiringAs predicted, there’s been lots of fall out from the first report by the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General on the hiring practices used by the DOJ.
As the New York Times reports today:
The Office of Special Counsel, an agency that investigates political interference in the federal workplace, let the Justice Department know this week that it would be examining the issues raised in the report “to discuss what our next step should be,” said James P. Mitchell, a spokesman for the office.The special counsel has offered to work with the department “to determine whether disciplinary action is warranted,” Mr. Mitchell said. The inspector general’s report noted that two department officials who it said were largely responsible for the abuses in 2006, Michael Elston and Esther Slater McDonald, could not face disciplinary action because both had left the department.
But Mr. Mitchell said: “That doesn’t rule out others — those who considered political affiliation in making decisions as well as those who let them do that. This is a prohibited practice, and this is an area that we enforce.”
The OSC is no stranger to trouble. It’s had its own issues lately, namely that the head of the department, Scott Bloch, is under investigation by the FBI.