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The Hunter is The Hunted
Earlier today, I noted the Office of Special Counsel's sprawling investigation into Karl Rove and others in the administration, reported by The Los Angeles Times. But there was something missing from the LA Times piece -- that Bloch himself is under investigation and something of an open joke among watchdog groups.
Justin over at The Blotter has the highlights:
...government watchdogs have accused Bloch himself of similar behavior. In April 2005, they and others complained the White House appointee had allowed his office to "sit on" a complaint that then-White House National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice used government funds to travel in support of President Bush's re-election bid.By contrast, they said, Bloch ordered an immediate on-site investigation of a complaint that Bush's challenger for the White House, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., improperly campaigned in a government workplace, which had been filed around the same time.
Bloch is under investigation by the White House-run President's Committee on Integrity and Efficiency for that and a host of other infractions, which means, as David Corn summarizes, "The investigator [is] investigating officials who oversee the agency that is investigating the investigator."
That's all a long way of saying that there are a number of questions about Bloch's pledge to "not leave any stone unturned."
Comments (23)
John West wrote on April 24, 2007 6:31 PM:The Bush administration has been busily doing what neither the Nazis nor Soviets were ever able to do, destroy our nation from the inside. I hope we've caught it in time, because we're running out of a framework within which to fix things.
LnGrrrR wrote on April 24, 2007 6:37 PM:Boy, color me completely NOT shocked at the ineptitude and sheer deplorability of it all.
mayan wrote on April 24, 2007 6:54 PM:But it's not inept...it's ept. Incredibly ept. Look at what these thugs, cons and thieves have done for 6 (or 7...whatever, it feels like an eternity) years. And they still have 33% of the people behind them. As long as they have their message broadcasted for free through FAUX and the other MSMs, they will be all too "ept" unfortunately.
Congress needs to do something very dramatic to catch the public eye and start capturing the frame.
profmarcus wrote on April 24, 2007 6:59 PM:at this stage of the game, i wouldn't doubt for a moment that the osc investigation is a red herring for yet another administration cover-up... when it was announced earlier, i had this brief flash of optimism, but as more info has surfaced throughout the day, my spirits are - yet again - being dampened... i should have learned by now, after so many times of getting my hopes up, that with this gang of criminals, i need to anticipate nothing but the worst-case scenario... it's the only reasonable and prudent mindset to adopt...
http://takeitpersonally.blogspot.com/
Anonymous wrote on April 24, 2007 7:13 PM:Yeah, I don't expect anything substantive to come out of OSC on Rove.
His bio, from http://www.osc.gov/bloch.htm:
From 2001-2003, Mr. Bloch served as Associate Director and then Deputy Director and Counsel to the Task Force for Faith-based and Community Initiatives at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked on First Amendment cases, regulations, intergovernmental outreach, and programmatic initiatives. Before serving in the Justice Department, he was a partner with Stevens & Brand, LLP, of Lawrence, Kansas, where he practiced in the areas of civil rights law, employment law, and legal ethics. Mr. Bloch tried jury trials before state and federal courts, representing employees and employers in cases involving whistleblower and other retaliation claims, as well as civil rights claims. He worked on important cases that set precedents in the field of legal ethics, including a ground-breaking Texas case that changed the way plaintiffs’ lawyers handle mass tort cases.
In Green v. Henley, 924 F.2d 185 (10th Cir. 1991), he represented a defendant arguing that political loyalty was a valid reason to dismiss a public employee.
To be fair, he has also represented plaintiffs in employment cases. But this case, together with his experience in the Faith-Based office, doesn't give me much confidence.
Security Code: sleep, as in what I fear Scott Bloch will do on allegations against Rove.
Anonymous wrote on April 24, 2007 7:23 PM:I smell Whitewash and will be shocked if this "investigation" turns out to be legit. 99.9% sure this Bloch is just another loyal Bushie who belongs behind bars.
Jefty Prather wrote on April 24, 2007 7:46 PM:Code Word: fact
Once upon a time, there was an ideal that you would never do anything you did not want to read about of the front page of your local paper. We have come a long way from that time. Maybe in the not too distant future we will have a presidential candidate that speaks of the truth and has a firm knowledge of the meaning of the word.
anon wrote on April 24, 2007 7:55 PM:Yes, I'd look for this "investigation" to leak like a sieve, generate lots of smoke, get lots of mainstream coverage, spread all over the place, issue a giant report, include some Dems in the wrong doings, and then just fizzle out. The administration has shown a lot of competence in investigating themselves.
webdems wrote on April 24, 2007 8:18 PM:David Inglesias was on Hardball this afternoon revealing the fact that HE is the one who initiated the investigation by Bloch's office. I wonder if he knew that Bloch was so terribly inept or corrupt? The office does have the capability to issue subpoenas.
I guess it's our job to ratchet up pressure on Bloch by demanding public awareness via the blogosphere. Rank up the Yahoo stories. Email the commentaries. Google bomb. Write LTTEs. Make it happen.
Security code "screw"
Bubby wrote on April 24, 2007 8:47 PM:When this tool said he "would leave no stone unturned in this investigation" I laughed out loud. This is a big joke and is designed to keep a real investigation of rove from happening.
DF wrote on April 24, 2007 9:00 PM:I’m sure that Rove will be shaking as soon as he sees Bloch’s web page.
http://www.osc.gov/specialcounsel.htm
His last job was Deputy Director and Counsel to the Task Force for Faith-based and Community Initiatives at the U.S. Department of Justice
He’s even published articles. One is titled “Don’t Bury the Hatch Act”. No, I’m not kidding.
Code word porter, as in carrying water.
uncle vester wrote on April 24, 2007 9:34 PM:David Corn summarizes, "The investigator [is] investigating officials who oversee the agency that is investigating the investigator."
Stop the ride, I'm feeling sick.
Anna S. wrote on April 24, 2007 9:55 PM:Wow. It's like a sick ouroboros, or maybe like bugged recursive code.
I think I'm with the guy who said "stop the ride, I'm feeling sick" on this one.
John S wrote on April 24, 2007 10:09 PM:I believe that this "investigation" is being encouraged to go forward as part of a "bury the evidence" scheme. Otherwise, it would not have seen the light of day. Iglesias is just an unwitting tool.
Put yourself in the position of Karl Rove. Congress has you squarely in their sights. You've been at the center of multiple criminal activities that would get you put in jail for the rest of your life if it ever gets out. All your e-mails have been carefully purged, and some uber-tech has guaranteed that not even the NSA could recover your e-mails. But little bits and pieces that implicate you in criminal activity keep popping up all over the place. The DoJ e-mails were supposed to have been gone over with a fine toothed comb and all references to various meetings and to Rove removed. But some still got through and the arrows are clearly pointing in your direction.
What to do? Somehow you need to go through all the documents that implicate you in illegal activities very thoroughly and remove them. How can you do this without drawing attention to yourself while doing it? Along comes Iglesias and the "ah-hah" moment. Investigate yourself with someone in your pocket! Have them perform a very thorough job, and just make sure that anything they uncover is promptly brought to your attention so that it can be destroyed or revealed if it is not damning.
It's beautiful, sweet and pure Rove. Make it look like you're being cooperative, make sure that the MSM gets the right spin on your "reluctant" cooperation with an "out of control" congress, but all the while you're controlling the process to ensure that Congress will end up with nothing except some hints of impropriety that can't be validated. Tease them with the facts, but don't let them in. Frustrate the hell out of them. If I were Rove I'd be grinning from ear to ear.
Rest assured the famous smirk will reappear and confidence will return. He won't be rattled by Sheryl Crowe ever again.
I don't know how the Congress can do it, but they need to get someone inside that investigation before it gets started. Otherwise, one of the most insidious traitors ever to attempt the overthrow of the US government will be handed a "Get Out of Jail Free" card.
nrglaw wrote on April 24, 2007 10:43 PM:I commented on the first post this morning, so I won't repeat myself. Just wanted to thank you for the second post that clarified the problems with Bloch. And thanks to the all the incredibly on-the-money comments about this shit-heel and the certainty of an attempt at whitewash.
Great journalism here.
uncle vester wrote on April 24, 2007 10:44 PM:John S
Your summation was masterful, and would be beautiful itself if the the whole thing wasn't so damned ugly.
"I don't know how the Congress can do it, but they need to get someone inside that investigation before it gets started. Otherwise, one of the most insidious traitors ever to attempt the overthrow of the US government will be handed a "Get Out of Jail Free" card."
How indeed? My only quibble is that he will not tease with facts, but only with the ghosts of "facts" that no longer exist.
calipendence wrote on April 24, 2007 11:10 PM:Dang! From the headline, I thought they finally got the goods on Duncan Hunter! I've been waiting to see that bum cornered! But more news about other crap getting exposed is good too!
Giant Teapot wrote on April 25, 2007 12:21 AM:This is a double-reverse Rovian ratfuck. The name -- "Office of Special Counsel" sounds so similar to "Special Prosecutor," doesn't it? One has the authority to conduct and prosecute criminal wrongdoing, and the other is an obscure, weak administrative agency that has *never* conducted an investigation remotely similar to what was announced this morning with such fanfare.
Bloch is a loyal Bushie who's been put on the spot by Iglesia's Hatch Act complaint. He has to do *something* about that complaint, so they're taking the opportunity to pretend it's a real investigation of Rove. It's not. But it will be useful in obstructing the REAL investigations.
bordersmuggler wrote on April 25, 2007 8:00 AM:"If I were Rove I'd be grinning from ear to ear."
A familiar theme from Ovid, where the haughty perform their final display of arrogance just before they are crushed by the offended deities. Hubris in all its manifestations inevitably meets the same fate -- overwhelming and total humiliation. Karl's hand was first overplayed in the 2006 election, when Democrats took control of both Houses of Congress, enabling these investigations to proceed. Though Rove is still proficient at countering the Democrats and the liberal blogs, his biggest threat is from within his own cabal who want his head for the 2006 debacle.
The stroke which cuts Rove down will be one from his own shop.
Nestor wrote on April 25, 2007 8:31 AM:It just seems to me that letting ANY Bush appointee investigate ANY OTHER Bush appointee is insane. We need a special prosecutor and we need one now.
I'm surprised Slate.com doesn't have this...but since they've banned 3/4 of the people who used to blog there, they miss a lot.
giark65 wrote on April 25, 2007 8:38 AM:Two news bits that relate to the WH and DOJ
From MSNBC last night
Iglesias Reveals He Filed Complaint Against Rove, Leading To Special Counsel Probe
Some salient points:
There is a paper trail documenting the attorney purge, and if it’s not in the Justice Department, it’s in the White House.
Karl Rove may have violated the Hatch Act.
I think Monica Goodling is holding the keys to the kingdom.
(Now we just need some more noise from other related DOJ officials)
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/24/iglesias-matthews/
AND
Ex-Justice Dept. Attorneys Accuse Bush Admin of Restricting African American Vote to Favor Republicans
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/24/1446251
Joseph Rich. Former head of the civil rights division of the Justice Department joins us on the program. Worked at the Justice Department from 1968 to 2005.
...interesting transcript from a career DOJ official on the accusations. potent stuff.
It led to a real loss of the career-based, real guts of the Civil Rights Division. After I left the Voting Section, 55% to 60% of the attorneys have either left or transferred out of the Voting Section. That, coupled with a very politicized new hiring policy that was implemented in 2002, has changed the nature of the personnel in the division from one that was a longtime committed group of attorneys to civil rights enforcement to one that has very little experience in civil rights and does not have that commitment, and indeed is -- a good deal of the hiring is done on very politicized bases, as particularly a story in the Boston Globe last summer revealed, just the loss of people who had civil rights experience and the increase in people that were ideologically aligned with the Republican Party.
borussky wrote on January 29, 2008 2:45 PM:And as DeArmond says, what evidence is there that the Democrats want to win?
TomPaine wrote on January 29, 2008 3:40 PM:I move that in January, the new Democratic president pardon all the non-violent criminals in federal prisons to free-up space for the real criminals from the Republican Party. As a former federal employee, I can tell you without fear of error that this category should include every Republican officeholder in the United States.