Comments (46)

steve wrote on May 9, 2007 12:23 PM:

security code: OMG

Anonymous wrote on May 9, 2007 12:33 PM:

So what, do you suppose, did they tell him? Perhaps, "Play the game our way and you can keep your job." He's obviously too ethical for that.

fred dodsworth wrote on May 9, 2007 12:34 PM:

It's time for the impeachment of A.G. Abu Gonzo. Bush will never fire him and he'll never resign, for there's too much corruption exposed for anyone in the current (disgraced) White House to want a AG that abides by his duties. Congress needs to force the issue, and the sooner, the better.

mik wrote on May 9, 2007 12:35 PM:

"DO SOMETHING" could easily be mean "politicize justice"
Wow, someone following a code of ethics.

RandyR wrote on May 9, 2007 12:35 PM:

It's interesting to note that Graves had cleared a former KC mayor of wrongdoing in a home sale and Schlozman strarted the investigation up again. Kit Bond has got to go and I think the DOJ used Schlozman to reduce the field of possible candidates to replace Bond.

Security Code: book --Danno throw the book at them. I was in Chicago for the Democratic convention in 1968 and they threw the book at me and it hurts.

Glenn wrote on May 9, 2007 12:40 PM:

it is far better to take a graceful exit than to do something that you should be ashamed of

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Grand Prize Winner in the "Get Yourself an Invitation to Talk to the Judiciary Committee" contest. Wow.

gcs wrote on May 9, 2007 12:41 PM:

Clearly he put that little grenade in his statement on purpose. I mean, it begs the question, what were you asked to do and by whom? I bet money he gets "invited" to testify and my guess is that's precisely what he wants.

Jack wrote on May 9, 2007 12:41 PM:

Well, judging from that statement, I would think he should be on the short list of potential AG's for the next democratic president.

I'm heartened that there are still prosecutors out there like this gentleman.

Josh was right months ago when he commented that the real story was in what was happening with the prosecutors who were NOT fired.

danius wrote on May 9, 2007 12:41 PM:

It's worth remembering that during the Watergate scandal, AG Eliot Richardson (as well as the #2 at the DOJ, whose name I don't recall) resigned rather than take Richard Nixon's order to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Even in the most corrupt administrations imaginable, you still find people with ethics, or at least something that passes for ethics.

At least until the purge is complete.

rex applegate wrote on May 9, 2007 12:41 PM:

We are now three words from this government officially melting down..."Rove ordered it."

Tennessean wrote on May 9, 2007 12:44 PM:

Gonzales doesn't seem inclined to resign does he? No matter how bad it gets; and it's getting really clear that Abu and the Justice Dept. and the WH colluded in a conspiracy to disenfranchise innocent people by politicizing and perverting the Department of Justice, and other unethical, and illegal acts to obstruct investigations of same. I say the House should seriously consider bringing articles of impeachment against him. Then, let's see the WH ignore those subpoenas.

DoryO wrote on May 9, 2007 1:00 PM:

You don't think they tried to pull some kind of Masonic punishment/initiation ritual on the poor guy, do you?

That might involve something to be ashamed of.

Ron Byers wrote on May 9, 2007 1:04 PM:

That is a real indictment of main Justice, isn't it. Graves is probably telling us the truth. They asked him to do something he was unprepared to do. They told him bye-bye. I wonder what it was he was asked to do.

FlyOnTheWall wrote on May 9, 2007 1:05 PM:

Everything we know suggests that Graves refused to file a voter fraud case that he disagreed with - almost certainly the case against ACORN that was subsequently dismissed - and was then forced out. Consider the following:
-'Voter fraud' has previously been offered as a reason for the dismissals, but seems to have factored in to relatively few of the firings that were previously disclosed.
-Missouri was one of the six states named by Rove
-As McClatchy has previously reported, local Republicans were up in arms.
-When Graves was forced out, he was replaced with Schlozman, who lacked prior experience as a prosecutor but had spearheaded national voter fraud efforts.
-Schlozman pressed ahead with the case, filing just days before the election.

This is the story that Graves has apparently decided he wants to tell. Only he's sticking to the prosecutor's code of shunning politics - he wants to be forced by Congress to spill what he knows, instead of volunteering it directly. Well, he'll get his wish.

sailmaker wrote on May 9, 2007 1:07 PM:

I will be glad when someone gets Frederick Black (former USA Guam/Mariannas) on record about his demotion and 'resignation'.

http://www.jackinthehouse.org/news/story.php?view=6235

LittlePig wrote on May 9, 2007 1:08 PM:

As noted by milk above, the "something you would be ashamed of" was probably to not persue GOP corruption and to bring bogus charges against Democrats.

Or more simply, "something you would be ashamed of" = "Kissing Karl's pasty behind"

Cervantes wrote on May 9, 2007 1:09 PM:

DANIUS: "It's worth remembering that during the Watergate scandal, AG Eliot Richardson (as well as the #2 at the DOJ, whose name I don't recall) resigned rather than take Richard Nixon's order to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox."

That recalcitrant #2 was Bill Ruckelshaus.

Nixon's order was carried out by #3, one Robert Bork.

jaywrite wrote on May 9, 2007 1:27 PM:

Notice that Karl Rove is conveniently out of the country on a "highly secret tour" of the middle eastern countries?

jane wrote on May 9, 2007 1:28 PM:

"I gave now Senator Claire McCaskill her non-prosecution letter in 2004"

?????????

global yokel wrote on May 9, 2007 1:30 PM:

Gonzales can't resign, and Bush can't fire him, because that would mean a new Attorney General would have to face the confirmation process in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and there is no chance that Leahy and his fellow Democrats are going to allow the administration to intstall another shill like Gonzales. I see Gonzales hanging on until the end of the Bush term in office.

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on May 9, 2007 1:31 PM:

Before anyone declares Todd Graves a hero, let's keep in mind that his wife somehow got a lucrative contract from the Missouri governor to run a dept of motor vehicles office.

Anonymous wrote on May 9, 2007 1:42 PM:

Fucking Schlozman- I can't wait to see this guy under oath.

timefor wrote on May 9, 2007 1:46 PM:

This one is really going to blow up in the Repubs face when it gets tied to the Medicare Fraud suit brought against Novation LLC by Samuel Lipari... Guess who was the USA on this... none other than Todd Graves! Also of interest to note is that in Lipari's suit, the list of USA's to be axed came up in the discovery!!! apparently Gonzales fired 3 assistant USA's and another 2 of them died while investigating this case. This is muy dirty.

KC wrote on May 9, 2007 2:47 PM:

RandyR- re: former kc mayor/ fraudulent home sale case, I think you're referring to Katheryn Shields, who is the former Jackson County Executive. The home sale at issue did not occur until November of 2006, many months after Graves left office. But it's pretty well known that the Feds have been gunning for Shields for years.

FlyOnTheWall- your timeline is also off. Graves was out in March of 2006. The fraudulent voter registrations weren't even turned into the election board until October.

Graves being involved in this is very strange. My gut instinct is that his "independence" is in service to his own political career and not anything as genteel as justice. He's not a stupid man, and his bread is ultimately not being buttered by the Bush administration. And I wouldn't put him on the short list for any position under a Democratic president.

modmom wrote on May 9, 2007 2:47 PM:

Yes timefor, Graves is tied up in the Lipari/Novation suit. Here is a snip of a very good post on KOS that I suggest everyone read:

Just what did Bud Cummins find out about Todd Graves during the first two months of his investigation? Whatever it was, did he share his findings with his superiors at Main Justice in Washington DC --superiors who were already in the midst of figuring out how to get rid of and replace federal prosecutors?

Was whatever it was that Cummins unearted regarding Graves' connection to ethically problematic aspects of the Blunt fee office scheme enough to cause the folks at Justice in Washington to "encourage" Graves to vacate his office before things became difficult?

source

Here is a petition by a group of citizens in Missouri regarding this part of the scandal:

Gov. Matt Blunt and U.S. Attorney Todd Graves have created a critical conflict of interest, that leaves Missourians with no choice but to question the integrity of the Governor's office and the protection they will receive from the U.S. Attorney's office. With Graves' wife and brother-in-law accepting $3.6 million in no-bid contracts to run two of the state's most lucrative fee offices.

-snip
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/17/18120/2944

phil james wrote on May 9, 2007 4:16 PM:

Does anyone know what the actual deal on the no-bid contracts was, since obviously this makes Graves look like not so much a hero for leaving quietly? Or is some other game afoot?

KY3 Democrat wrote on May 9, 2007 4:27 PM:

danius said: "It's worth remembering that during the Watergate scandal, AG Eliot Richardson (as well as the #2 at the DOJ, whose name I don't recall) resigned rather than take Richard Nixon's order to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox."

From Wikipedia:
On October 20, 1973, ... U.S. President Richard Nixon ordered Cox fired, due to Cox's insistence on obtaining secret White House tapes. Rather than comply with this order, both Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus resigned. The order was ultimately carried out by the Solicitor General, Robert Bork. Upon being fired, Cox stated, "whether ours shall be a government of laws and not of men is now for Congress and ultimately the American people."

danius said: "Even in the most corrupt administrations imaginable, you still find people with ethics, or at least something that passes for ethics."

I say: "Yes, and you still find people like Robert Bork in the mix, brutal and destructive people who only serve power."

-- KY3 Democrat: "One of these days soon, the facists will own the planet, and all the rest of us will get our bullets to the head."

Anonymous wrote on May 9, 2007 6:29 PM:

Graves was number at least number ten.

Black, USA of Gaum, was number one.

ohiomeister wrote on May 9, 2007 6:42 PM:

I think he's telling us something here. I think he may be suggesting why he was pushed out:

"For instance, when I gave now Senator Claire McCaskill her non-prosecution letter in 2004, I didn’t ask for permission, I just did the right thing. I thought that was my job."

dolly lanna wrote on May 9, 2007 8:14 PM:

Frederick Black (former USA Guam/Mariannas) and Patrick Fitzgerald (Sacrificing Libby for the big fish?)
Need to testify to congress. Balck to expalin what he was investigating and Fitz to explain why his investigations were stalled or blocked.
What is the real answer to CAN THE AG, GONZO, BE IMPEACHED?

dolly lanna wrote on May 9, 2007 8:16 PM:

BAD TYPING SHOULD have been: Black and explain, but you knew that.

dolly lanna wrote on May 9, 2007 8:22 PM:

Graves wife was given the big job and remember that
one other US Attorney was given a huge signing fee to leave and become a part of a law firm that was defending the guy she was investigating.
Another trick: by Rove?
Give them lucrative jobs and then they can't cry foul.
If this is Rove's work, he really is the most conniving nasty being there is except for those taking his advise.

glove=See I'm innocent, the glove does not fit.

Hank Gillette wrote on May 9, 2007 9:01 PM:

This guy needs to be invited to testify before one of the Judiciary Committees ASAP.

And if the heat gets too high on Gonzales, what's to stop him from resigning during a Congressional recess to allow Bush to make a recess appointment?

Thomas wrote on May 9, 2007 10:04 PM:

This is silly. If Graves was pushed out, he was pushed out for being greedy while in public office. There's nothing wrong with making money, but for godsakes, if you need the money bad enough that your spouse takes a lucrative patronage office and becomes caught up in a criminal investigation that has to be shipped out of state due to your conflict of interest, maybe you should leave your job and, you know, just focus on making money.

Guess what? That's what Graves did. He's a good lawyer and, as I understand it, a man of real integrity. But he still showed a remarkable lack of judgment and needed to leave his job as a result (whether that actually resulted in his departure being another question).

phil james wrote on May 9, 2007 11:38 PM:

Rove is behind the purge to get rid of USA's that were a problem for the White House, i.e. USA's who were independent, could not be bought, and who were targeting Republicans or refusing to target Democrats. Rove had no problem with USA's who could be bought or otherwise kept in line and who like Cummins quietly move aside so that flacks like Schlozman could rise. Cummins was dragged into the game because the WH played fast and loose with their intimidation of the other USA's. So far it is not clear which category Graves falls in. Looks a lot like Cummins but then there's this thing with his wife.

Bill Durbin wrote on May 10, 2007 8:44 AM:

One way we're going to know just how much integrity Graves has is the amount of public support he gets from the other fired USA's. They have shown remarkable cohesiveness in supporting one another. Will that continue in regard to Graves? We shall see.

james risser wrote on May 10, 2007 11:22 AM:

okay... i said this on april 17th on dailykos...how come no one believed me then!

:)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/17/18120/2944

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