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Why Two Bush Appointees Are Refusing to Leave
From forgotten scandals to "The Last Dick," read the entire Daily Beast Farewell to Bush Chronicles.
Gene J. Puskar / AP Photo
Two U.S. attorneys appointed by Dubya are refusing to leave the Justice Department when Obama takes office. Their explanation: they've got too many corrupt Democrats to prosecute!
An internal report issued this week by the Justice Department brought attention to the Bush Administration’s efforts to “burrow” partisan ideologues deep in career civil service positions at the department. But even a few of Bush’s political appointees at Justice are giving the new Obama administration trouble. Though their lease may technically run out on January 20, U.S. Attorneys Mary Beth Buchanan of Pittsburgh and Alice Martin of Birmingham are resolved to stay in their posts. The Daily Beast has learned that both are arguing to the Obama transition team that their efforts to convict Democrats should guarantee them an extended stay into the Obama presidency.
In their scathing report, Justice Department investigators concluded that former Civil Rights Division acting head Bradley Schlozman attempted to purge the division of those suspected of liberal sentiments and to replace them with fellow neoconservative ideologues, whom he called “comrades.” During the Bush terms, nearly two-thirds of the professional staff of the Civil Rights Division left and new hires were—in violation of criminal statutes—carefully vetted for partisan political fidelity. Notwithstanding the Inspector General’s recommendation that criminal action be brought, Schlozman will not be prosecuted. Bush Justice Department officials continue their perfect record of impunity, refusing to initiate criminal actions against partisan Republicans found to have broken the law by politicizing the Department.
U.S. attorneys Buchanan and Martin appear girded to make a last stand like Japanese soldiers who never got word that the war was over.
The political appointees present Obama and his new attorney general, Eric Holder, with a different headache. By tradition, political appointees serve at the pleasure of the president, and when a new president comes to office those who held their commissions from his predecessor tender their resignations. This year, however, Buchanan and Martin appear girded to make a last stand like Japanese soldiers who never got word that the war was over.
Last month, Buchanan released a letter stating that she had no intention of submitting her resignation. An ideologically committed Federalist Society member, Buchanan is close to former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who actively promoted her as U.S. attorney. Following her appointment in 2001, Buchanan quickly gained the favor and approval of the White House. In the key period of 2004-05, while groundwork was laid for what later became the U.S. attorney's scandal, Buchanan served as director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, the key position at Justice that oversaw all the 94 U.S. attorneys. A later internal Justice Department probe, in which Buchanan figures prominently, highlights the role played by that office in Karl Rove’s plan to sack U.S. attorneys.
Back in Pittsburgh, Buchanan made a name for herself with two prosecutions. One was Operation Pipedream, a $12 million program designed to criminalize and put out of business Internet vendors of water pipes. She prosecuted famed actor Tommy Chong, one-half of the comedy duo of Cheech and Chong, because of his support of a company founded and run by his son. Chong had no criminal record, his activities were not (and are not) considered criminal by many legal experts, and Chong’s dealings had no connection to western Pennsylvania. But Buchanan used heavy-handed threats to compel Chong to agree to a guilty plea. In her sentencing memorandum, Buchanan insisted that Chong do prison time because he had starred in a number of films in which the use of marijuana was portrayed and prominent Republican political figures were ridiculed or mocked. The case is the subject of a popular documentary produced in 2005 entitled a/k/a Tommy Chong.
The second case is a corruption prosecution of one of the country’s most prominent medical examiners, Dr. Cyril Wecht, also not coincidentally a leading figure in Pittsburgh Democratic politics. The charges brought against Wecht involve a long list of petty accusations, including that he used his office telephone and fax machine for personal matters. These charges happen to bear remarkable similarity to accusations of petty improprieties that flew around Buchanan’s mentor Santorum in the two years before Pennsylvania voters retired him from public life in 2006. Buchanan, however, opted not to pursue any of the accusations surrounding Santorum. Wecht’s defense counsel, former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, who served under George H.W. Bush and was governor of Pennsylvania, testified before a House Judiciary inquiry that Buchanan’s prosecution was improper and politically motivated. "It is not the type of case normally constituting a federal 'corruption' case brought against a local official," said Thornburgh. "There is no allegation that Dr. Wecht ever solicited or received a bribe or kickback. There is no allegation that Dr. Wecht traded on a conflict of interest in conducting the affairs of his selected office." The case was originally tried before a judge appointed by George W. Bush who, though close to Buchanan, refused to recuse himself and forbade defense counsel in any way from referencing Buchanan’s political motivation. The trial ended in a hung jury, which divided sharply in favor of Wecht’s acquittal. Afterward, individual jurors harshly criticized Buchanan’s conduct and she responded by sending FBI agents to “interview” them.
Notwithstanding broad appeals from the Pennsylvania legal community for Buchanan to drop the case, she has pledged to continue it. The judge who originally oversaw the case, meanwhile, has been removed by order of an appeals court. Buchanan cites the supposedly unresolved Wecht case as a reason why she must stay on as U.S. attorney.
Buchanan’s colleague in tenacity is Alice Martin, the U.S. attorney in Birmingham, Alabama. Martin gained a nationwide reputation through two failed prosecutions: the first of HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy for fraud relating to the collapse of the former health insurance giant; and the other of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman. Her conduct has been the subject of repeated investigations by Congress and the Justice Department’s ethics office, several of which are still pending. In the course of the last year, Martin has undertaken sweeping investigations targeting a large part of the state’s Democratic legislators and the Democratic mayor and city administration in Birmingham. She manages these cases in close collaboration with friendly Republican oriented media, which usually feature detailed accounts of her investigations and her proposed proof as the investigations conclude and arrests are undertaken.
Martin has a flair for drama. One of her targets is a 63-year-old retired social studies teacher from Huntsville named Sue Schmitz, who was taken from her home at the crack of dawn and manhandled by five FBI agents who tore her skin and left her bleeding as she was dragged out of her bathroom. Schmitz was accused of underperforming on a contract to teach underprivileged children for which she was to receive $50,000 per annum. Why was a retired social studies teacher suddenly the object of a massive multi-million dollar federal prosecution? Critics say the answer to that question is easy: she is a Democratic member of the state legislature and the Republicans want her seat. At Schmitz’s trial, any discussion of political motive was suppressed by the judge, but the case ended in a hung jury. Martin has promised to retry the case, at a cost of further millions of dollars. Other targets of Martin’s campaign to rid the state of corrupt politicians, which appears to target only Democrats, include Birmingham mayor Larry Langford and State Sen. E.B. McClain. She is reported to be preparing charges against as many as a dozen other Democratic members of the state legislature.
Martin previously coveted an appointment as a federal judge, but her efforts fell flat, largely as a result of mounting questions over her prosecutorial record. With the new administration approaching, she made clear her desire to hold on to her post as U.S. attorney for another year of prosecutions. Her Kafkaesque argument: she is targeting corrupt Democratic politicians and investigating others. Therefore, her removal under these circumstances and replacement by an Obama appointee would be “unseemly.” Martin has enlisted the support of Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, a member of the Judiciary Committee, in her bid to become a holdover. Alabama Democrats, however, led by Cong. Artur Davis do not cotton to Martin’s scheme. They recently sent the Obama transition team a slate of recommendations, focusing on candidates with strong federal prosecutorial experience and a minimum of political baggage.
But Buchanan and Martin seem to be bucking for a fight. Do they want to be fired? So far, it looks like they’re daring Obama to fire them. The fireworks may last beyond Inauguration Day.
Scott Horton is a law professor and writer on legal and national security affairs for Harper's Magazine and The American Lawyer, among other publications.
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Wow! After reading this article, I had to check my address to make sure I was still living in America and not Russia. It seems the Republicans still don't get it. This is America, folks. Deal with it.
Outrageous! The new AG should get rid of these two immediately.
It's going to be so sweet watching these two get kicked to the curb.
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It seems to me there are many charges that can be brought against these two wingnuts. This has to stop. Why does the far right hate so much.
Stories like this used to make me see red. Now, I just take a deep breath and circle January 20 on the calendar. We're going to be America again very soon.
I just cant believe that Bush's Civil Rights division were emailing black jokes! Ain't America great?
Well, at least they have their dignity - class acts!!
Obama rose above Chicago politics. He can rise above Bush politics. These two will be out quickly. If there's genuine concern about impropriety, Obama can appoint Republican replacements for them. That so many corrupt people could have been appointed to and maintained power positions during the Bush administration speaks volumes amid the volumes already spoken about Bush & Co. Spreading democracy like a plague abroad while undermining it at every turn in the "homeland." Oh yes, George W., history will decide.
Well I think the following is subject to a bit of scrutiny: "Dr. Cyril Wecht, also not coincidentally a leading figure in Pittsburgh Democratic politics".
If Cyril is a leading figure - how come he lost the Allegheny County Chief Excutive race putting a Republican at the helm of a machine that has not had Republican leadership for the last 900 years???
Please let's not start killing everything Republican. A little more research here may reveal that Marybeth in fact has some very important projects open - like prosecuting a "housewife" that blew away a FBI agent. Life does exist beyond politics and even Democrat's too should have open minds.
Seems as if Ms Martin is Katherine Harris in disguise
Cforchange: how misleading. Yes, Dr. Wecht did lose the election, but the "Allegheny County Chief Executive" was a NEW position. NO ONE had held it before. And the housewife story - the agents did not announce themselves and she thought someone was breaking in. Yes, her hubby was a drug dealer, but there are laws and procedures, and she was justified in defending herself. It could have been one of his druggie friends going crazy. Everything is not black or white, partisan, repub or dem. Sometimes things just ARE.
Couple of candidates here for harsh interrogation methods, strap them down and water board their hypocritical asses. This is why I laugh when someone says Americans are free. Hah
what is this world coming to this woman is crimminal why has noone done anything about her
The Municipal Bond Scandal that Bloomberg markets exposed in 2006 with their story Broken Promises is emblematic of a culture of corruption that exists in the Democratic party. Using the poor and needy as an excuse, CDR Financial Products along with several other businesses including J.P.Morgan Chase and AIG, teamed up with significant elements of the Democratic party in a nationwide scheme that routinely left parts of this country devastated.
Pay for Play is a misnomer, in reality that is only half the equation. Yes the bribery of Democrat politicians is an offense all by itself. But even more threatening were the black box deals and financial schemes using the municipal bond market as a means to pilfer millions of dollars. The deals were opaque by nature and complicated by design. In short they involve insurance companies, banks, and CDR floating municipal bonds for local government agencies with the purpose of funding improvements, but with the real goal of merely of enriching the companies .
A summary of black box deals:
Step 1:Issuer sells Millions in Municipal Bonds to finance civic improvements
Step2 :Financial firms make millions in fees from bonds Sales (Some have secret agreements to make more from investment gains and insurance)
Step 3: Cities buy back bonds from investors, citizens get nothing.
Step 4: IRS says the agreement cheats taxpayers, demands a tax penalty to keep the bonds tax exempt.
CDR and the Democrats
The withdrawal of Bill Richardson recently made the headlines. In his case CDR gave money to Si SE Puede, a PAC formed to help pay Richardson's expenses at the 2004 Democratic Convention. In exchange its argued that CDR received favorable treatment in regards to bids to do business for GRIP (Govenor Richardson's Investment program) , bid rigging in short.
Another aspect of pay for play, and one more likely to land a politician in jail is CDR's tactic of finding friends, fundraisers and associates of elected Democrats, and hiring them as "Consultants". In New Mexico it was Richardson friend Mike Stratton who was hired by CDR. On a side note the Director of Si Se Puede Fred Duval was hired by UBS ,a Swiss bank, as a consultant. UBS was also one of several banks that ended up receiving a cut of the GRIP pie. The collusion of CDR, elected Democrat, and consultants that occurred in New Mexico is similar to other CDR linked scandals. In Philadelphia it was Ron White (now deceased) who received money and super bowl tickets from the company and was hired as a consultant. He was also an associate and fundraiser for Philly Mayor Sharpe. In Pennsylvania as a whole it was Alan Kessler who was the chief lobbyist for CDR and a top fundraiser for Ed Rendell. The most egregious example would be Mayor Larry Langford of Birmingham Alabama, who is accused in a 101 count indictment of using his friend William Blount and lobbyist Albert LaPierre to funnel money, jewelry, cloths, and watches into his hands in exchange for government favors while he was President of the Jefferson County Commission. Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham is on the precipice of the greatest municipal bankruptcy in history. There are also questions of CDR's actions in Atlanta and several of municipalities and CDR is currently being sued by over 20 school districts and cities in addition to the criminal investigations.
Donations to Democrats
Over the past 16 years David Rubin, President of CDR, has managed to funnel 279,000 dollars to various candidates across the country. In total 95% of that money went to Democrats. Of those Democrats, Obama, Clinton, Ken Salazar, and Henry Waxman were some of the top beneficiaries. In addition he has spread 91,000 dollars to Democrats on a state and local level, with Ed Rendell, Governor of Pennsylvania being the top recipient. It should be noted that Rubin was on Rendell's transition team when he became governor a couple years ago. And where was our former Chairmen for House Oversight and Government Reform Henry Waxman when all of this corruption was going on? Broken Promises exposed CDR in 2006 and the SEC had fined that company in 2007, why no headline grabbing hearings for the country to sick its teeth into? Oh wait CDR in addition to being pouring hundreds of thousands to the Democrats happens to be located in CA-30, that would be Waxman's own district.
The Impact
The greatest threat would be to the integrity to the 2.6 trillion dollar municipal bond market. If "phantom" bonds and scams infect the bond market, what could happen? We have all seen the past couple years the damage fear, panic, and fraud could do to markets and economies. But there is a human impact as well, not just the corrosive affect of bribes and corruption, but an increase of pain and anger for people across the country. In Florida, housing called Oakwood Terrace was left a cesspool when muni-bonds floated in the name of helping low income neighborhoods was never used for improvements. In Philadelphia the people have had their gas rates increased to make up for the 60 million dollars lost from CDR deals gone sour. And in the greatest disaster of all, Jefferson County Alabama, (Mayor Langsford's jurisdiction) is now on the cusp of complete financial meltdown.
If this is not a culture of corruption, what is?
http://46in08.blogspot.com/2009/01/cdr-david-rubin-bill-richardson.html
Remove them from office then prosecute in order to take their license. This is no longer a facist state. However, they should be punished as though it still is.
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This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
These comments should be monitored. Two here refer to women as "bitches." That's not the level of discourse that Tina Brown should encourage in this upscale website.
There are ways to make derogatory comments about these politicians without using sexist slurs. Clearly, those who do have little education, less vocabulary, and are bullies, hidden by their anonymity. Not worth reading the comments if this is the kind of reader The Beast attracts.
Yea, cause when I think the Daily Beast, I think class. How many contributors are convicted felons? I can't wait for more musings from the incarcerated Conrad Black.
Proof-positive that dingbats are alive and well in D.C. even as the Necons depart officially. The AG should fire them and replace them with attorneys who WILL investigate Dems, but do so WITHOUT a vendetta in mind. These two smack of the very ideology that permeated the Bush administration.
The Civil Rights division of the Justice Dept. had become a notorious nest of left wing zealots, eager to hang "The Man".
It was in sore need of a housecleaning, sending off these partisan
Democrats to do some honest work elsewhere.
BTW, did these ladies have any successful prosecutions?
As any honest person will admit, there are hordes of corrupt Democratic politicians in need of prosecution.
Please Mr. Obama,
Remove these cancers pronto! Then, if their replacements still think that the pending cases merit prosecution, by all means press on. (But unless Cyril Wecht was copying/receiving kiddy porn on the company copier, or that social studies teacher was transporting her underage charges across state lines to be conscripted into a sex-slave ring, what on earth would motivate an Attorney General to get involved in those prosecutions if not unadulterated political bias?)
While I admire Barack Obama's attempts at inclusion as a remedy to the horrid divisiveness we've all endured in the past 8 years--not everyone deserves an invite to the party. A little bit of judicious blood-letting is quite all right in this instance.
Hey, hopefully the new AG will give them their walking papers. Time is up! Move on, Bye!
WOW. I'm stunned by this article. I had no idea this kind of nonsense was happening at this level. If this is all true then I hope the new AG quickly and forcefully seeks their resignation. If they refuse, fire them and appoint people with some integrity for the law who are bi-partisan or independent. This is just outrageous. The image of that teacher being dragged out of her bedroom is stunning. Something that could easily be a movie that gives us more insight into this outgoing administration than even the movie "W," which was quite good.
Thank you.
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