It's all about winning elections. A new conflict of interest is revealed in this McClatchy article by Marisa Taylor and Margaret Talev.
Government lawyers' membership in GOP group seen as inappropriate
By Marisa Taylor and Margaret Talev
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - In his day job, Christian Adams writes legal briefs for the voting rights section of the Justice Department, a job that requires a nonpartisan approach.
Off the clock, Adams belongs to the Republican National Lawyers Association, a group that trains hundreds of Republican lawyers to monitor elections and pushes for confirmation of conservative nominees for federal judgeships.
Vice President Dick Cheney credited the 3,000-member association in 2005 with helping the Republicans win the previous two presidential elections. Last year, President Bush's political adviser Karl Rove shared with the group his insights on winning elections in key battleground states. At a conference the association organized last month, speakers called the controversy over whether eight U.S. attorneys had been fired for partisan political reasons "farcical" and "ridiculous."
Some of the lawyers for the RNLA are Bush appointees, but some are not. Those "career" people would remain in their position after the 2008 elections. If the Republicans lose that election, and they are making every conceivable effort not to, those "career" people left behind would be problematic.
I'm surprised that there doesn't seem to be a code of ethics in the Justice Department that would forbid having such conflicts. But it's worse, some of those lawyers work for the Office of Special Counsel, which oversees investigations into allegations of ethical misconduct by government employees.
According to the group's Web site, Adams is one of dozens of Bush administration appointees or civil servants who are members, including at least 25 in the Justice Department, nine in the Department of Defense and others in the Labor and Commerce departments, the White House and the Office of Special Counsel, which oversees investigations into allegations of ethical misconduct by government employees.
Some are entry-level employees; others are high-ranking political appointees.