This time it's at the National Office of Drug Control Policy with evidence of it branching into several other agencies:
White House officials arranged for top officials at the Office of National Drug Control Policy to help as many as 18 vulnerable Republican congressmen by making appearances and sometimes announcing new federal grants in the lawmakers' districts in the months leading up to the November 2006 elections, a Democratic lawmaker said yesterday.
Rep. Henry A. Waxman (Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said documents obtained by his panel suggest that the appearances by the drug control officials were part of a larger White House effort to politicize the work of federal agencies that "may be more widespread than previously known."
Remember, this scandal started with the infamous GSA briefing held by the incorrigible Lurita Doane. She just Could Not Imagine what the problem was with using her powers as agency chief to help her favorite political party and harm those mean liberals on the other side.
Obviously, the problem was viral, infecting even the most mundane of administrative agencies. And it all started with Karl Rove:
Waxman cited a memo written by former White House political director Sara M. Taylor showing that John P. Walters, director of the drug control office, and his deputies traveled at taxpayer expense to about 20 events with vulnerable GOP members of Congress in the three months leading up to the elections.
In a letter to Taylor, Waxman also pointed to an e-mail by an official in the drug policy office describing President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, as being pleased that the office, along with the Commerce, Transportation and Agriculture departments, went "above and beyond" the call of duty in arranging appearances by Cabinet members at campaign events.
It's been awful fun to see the 'subpoenas flying' but it's time to get real with these criminals. Like Atrios said, if one can ignore a subpoena, they all can. Start hauling them off to jail.