Even though though the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General, headed by Glenn Fine, said that it is investigating whether disgraced Attorney General Alberto Gonzales gave false or misleading testimony to Congress, this is like having the fox investigate the death of the chickens in the coop. The Justice Department needs to appoint a special prosecutor. Period.
P.S. For those of you who have asked, I'm not against having a "litmus test" for political appointees. Here it is: Do you believe in following the Constitution?
Even though the Justice Department's Inspector General, Glenn Fine, enjoys a generally good reputation (not a high threshold these days), my personal experience of being investigated by his office gives me no hope, and counsels against, the ability of the OIG to investigate Gonzales.
Instead of investigating the conduct on which I blew the whistle--prosecutorial abuse in the case of "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh--the OIG investigated me. His agents became the Inspector Javert of my life.
The OIG told my law firm, contrary to U.S. Attorney Manual guidelines about not impugning uncharged individuals, that I was a "criminal" under "criminal investigation."
The OIG leaned heavily on Hawkins, Delafield & Wood to fire me (Hawkins knew I'd sue them for wrongful termination, so they instead placed me on an involuntary, indefinite, unpaid leave of absence.)
The OIG referred me for criminal prosecution to the U.S. Attorney's Office, for what "crime" I was never told--and investigation that closed with no charges ever being brought, but which cost me tremendous amounts of time, energy and money to defend.
The OIG worked hand-in-glove with the Office of Professional Responsibility in referring me to the state bars in which I'm licensed as an attorney based on the OIG's secret report to which I did not have access.
And in the icing on the cake of pettiness and taxpayer waste, the OIG assisted my private law firm in contesting my award of unemployment compensation benefits.
When I finally got acccess to the OIG Report, it was shoddy, sloppy and riddled with contradictions. THe Maryland Bar dismissed the charges soon thereafter.
The conduct of the OIG was spectacularly inappropriate. Senator Leahy and the rest of Congress should take no comfort in OIG's assurances that it "has ongoing investigations" related to Gonzales' testimony about the U.S. Attorney massacre, warrantless wiretapping, witness tampering and sickbed visits to former Attorney General Ashcroft.
Appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and bring perjury charges against Gonzales. Nothing less will do.