UPDATE: Specter aide responsible for provision to expand exec powers
Fri Feb 09, 2007 at 12:17:19 AM PDT
Salon today has posted a stinging review of how the Bush Administration in general and the Justice Department in particular have been secretly expanding executive powers through the manipulation of the standard practices of hiring US Attorneys to fill vacant positions.
The Justice Department's firing of US attorneys working on sensitive cases is not news here, but Salon may be the first spark of a fire rising in the MSM:
Under any circumstances, the Bush administration's sudden, explicitly political dismissal and replacement of United States attorneys in judicial districts across the country would be very troubling -- both as a violation of American law enforcement traditions and as a triumph of patronage over competence.
But as the story behind these strange decisions unfolds, a familiar theme is emerging. Again, the White House and the Justice Department have been exposed in a secretive attempt to expand executive power for partisan purposes. And again, their scheming is tainted with a nasty whiff of authoritarianism.
But the most tantalizing fact in the Salon article is the outing of who was working behind the scene to garner BushCo the power to stuff the Justice Department with partisan hacks.
Meet Michael O'Neill, a staffer for Arlen Specter (R-PA). During the the renewal of the Patriot Act in December 2005, O'Neill slipped a provision into the bill that allowed the White House to replace any vacated US attorney spots with someone of their own choosing, rather than the old system of deferring to judges to appoint replacements.
Salon digs up the dirt on Michael O'Neill:
The staffer who reportedly performed this bit of dirty work is Michael O'Neill, a law professor at George Mason University and former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. As the Washington Times explained when O'Neill was appointed as the Senate Judiciary Committee's chief counsel, many observers believed that Specter had hired him to reassure conservatives of his loyalty to the Bush White House. Right-wing distrust had almost ousted the Pennsylvania moderate from the Judiciary chairmanship, and appointing O'Neill was apparently the price for keeping that post.
George Mason page of O'Neill. Can we dig up more on this guy?
UPDATE: Hail Ripley, in a 1995 Kos diary, makes the connection to the Utah Saints - BYU Alum who are infiltrating the Republican party.
Role: O'Neill will be a key player in helping Judiciary Chairman Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., push the president's choice on Senate moderates. That is, of course, presuming that Specter sticks with the president should Bush pick a nominee skeptical of abortion rights. One knowledgeable source says this Brigham Young University alum was hired in January because "he assuages some of the [conservatives'] concerns about Specter."
Also, it is not unimportant that O'Neill is more than a "staffer." He is Chief Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and former nominations counsel to Orrin Hatch.
Here is a nice photo of O'Neill pushing through Roberts. O'Neill has a big hand in pushing through SCOTUS nominees. Sentencing Law and Policy
The Legal Times has this quote from O'Neill about his new position: "Part of the reason I took this job is that I anticipate being able to do oversight on the DOJ, and the possibility of working on Supreme Court nominations." He also said, "It's such an historic time to be on the committee." Of course, it is also an historic time to be involved with the US Sentencing Commission, but it looks like that body will be one Commissioner short until the President names a replacement for O'Neill.
And ANOTHER Utah connection?
Specter explained that the request for the language's insertion came from a Justice Department representative, Brett Tolman, who is now the United States Attorney for Utah, and that the principal reason for the change was to resolve "separation of power issues."
And TPMmuckraker is all over this.
Specter, of course, claims he knew nothing about the provision. As Salon says, he SHOULD be reading his own bills.
DO NOT let Specter off the hook on this. Either he KNEW about the provision, or his staffers are running the show behind his back. Either way, someone's head has to roll.
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