I've been corresponding with Manny Miranda, the guy who heads up Frist's Nuclear Option team and who improperly accessed confidential Democratic computer files.
A couple of readers ask that I post further correspondence, so it's below the fold.
He tells me that his actions in that instance were justified and directed me to the Code of Ethics for Government Ethics, Clause 9, and Pearson v Dodd.
The ethics clause admonishes gov't employees to expose all corruption. To the best of my knowledge, no corruption was proved, or seriously alleged, in the actions of the Democrats.
Pearson v Dodd is a case where files were stolen from a Senator Dodd and published by Drew Pearson. Dodd went after Pearson in civil court, but ultimately did not prevail. Manny claims that the decision established that Senators have no property rights when it comes to their gov't papers. Having read the decision, I don't see that that was what was established. However, it may be that that is what is "accepted" historically. The decision appears to me to establish that it's OK to take information from the files (in this case, photocopy and replace). HOWEVER, what Manny neatly side-steps is that it did not establish that any means taken to access the information are justified. THAT is the rub, in my non-legal opinion.
I told Manny that he's lucky he has a good lawyer. He told me that he's his own lawyer and that his stance is common sense. Well, common sense tells us that any man who serves as his own lawyer has a fool for a client. Manny ends by giving me the URL to a Texas law review article he wrote (caution, PDF!!) that lays out his justification for taking that which was not his. Again, common sense tells me that a man is always the hero of his own narrative.
It's been mildly interesting on a couple of levels. As near as I can tell, Manny has absolutely no appreciation for the idea that the ends don't justify the means. Nor does he establish that the ends were anything beyond political scoring, not exposure of corruption. He's a perfect fit for his masters. Total lack of self-awareness.
It's also interesting, though not news, to see how the older generation of Republicans (here, Hatch) is viewed by the younger (here, Frist and Manny).
I'm halfway forming the opinion that the IT situation that left the files exposed was perfectly set-up for this. It's just a hunch derived from Manny's email tone (and we know email "tone" is so unreliable), but I get the feeling that this was all set up so that Manny could go in and pull the files in a manner that walked an exact line that made his actions precisely protected in the sense that Senate decorum (which, ironcially, Manny is working 24/7 to kill) would prevail. That is, the Democrats would see that he'd done something wrong, but would give him a pass as he had a set argument of protection and justification, even though that set argument could be challenged.
It's also been a bit disheartening. These guys really are far, far gone. They really are crusaders. And people like Manny will be around forever. Half the henchmen floating around the Republican halls of power are retreads. They never retire. They just go behind the veil, never ceasing their efforts, and only occasionally come out into the light.
And what, in the end, is their goal? As near as I can tell, it's power for the sake of power. I'm sure Manny would have us believe some blather about protecting the Republic, but as we've established, he's a self-client.
Here's Manny's exercise in self-justification. I miss irony. I miss the time when even a miscreant would understand that writing an article justifying your transgressions does not stand as a serious reference. Anyway, it's an interesting insight into Manny's mind:
Again, warning, it's a PDF:
http://www.trolp.org/main_pgs/issues/v9n1/Miranda_Memogate.pdf