It Ain't Over Mukasey

Remember how senior appointees at the Justice Department got caught using political litmus tests in the civil service hiring process. Well, Attorney General Michael Mukasey declared the incident closed yesterday. There was no criminal harm, he told the American Bar Association, therefore no foul.

He may yet be proven wrong. Federal law expressly prohibits political meddling in the civil service hiring process. If the department's White House liaison officer, Monica M. Goodling, rejected candidates because they were Democrats, she violated the merit principle plain and simple. Although she is long gone from government and no longer subject to the law's removal provisions, she may have engaged in a coordinated campaign with other political hacks, including White House aides, to remove Democrats from the hiring pool. That moves the scandal much closer to a political conspiracy, mild though it might seem to Mukasey and congressional investigators. It's not Watergate, for sure, but might be a good test of just how far politicization can go without crossing the line.

Mukasey needs to recognize that the scandal continues to work its will on department morale, which couldn't be lower. And calls to just get over this painful incident ring hollow to the Millennials who are thinking about a career at Justice. When Millennials hear the words "Justice Department," they ought to be thinking about making a difference, not what they did for a senior thesis or whether their spouse is a registered Democrat.

So what can Mukasey do? First, he should fire some of his political people and replace them with career civil servants. Nothing could do more to raise morale and signal a commitment to professionalism than to elevate some professionals to the top jobs.

Second, he should eliminate the lower-level political jobs that produced so much meddling. Goodling was not a Senate-confirmed political appointee -- she was a second tier "at will" appointee whose main qualification was intense loyalty to the president. Like many lower-level appointees, she had too much time on her hands, which is what most of these appointees do. Mukasey could easily fire half of these "gofer" appointees and eliminate their jobs.

Third, he should take a look at the possible involvement of sympathetic career civil servants in the politicization scheme. After all, there are political wannabes in the civil service, too. There is also good cause to consider some kind of further investigation of just how tightly coordinated the violations of merit were. That would send an important signal to the department about the Attorney General's commitment to change. This was not a failure of adult supervision, as Mukasey implies, but of what may yet turn out to be explicit permission.

Finally, Mukasey should send a special message to the Millennials that he cares about nonpartisan public service. Plan a law-school recruiting tour this fall, send personal letters to job candidates, require more training for his political lieutenants, and start taking this incident seriously. He might even expand his investigations to other departments where similar meddling almost certainly occurred. Absent aggressive action, this painful lesson will leave a very deep scar. And that's something the department cannot afford as the baby boomers walk out the doors.

Paul C. Light is a professor at New York University's Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service and author of A Government Ill Executed.

Comments

[Marlyn]

"he should fire some of his political people and replace them with career civil servants."

He should, but he won't.

[S1m0n]

He *is* a political appointee.

[randyjet]

As Mr. LIght has pointed out, there was NO criminal action in that there is NO jail time for breaking that law. The only penalty was removal from office. I hope that all are in support then for ICE in enforcing CRIMINAL laws in arresting and deporting those who committed CRIMINAL actions in illegal entry into the US. The illegals also are guilty in most cases of ID theft, perjury, falsification of documents, fraud, among other crimes. All of those get prison time for those CRIMES! So I hope that all on this blog will join the majority of Democrats and Americans who want enforcement of our laws and borders.

[djelimon]

Interesting, but a red herring

[BusGreg]

Excuuuuuse me?!
What the bush regime and it's appointees have done to the security, stability, economics, subversion of the constitution....... and you bring in ICE?? What these bums have done to our Nation, far outweighs the problem with undocumented aliens, yet you don't want a Federal law enforced that Mukasy violated!
Mukasey's statement is a slap in America's face and the fact that Federal law expressly prohibits political meddling in the civil service hiring process appear to have slipped by you.

[NWGuy]

"Mukasey should...", Mukasey should...". Actually, Mukasey won't. There is nothing anyone can do to make him do his duty.

Actually, he IS doing his duty, to Bush. Remember that the AG works for the POTUS, not the people! He has no obligation to the people or the Constitution of the US, only to Bush. So, what he is doing is right in line with his job description.

[sueno]

CAN WE START TO INVESTIGATE HIM!

[BonnieJW]

"Mukasey should...", Mukasey should...". Actually, Mukasey won't. There is nothing anyone can do to make him do his duty.

[Alex84]

They broke civil laws acccordnig to the government report. The left is always so intent on quoting government reports, so here ya go.

I don't know for sure, but it seems Mr Lights has never been a part of a large organization like the department. It would be a logistical nightmare to fire/hire in the way he wants. It would turn the place upside down, and those fired would probably have legal recourse. Mr. Mukasey is serving his country, and I truly believe he wants to move on and make sure this doesn't happen again, instead of dragging the whole situation through the mud, as most democrats think is necessary.

[BBackSoon]

So your argument is that it would be messy to bring this into the light and make it right? We should allow all these Fervent Right Wing political types that have pledged their allegiance to Bush instead of the USA, to remain in positions of power because it would be hard to get rid of them? So we all look the other way and all the while they are quietly or not so quietly moving each and every government department still further to the Right?

That is a bad idea. We are or at least were a nation of laws and it used to be that if you broke those laws you were tried and punished. Now these people may be forced to resign but they will get new jobs in the private sector or in lobbying firms as thanks for their work for GWB.

The idea that he will make sure it never happens again is Bull S#!t! He just wants our 15 second attention spans to move on to the next celebrity story and they will go on with Bushco business as usual.

[ConstitutionFirst]

Mukasey has admitted that these people broke the law. He is now actively proteting them from the consequences. That sounds to me as if he is an accomplice after the fact. Since he did not reach this decision alone he also appears to be part of a criminal conspiracy. It might also be argued that failure of the chief law enforcement officer to enforce the law is obstruction of justice. Each of these is an impeachable offence.

Impeachment is important. Presidential pardons do not apply to crimes for which the perpetrator was impeached.

[Liberal2]

Couldn't every lawyer Goodling turned down sue her for damage to their careers? By doing something she knew was against the law (as I remember her testimony) she wouldn't be protect by laws insulating government workers from law suits arising from performing their duties. I believe the protection requires "good faith" exercise of their governmental authority.

[memphispaul]

You are referring to the concept of "scope of employment".
When a public official acts in an official capacity outside of statutory or regulatory authority the employee can be held to have acted without authority or "outside of the scope of employment".

[oncethere]

Republican will say, oh well, Democrats do the same thing when they are in power. They use this argument all the time, but the fact is that there is no equivalency between what they have done at DOJ and anything Dems have done. To give an example: Take Clinton's nomination of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Bush's putting forth Harriet Meyers. Ginsburg was a serious lawyer, a professor I believe, and had no personal ties to Clinton; Meyers was Bush's personal lawyer and someone who wrote him love notes that suggest the emotional maturity of an eight grader.

There is no equivalency here. These are two completely different acts. It still astounds me that Bush would have the gall and stupidity to nominate Meyers.

[Marlyn]

"Republican will say, oh well, Democrats do the same thing when they are in power."

Yes, that is a familiar refrain from the right, like Randy "Duke" Cunningham saying when he was arrested, "But everybody does it."

[MsLiz]

Isn't it against the civil service laws to fire the appointees approved by Monica Goodling?

[Paul C. Light - Huffpost Blogger]

You are correct. Once you're hired, you cannot be fired without due cause (poor performance, etc.).

[ofbbg]

Why don't you explain that to the 80+ Asst. AGs Clinton fired!!

[RichardIII]

The hirelings in question are basically lifetime political appointees who may have had no more qualifications for the AG's office than Harriet Myers had for the Supreme Court, i.e. being a loyal member of the gang, ideally with a little blood on their hands to prove their loyalty. May the ABA have the guts to take Mukasey to task.

"Not every violation of the law is a crime." AG Michael Mukasey 8/13/08. Wow.

[memphispaul]

Not at all.
The law is specific concerning violations of the merit systems employment process. As if the law stands for anything to the "law & order" folks.
If the hiring or promotion process violates the law then the employment action based upon it is void.

[MaryT63]

Because Nixon resigned and not face impreachment charges, because Reagan claimed he did not remember his involvement w Iran Contra, because of other governmental law breaking that got a slap on the hand w 'our country nightmare is finally over' mentally - our democracy has become a big laugh to these criminal minded people.
Cheney, Rumsfeld, Karl Rove, Roger Ailes, Lee Atwater, all cut their teeth in the Nixon admin, learned more of what they could get away with under Reagan/Bush41 admins, then bingo all systems go in the Bush 43 admin. Now all these young conservatives in the admin learning the ropes under these law breaking minded people. Just imagine how much they are learning on what they can get away with. If Mcbush wins the WH, we and our democracy will seriously continue to be damaged.

[BrighterStar]

The reason this is over is because no criminal laws were broken and the principals involved are gone so there is nothing to investigate. The type of investigation you want would seem to lead to the politicization of the department that you criticize.

[Mustang Sally]

Excellent article!!

P.S. I think you wanted that sentance to read, "...continues to work its will on department MORALE..."

[Paul C. Light - Huffpost Blogger]

Yikes. A Freudian slip? Can't be.

[jmpurser]

I really Really REALLY thought we'd hit bottom Attorney General wise with office holders that actually supported torture. I mean, how could you go down from THERE??? Son of a gun if Bush (with able Democratic help) didn't do it. We now have an attorney general who says it's not a crime to break the law.

Unless the next one has a policy of "If you have a gun you can take what you want and it's okay by me!" then I think we've hit bottom but I'm not betting on it.

[wheresthebeef]

Mukasey's another Bush hack who knows that he can do whatever the hell he wants in an environment where no one's accountable for any misdeed, no matter how blatant. You're wasting your ink on this one.

[Paul C. Light - Huffpost Blogger]

Got to keep on it. I've been hitting my head on this brick wall for years and years. Guess I'm used to it. Read my letter to McCain and Obama on this site. No calls yet.

[jcorrington]

I agree, and we all knew from the git-go that this guy was worse than alberto!! We can blame our illustrious congress (again) for this.