Audit finds politics guided hiring at Justice Dept; Well DoH!

The Justice Department broke federal law by using a political and ideological litmus test to hire conservative law students over their liberal peers, according to an audit released earlier today.

"Many qualified candidates were deselected by the screening committee because of their perceived political or ideological affiliations" in 2006, says the report, which was issued jointly by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine and Office of Professional Responsiblity Counsel H. Marshall Jarrett. Because selection for the Honors and Summer Law Intern program is supposed to be non-partisan and merit-based, the bias “constituted misconduct and also violated the department’s policies and civil service law that prohibit discrimination in hiring based on political or ideological affiliations.”

The manipulation began under then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and continued under his successor, Alberto R. Gonzales. Two of Gonzales' underlings were singled out for misconduct — Esther Slater McDona2ld, counsel to the Associate Attorney General, and Michael Elston, the then-chief of staff to the Deputy Attorney General.

"The documentary evidence and witness interviews also support the conclusion that they took political or ideological affiliations into account in deselecting candidates, in violation of Department policy and federal law, and thereby committed misconduct," the audit states.

Here's the full audit, the first findings of several investigations into political bias in the Justice Department during the Bush administration. In addition, department watchdogs are looking at the role of politics in the firing of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006, as well as mismanagement during Gonzales' tenure. The Washington Monthly offers a report graphic to illustrate the disparity.

In a statement, Attorney General Michael Mukasey noted that the hiring practices have been overhauled and that the audit acknowledged the changes.

"I have also made clear, and will continue to make clear, that the consideration of political affiliations in the hiring of career Department employees is impermissible and unacceptable," he said. "The joint report issued today contains additional recommendations aimed at ensuring that political and ideological affiliations are not inappropriately used to evaluate candidates for these programs."

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/06/audit-finds-pol.html
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Audit finds politics guided hiring at Justice Dept; Well DoH!

Audit finds politics guided hiring at Justice Dept; Well DoH!

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