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More GOP/Bush Administration Scandal!!!!

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Anonymous

Guest
Doan Ends Her Stormy Tenure as GSA Chief
Resignation Comes at White House's Behest


By Robert O'Harrow Jr. and Scott Higham
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 1, 2008; Page A01

General Services Administration chief Lurita Alexis Doan has resigned as head of the government's premier contracting agency at the request of the White House, ending a tumultuous tenure in which she was accused of trying to award work to a friend and misusing her authority for political ends.

"I have been asked by the White House to resign," Doan said in a voice-mail message left with a Washington Post reporter. She added in a statement: "It has been a great privilege to serve our nation and a great President."

--------------------------------

Waxman's committee began investigating Doan after articles in The Post revealed that she had approved a $20,000, no-bid procurement order last July with a firm run by a friend who had served as Doan's public relations consultant when she was in private business. Doan said she terminated the order after she became aware that it did not comply with contracting rules.

The committee investigation also turned up evidence that Doan may have violated the Hatch Act in January 2007 by allegedly asking political appointees how they could "help our candidates" at an agency briefing conducted by a White House official, according to several of the appointees present for the briefing.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a government watchdog agency, conducted its own probe of those claims and concluded that she made the remarks and violated the Hatch Act, which generally prohibits employees of federal agencies from using their positions for political purposes. In a letter last June, Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch urged President Bush to discipline Doan "to the fullest extent," which included removing her from office.

In the ensuing months, the White House said it was considering Bloch's recommendation but made no further comment. A White House official yesterday declined to say whether that recommendation played a role in her resignation.

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Doan had also been under scrutiny by GSA Inspector General Brian Miller for alleged conflicts of interest and by Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. Grassley was examining Doan's role in the reauthorization of a contract with Sun Microsystems.

"The GSA is an integral component of the federal government's ability to keep costs low for the American taxpayer," Grassley said in a statement yesterday. "In my oversight of the GSA, including the Sun Microsystems contract, it appeared that the taxpayer was not the Agency's top concern. Instead we found questionable actions, finger-pointing, and stonewalling. I hope that changes will now be made to ensure the taxpayer gets the best possible deal when GSA and other agencies negotiate contracts."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043001271.html?hpid=sec-politics

Yep- GW and his Gang that couldn't shoot straight might be very responsible for the reasoning behind these numbers :wink: :lol: :p :p :(


Government Ethics and Corruption is a Very Important issue for 71% of Likely Voters. The Democrats have a huge advantage on this issue—45% now trust them while just 26% prefer the GOP. That lead has also widened since last month, when the Democrats had only a six-point advantage.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
With just what has come out in the past 1 1/2 years, since Congress began doing oversight over the GW Gang- enough evidence has come to light to keep swarms of Federal Investigators and Attorneys busy for years looking into all the criminal acts...
What will still come out in those investigations and the relevations in years to come will be eye opening to some- but I think it is going to have to be done- and heads roll from the top down on those that can be proven- if there is any hope of ever bringing back any credibility to government....
 

Mike

Well-known member
Doan approved a $20,000.00 no bid contract?? WOW, that will break the bank for sure!!!

I say put her away for life!!!!!!!!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
 

mrj

Well-known member
OT, Democrats clearly control those investigations and use them for their own political advantage, ignoring problems involving 'their own', often producing NO results other than the media coverage benefitting Democrats.

mrj
 

fff

Well-known member
mrj said:
OT, Democrats clearly control those investigations and use them for their own political advantage, ignoring problems involving 'their own', often producing NO results other than the media coverage benefitting Democrats.

mrj

Yes, if there are investigations the Democrats will do the investigating. My question to you is why didn't the Republicans investigate while they had control of Congress?

We've known for a year that this woman, Doan, violated the Hatch Act, why has she been allowed to stay in an important, influencial, lucerative job for so long?

You may have been familiar with the scrutiny of Blackwater¹s mercenary army, or followed the troubles with oversight at the State Department, but chances are you hadn¹t heard of Lurita Doan. She isn¹t exactly a household name. So it might be surprising that, as head of the General Services Administration, Doan oversees $500 billion dollars worth of federal assets.

On the JOURNAL, Rep.Henry Waxman explains how an investigation that started with leaks about possible favoritism in awarding government contracts eventually uncovered documents and testimony that convinced Waxman that Doan had violated the Hatch Act, a law prohibiting federal employees from using government resources for partisan purposes. Waxman was so shocked by what the Committee found that he took the unusual step of asking Doan to resign at the end of the hearings. The Office of Special Counsel, which conducted a separate investigation of Doan, concluded that Doan should be "disciplined to the fullest extent for her serious violation of the Hatch Act and insensitivity to cooperating fully and honestly in the course of our investigation." Yet today Doan still heads the GSA.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2008/02/the_curious_case_of_lurita_doa.html

Don't cry and whine when Dems investigate the jailing of Don Segelman in AL, or the firing of half a dozen US Attorneys across the country, or a multitude of other breeches of the law that Republicans ignored while they held Congress.
 

fff

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
With just what has come out in the past 1 1/2 years, since Congress began doing oversight over the GW Gang- enough evidence has come to light to keep swarms of Federal Investigators and Attorneys busy for years looking into all the criminal acts...
What will still come out in those investigations and the relevations in years to come will be eye opening to some- but I think it is going to have to be done- and heads roll from the top down on those that can be proven- if there is any hope of ever bringing back any credibility to government....

I hope that Dems will investigate the multitude of possible criminal acts committed by Republicans in power during the Bush Administration. But, frankly, I don't think they will. The reach of the incompetent, crooked, Bush Administration goes right through the government. Virtually every branch of the government has been totally screwed up by this Administration. There is so much to be done to try and get this country on it's feet that I'm afraid little things like sending a man to jail because you couldn't beat him in an election :roll: will slip through the cracks. And Republicans like MRJ will scream that those investigations are politically instigated. I don't like it, but we are looking at a pretty good housecleaning in the next election. We may have to be satisfied with that.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
mrj said:
OT, Democrats clearly control those investigations and use them for their own political advantage, ignoring problems involving 'their own', often producing NO results other than the media coverage benefitting Democrats.

mrj

Maxine- if you ever watched any of the hearings-- you'd realize that Legislators from both parties have an opportunity to call whoever as witness's- and Legislators from both parties get a chance to question those witness's...

It has been rather hard for and embarrassing on the Republican Congressmen when so many of the Bush Administration folks either refuse to appear, or they can't get a straight answer or any info/documentation out of them- or in some cases such blatent lies that it even makes the Republicans blush...

Even in the recent statements of Gingrich, Congressman Davis and many other Republicans-- they are realizing their failure to oversee GW- and the fact that all his crooked dealings/falsehoods are now coming out- is what currently has caused the disaster happening at the polls to the Republican Party...

If I had to predict- I believe the $12 Billion missing in Iraq will turn into another Iran/Contra type scandal as things are revealed- and GW will leave someone like Paul Bremer or Condi Rice holding the smoking gun...Which whoever is President at the time will just pardon...

Whats a measly missing $12 BILLION taxpayer dollars, when we have a President who is sacrificing so much for his efforts toward the war-- GIVING UP GOLF :???: :roll: :wink: :lol: :lol: :p :( :( :( :(
 

fff

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Whats a measly missing $12 BILLION taxpayer dollars, when we have a President who is sacrificing so much for his efforts toward the war-- GIVING UP GOLF :???: :roll: :wink: :lol: :lol: :p :( :( :( :(

And he can't even be honest about that. He claims to have given up golf on 8/19/03, the day a truck bomb killed the UN representative in Baghdad, but the AP reported that he played a round of golf on Columbus Day, 10/13/03.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/05/14/BL2008051401929_pf.html
 

Mike

Well-known member
Don't cry and whine when Dems investigate the jailing of Don Segelman in AL, or the firing of half a dozen US Attorneys across the country,

Those that investigate the Siegelman case should check with the jury that jailed him. :roll:

Clinton not only fired some US Attorneys, he fired every damn one of them. All 93!!!!

Where's the investigation of Janet Reno?
:lol:
 

fff

Well-known member
Mike said:
Don't cry and whine when Dems investigate the jailing of Don Segelman in AL, or the firing of half a dozen US Attorneys across the country,

Those that investigate the Siegelman case should check with the jury that jailed him. :roll:

Clinton not only fired some US Attorneys, he fired every damn one of them. All 93!!!!

Where's the investigation of Janet Reno?
:lol:

The jury could only render a verdict on the information put in front of them. The defense was not given all the infomration they needed to put up a proper defense. Judge Fuller had a grudge against Siegelman and should not have tried the case. Siegelman is now out of jail, pending an appeal.

The President has the right to fire any/all the US Attorneys. No one disputes that and if Bush had fired them all, it would have raised no eyebrows. It wasn't until Alberto refused, at first, to say why those few were fired, then came up with multiple stories, that people started really looking at the situation. Now we know that some of them refused to get involved with bogus charges on Democratic candidates and the Administration requested their resignation. A Senate seat in NM may switch to Democratic, in part because the resigned Senator pressured the US attorney there to push bogus charges against a Democratic opponent. When he refused, he was asked to resign. After realizing this was happening across the country, he's come forward and publically talked about what happened. I think there were seven that resigned under pressure from the White House. What we don't know is how many of the others stepped into the political arena in support of the Republican Party and affected the political process.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/28/AR2007022801502.html

Every time we take a look at the United States attorney scandal, more evidence emerges that Alberto Gonzales politicized the Justice Department to the point where it sometimes seems like a branch of the Republican National Committee.

Yesterday, for example, Richard Thornburgh, a former Republican attorney general, told a Congressional hearing that his client, Dr. Cyril Wecht, a Democratic officeholder in Pennsylvania, was indicted on federal charges that should not be federal charges by a United States attorney who targeted Democrats.

At the same hearing, more evidence emerged that the prosecutions of Don Siegelman, the former Alabama governor, and Paul Minor, a prominent Mississippi Democrat, may have been political hits. And a University of Missouri professor testified that his statistical analysis showed that the Justice Department engaged in “political profiling.”

Dr. Wecht’s case has gotten little attention, but that may change. Mr. Thornburgh said prosecutors are using “unprecedented” legal theories to turn mostly “nickel and dime transgressions” into major federal felonies. He charged that while United States Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan went after Dr. Wecht and other Democrats, she ignored the offenses of Republican officials, including a congressman whose staff accused him of using government employees in his election campaign.

Mr. Siegelman’s lawyer, Doug Jones, said the investigation of the former governor was very limited until it turned around “180 degrees” in late 2004, after Washington officials told local prosecutors “to go back and look at the case, review the case top to bottom.” That is consistent with the account of Dana Jill Simpson, a Republican lawyer who says she was on a phone call in which Republican operatives said Karl Rove was involved in the prosecution.

In his introductory remarks, Representative Robert Scott, Democrat of Virginia, said that Mr. Minor’s prosecution appeared to have been political. He said that a Republican contributor who is the brother-in-law of a Republican senator was “not even investigated, let alone indicted” for activities similar to Mr. Minor’s.

Committee members said they have learned of other prosecutions that may have been political and listed several defendants by name. Donald Shields, the University of Missouri professor, testified that the Justice Department prosecuted 5.6 local Democratic officials for every Republican. The odds of that occurring by chance, he found, is less than 1 in 10,000.

Republicans on the committee refused to take the allegations seriously — even though this sort of politicization should offend anyone who cares about the justice system. They called the claims “ridiculous,” and asked the witnesses if they had specific evidence that United States attorneys talked to the president or to other top officials about a plan to target Democrats.

That sounds good, but the best evidence about what occurred lies with the current and former members of the Bush administration — and Mr. Rove and Harriet Miers have pleaded executive privilege and defied Congressional subpoenas. They should testify about what they know, and the Justice Department should hand over documents the committee requested months ago.

The American people have a right to know what happened in the last six years at the Justice Department. Any wrongful prosecutions should be rectified.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/24/opinion/24wed1.html
 

Texan

Well-known member
fff said:
We've known for a year that this woman, Doan, violated the Hatch Act, why has she been allowed to stay in an important, influencial, lucerative job for so long?

influencial????? Is that a word? :roll:

lucerative????? Is that a word? :roll:


fff said:
hipocrisy????? Is that a word? :roll:

http://ranchers.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=280554#280554


Just teasing you, ff. We all make mistakes sometimes, huh? :wink:

Don't let it make you disagreeable. :lol:
 

Mike

Well-known member
The jury could only render a verdict on the information put in front of them.

Do you think if he was innocent that the jury would put him away? :roll:

"Federal prosecutors have recommend no prison time for Nick Bailey, a former aide to former Governor Don Siegelman. Bailey admitted taking bribes and other crooked dealings in state government when he testified against the former governor."


"Lanny Young, a Montgomery businessman, told jurors Tuesday he gave all kinds of things to Siegelman and his campaign. Young said he did it so that as governor, Siegelman would "do anything I wanted him to do."

These are some of the things the jurors heard........... :roll:
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
The American Perspectives Show had an interesting panel discussion with some of those involved in the Watergate Scandal called "Watergate 35 years After"....John Dean, David Young, Judge Bremer, some of the prosecuters....If you get a chance to watch a replay- I urge you try and watch it.....

Dean does a lot of comparisons of the Nixon Administration and the Bush Administration and their arrogance and belief that they are above the law- right down to the point that Nixon was also called by his staff "The King"- and the fact that everything illegal Nixon ordered was always said to be being done for "National Security"....
He and Young go on to explain how all these attorneys- many of who were quite young and new to government- were just enthralled by being part of the White House- and would agree with everything Nixon suggested- even tho when they looked back at it they knew it was morally, ethically, legally, and Constitutionally wrong....But you dared not challenge "the King" or you'd be out the door- and considered on the opposing side...

Nixon had several groups of staff attorneys doing differing things- and none knew exactly what the other group was doing....They were most all set up tho to try and discredit political opponents or media personnel that challenged any of Nixons actions....This included the covert breakins to find nasty info on people- illegal wiretapping- extended harrassing IRS audits on people they didn't like- unsubstantiated harrassment investigations, bringing of charges, and prosecutions of some- and even plans of kidnappings and murders of political foes...Always being told by higher ups how important this was for "National Security".....

Dean says that luckily the US Constitution held up to the autocratic challenges of the Nixon crew- and will he believes again against the reign of "King George"....Altho Nixon went down to impending Impeachment- the public is tired of Impeachment scandals and will do it the other way they can- in the ballot box by a massive backlash against the Bush supporters.....

Dean and the entire panel agreed that Bush/Cheney's public admissions of wiretaps without warrants- constituted a major violation of the law and the Constitution and is enough for Impeachment on that alone...
 
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