As scrutiny increases on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, a new report reveals that dozens of Bush appointees are members of a partisan organization of lawyers.
The appointees and civil servants include "at least 25 in the Justice Department, nine in the Department of Defense and others in the Labor and Commerce departments, the White House and the Office of Special Counsel, which oversees investigations into allegations of ethical misconduct by government employees," report Marisa Taylor and Margaret Talev for McClatchy Newspapers.
But hey, there's nothing wrong with that! It's not like we'd try to hide it or anything:
The Justice Department denies any improper behavior, but after being contacted by McClatchy, the profiles of at least two members of the Republican National Lawyers Association were edited to remove information connecting them to the Department of Justice.
The Republican National Lawyers Association. Giving lawyers and rabid mustelids everywhere a bad name.
An old hand gives his opinion on the politicization of the Justice Department:
"I can't imagine Justice Department employees advertising their membership in a political organization in my day," said Stanley Hunterton, a former federal prosecutor of 12 years who investigated organized crime in Detroit and Las Vegas before he left the department in 1985 during the Reagan administration. "We didn't even talk about politics, let alone identify ourselves as willing to work on behalf of a political party."
Times have changed. Rules too.
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