July 31, 2007 / by emptywheel

 

Why Does Lurita Doan Still Have a Job?

It has been over 50 days since Scott Bloch, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, sent Bush a letter advising that Lurita Doan be disciplined severely for her violations of the Hatch Act. Yet there she is, still in charge of the government’s credit cards as the Administrator of the GSA.

If Doan weren’t a Bush appointee, her fate would be clear–she would have been fired fifty days ago. But in this case, Bush has to fire her himself. And it appears that he has no intention of doing so.

I know that this will surprise no one. After all, Bush effectively pardoned the guy who was covering up Bush’s own involvement in the leak of Valerie Wilson’s identity. So why wouldn’t he effectively pardon the gal who decided to brainstorm ways to use government resources to get Republicans elected? And also, ensured that a company, Sun Microsystems, under active investigation for ripping off the federal government by charging it more than it charges private companies, would continue to be able to rip off the government.

There’s one more implication of this. If Bush isn’t going to fire Doan, then he’s surely not going to fire anyone else who might be found guilty of Hatch Act violations in Scott Bloch’s larger investigation into the White House’s politicization of the entire government (okay, I’m exaggerating slightly). You know … people like Scott Jennings and Monica Goodling. Or the big target, Karl Rove.

Bush has basically made it legal for top appointees to hijack our federal government for the exclusive use of the Republican party. Stalin would be proud.

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Originally Posted @ https://www.emptywheel.net/2007/07/31/why-does-lurita-doan-still-have-a-job/