May 8, 2008 / by emptywheel

 

Bloch: Stop Making Sense

I am still catching up on events of the last week and so I don’t have a really good sense of WTF is going on with the FBI raid of Scott Bloch’s house and–according to NPR, via Sara–body cavities. But I wanted to point you to this analysis of a document drafted by a bunch of Office of Special Counsel investigators, listing their complaints about Bloch’s intervention into their investigations. I hoped that, by reading the analysis, I could figure out whether Bloch was in the bag for the Administration or opposed to the Administration. And, for the life of me, I can’t really discern any logic to Bloch’s action.

Go read the analysis. But here’s a scorecard of what the analysis seems to suggest:

Office of Political Affairs (Karl Rove’s shop at the White House)

Bloch consistently forced the task force conducting the omnibus investigation into whether the White House illegally used agency resources to help Republicans to expand its scope, even beyond the mandate of OSC.

Score: Anti-Bush

US Attorney Firing

Bloch refused repeated DOJ Inspector General demands that he drop his investigation into whether the Administration fired David Iglesias for political reasons, even while he insisted that the Iglesias firing was not a Hatch Act violation. Bloch seems to have insisted on keeping the case either because it was so high profile or to stymie DOJ IG’s investigation.

Score: Pro-Bush if done to stymie DOJ IG’s investigation

Monica Goodling’s Use of Political Tests in DOJ’s Hiring Practices

Bloch repeatedly refused to allow investigators to open an investigation into Goodling’s admitted Hatch Act violations. When he finally allowed investigators to open such an investigation, he allocated no resources to that investigation.

Score: Pro-Bush

Don Siegelman Prosecution

Bloch ordered investigators to close their investigation into the politicized prosecution of Don Siegelman.

Score: Pro-Bush

Politicized Prosecution of ACORN for Voting Fraud

Bloch refused to allow investigators to open an investigation into whether the timing of Missouri US Attorney Office indictments of ACORN voter registration employees was politically motivated.

Score: Pro-Bush

Lurita Doan

After completing an investigation into Lurita Doan which concluded that she had violated the Hatch Act, Bloch ordered investigators to open a second investigation into Doan, from a time before she worked in the Administration involving her husband. This second investigation sounds like a personal witch hunt against Doan.

Score: Anti-Bush

Karl Rove

After investigators determined that, since all of Rove’s travel was billed to the RNC (and therefore no White House resources–aside, presumably, from his salary–were devoted to Rove’s political events, his actions did not constitute a Hatch Act violation, Bloch ordered investigators to expand their investigation into Rove.

Score: Anti-Bush

See what I mean? I intend to come back and read the complete document. But from this summary, it appears there’s no consistent pattern, at least not on a typical partisan scale. You might argue that Bloch kept expanding the investigation into Rove and OPA to hide illegitimate activities behind the legitimate ones. But then why the second investigation into Doan, particularly when Bloch knew Bush wasn’t going to to fire her anyway–at least not until last week? Similarly, you might assume that Bloch was simply trying to expand his turf and potential glory for successful investigations. But then why spike a slam dunk investigation into Goodling’s political hiring practices?

I’m beginning to think that Bloch–with his thumb drives stuck in some bodily cavity–is simply crazy or dumb.

Update: OSP turned to OPA per WO

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Originally Posted @ https://www.emptywheel.net/2008/05/08/bloch-stop-making-sense/