Bradley Schlozman Faces the Music, a Little Flat
Feature Story by Samuel Milgrom - 6/15/2007
Bradley Schlozman was with his legal team waiting for his hearing before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on his alleged role in Justice Department corruption.
The Senate Committee on the Judiciary subpoenaed Schlozman, associate counsel to the director at the Executive Office for US Attorneys, to testify at a June 5 oversight hearing about questionable actions in his previous job as the interim US Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
Shortly after he assumed that position, Schlozman indicted four employees of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) with charges of voter fraud a week before the 2006 mid-term election. ACORN assists in voter registration of low-income members of the community, among other services.
The committee contends that Schlozman knowingly brought the indictments the week before an election in which the Republican candidate was trailing in order to intimidate democratic voters and keep them from going to the polls.
Bringing forward said charges so close to an election is in direct violation of policies outlined in the US Attorneys Manual. The policy is included in the manual to prevent indictments, such as those brought by Schlozman, from potentially influencing the outcome of a given election.
In his opening statement, Committee Chairman, Senator Leahy, D. Vt., articulated his objectives for the hearing, "The committee today will continue its investigation into political influences affecting the Justice Department … The functions of the Department of Justice should be above politics. Law enforcement, civil rights enforcement and voting rights are all too important to be enmeshed in partisan political operations."
Schlozman is the latest in a string of high profile Department of Justice political appointees under fire from Congress. Senator Leahy illuminated his concern with the recent suspicious actions of the Department of Justice stating, "[They appear] to be an effort by the White House to manipulate the department into its own political arm."
Schlozman skirted around this allegation throughout the hearing stating that he was "somewhat" familiar with US Attorneys Manual's policies. He continued to deflect the blame for his decision to prosecute the ACORN workers to Craig Donsanto, head of the Election Crimes Branch. According to Schlozman's testimony, Donsanto informed him that there was no need to wait until after the election, as the policy outlines, and directed him to indict.
Other issues that the committee questioned Schlozman on included; the large number of US Attorney firings, an alleged blockage of the Civil Rights Division to investigate a series of allegations of voter discrimination against American Indians in Minnesota only weeks before a competitive November 2006 election, as well as his role in suggesting to candidates for career positions in the Justice Department to remove conservative affiliations from their resumes so the Department of Justice would not appear to be politicized in their hiring.
Nearly all lines of questioning were quickly stalled by Schlozman with, "I don't recall."
The five Democratic members of the committee present were uncompromising with Schlozman's responses. Senator Leahy said, "I think you're trying to break Attorney General Gonzales's record of saying you don't recall or you don't remember. I've lost count to the number of times you have said that to questions."
After more than two hours of stern questioning and increasing frustration of the committee members as a result of Schlozman's apparent lapse in memory, Senator Leahy concluded the day's hearing. "What's been most frustrating in this committee, and why there's been so much criticism from both Republicans and Democrats -- it's come especially from those who served as prosecutors -- we understand…what the rules are. And you don't play politics…justice is blind."
This hearing shone a light on the alleged politicization of the Department of Justice. With additional subpoenas -- of former counsel Harriet E. Meyers and political affairs director, Sara M. Taylor -- issued by both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on June 13, the investigation will come to a close.
