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GOP Staffer Suspended for Computer Improprieties
Special Report | 11/25/03 | FNC

Posted on 11/25/2003 4:00:07 PM PST by dep

A Republican Senate Judiciary Committee staff member has been suspended with pay after he admitted that he improperly gained access to "secure committee computers," Fox News Channel reports.

Whether the staffer is the person who leaked numerous memos in which Democrats on the committee plotted to turn toe current filibuster of judicial nominees for political advantage was not stated.

An angry Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch denounced the staffer's action, saying that senators expect their computers to be secure and calling the staffer's action "entirely unacceptable."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2004memo; democrats; doublestandard; estradamemo; govtemployees; hypocrisy; iraqicivilians; judiciarycommittee; mediabias; memogate; memogate2; obstruction; orrinhatch; partisanpolitics; whichmemogateisthis
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To: deport
Democrats said two of the leaked memos had never been printed. In one of those memos, a staffer to Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, had typed wide-ranging notes to himself calling Mr. Bush's nominees "Nazis."

Gee, you think if a stolen memo from a GOP committee member had used such a term, the press would care about the way it was revealed?

61 posted on 11/25/2003 4:46:28 PM PST by L.N. Smithee (Just because I don't think like you doesn't mean I don't think for myself)
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To: dep
Isn't there a Federal whistle blower statute?

No, not the one Monica was working under...

62 posted on 11/25/2003 4:51:47 PM PST by IncPen
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To: Dan from Michigan
I'm sure they polygraphed the entire staff. It would be very difficult to deny it and get away with it during a polygraph.
63 posted on 11/25/2003 4:52:16 PM PST by marajade
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To: Enterprise
Hatch is a fool- and Teddy Keennedy's best buddy. It beats me why any Republican would support this moron. BUt, then, I am constantly amazed by the antics of the half-wits we send to Washington.
64 posted on 11/25/2003 4:52:39 PM PST by RANGERAIRBORNE
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To: dep
This pisses me off. DC thrives on leaks, they are the order of the day, and now suddenly it's a big deal worthy of an investigation. The Republicans are being suckers; they better demand an investigation the next time the Dems leak something, which will probably be tomorrow.
65 posted on 11/25/2003 4:53:16 PM PST by Steve_Seattle ("Above all, shake your bum at Burton.")
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To: Wolfstar
Seems someone illegally wiretapped Newt and I sort of recall they were considered heros by the left. What Newt said was light political chatter. What this dem memo said was treasonous.
66 posted on 11/25/2003 4:53:44 PM PST by plain talk
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To: L.N. Smithee
How about the "Pentagon Papers"? They didn't seem to care how those got out.
67 posted on 11/25/2003 4:53:50 PM PST by jmstein7
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To: Enterprise
Yeah. Why doesn't Hatch attack the RATS with the same gusto?

I was close to posting something along these lines when I saw your post. He needs to use some of that righteous indignation on some democrats I know of.

68 posted on 11/25/2003 4:56:36 PM PST by ladyinred (Talk about a revolution, look at California!!! We dumped Davis!!!)
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To: deport
A little more background........

Memo-gate Shows New Tone Has Not Come to Washington
By Bobby Eberle
November 24, 2003

During his campaign for president, then-Governor George W. Bush said he wanted to "change the tone" in Washington. His idea was to bring the bipartisan atmosphere that worked so well for him in dealing with the Texas legislature to the nation's capital. For a while, his efforts appeared to be working. President Bush attended Democrat leadership meetings to show that he was willing to listen to the other side. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Democrats showed a willingness to put partisanship aside and rally behind the commander-in-chief. As we have now learned through a series of leaked memos, the veil of bipartisanship actually covered an iron mask of liberal, partisan efforts to politicize both the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees.

As was recently revealed by the Wall Street Journal, a series of memos written by Democrat staffers for their Senate bosses describe in detail tactics to use in order to attack President Bush's judicial nominees. The memos highlight meetings between senators and liberal special interest groups bent on defeating any high-level judicial nominee with a perceived strong conservative background. On the surface, one may say that these groups were doing exactly what is expected of them: lobbying legislators for a particular outcome to particular legislation or nominations. However, the memos go much deeper than that. The memos outline strategies which border on unethical and clearly demonstrate the politicizing of committee activities which should stand above politics.

In a memo dated April 17, 2002 and addressed to Democrat Sen. Edward Kennedy, the staffer describes the desires of Elaine Jones of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund for the Senate Judiciary Committee to "hold off on any 6th Circuit nominees until the University of Michigan case regarding the constitutionality of affirmative action in higher education is decided by the en banc 6th Circuit."

The staffer goes on to write, "The thinking is that the current 6th Circuit will sustain the affirmative action program, but if a new judge with conservative views is confirmed before the case is decided, that new judge will be able, under 6th Circuit rules, to review the case and vote on it."

The staffer states that the Legal Defense Fund asked then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Democrat Patrick Leahy to schedule the hearing for the nominee to the 6th Circuit at a later date. The staffer expresses concern "about the propriety of scheduling hearings based on the resolution of a particular case" and notes that the 6th Circuit is "in dire need of additional judges." Despite the obvious questions of ethics that arise from such actions, the staffer recommends to Sen. Kennedy that the nominee, Julia Scott Gibbons, "be scheduled for a later hearing."

In other memos to both Sen. Kennedy and Democrat Sen. Richard Durbin, staffers document efforts by liberal special interest groups to influence the scheduling of Judiciary Committee hearings in order for the groups to have more time to mount an attack on a particular Bush nominee. In a memo to Sen. Durbin dated October 15, 2001, a staffer writes, "The groups are asking that the Committee hold a second hearing on Pickering in a few weeks, when they will have had adequate time to research him fully."

The staffer continues, "The decision to schedule Pickering's hearing was made by Senator Leahy himself, not his staff, so the groups are likely to ask you to intercede personally. They will also seek assurances that they will receive adequate warning of future controversial nominees."

So much for the era of bipartisanship. Barely a month after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon which killed nearly 3,000 people, Democrats were showing that they were in the pocket of those on the far left. Groups like NARAL, Alliance for Justice, and the NAACP were not just trying to influence the vote on certain nominees, they were also calling the shots on the scheduling of hearings and the Democrats were listening. This is beyond the pale.

Another memo to Sen. Durbin stresses the need to delay action on D.C. Circuit Court nominee Miguel Estrada. The memo labels Estrada as "especially dangerous." Included in the reasons for this label was the fact that "he is Latino." The staffer writes, "They want you to hold off on Estrada as long as possible."

The appropriate emotion after reading such nonsense should be nothing short of outrage. First, it appears quite evident that the Democrats were basing committee operations on the will of far left groups, given the amount of time Miguel Estrada's nomination sat in limbo. In addition, one can only imagine the uproar both in the public and in the media if a Republican had mentioned wanting to postpone consideration of a judicial nominee because of race. The office holder would be branded a racist so fast your head would spin, and yet, these memos are barely recording a blip of national media coverage.

Couple these Judiciary Committee memos with the memo produced for Democrat Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who is the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence committee, and a serious case can be made for an investigation. In Rockefeller's memo, strategies are outlined which would use classified intelligence information to help the Democrats make a case against the war in Iraq. The Intelligence Committee was built to be above politics, and yet the Democrats have been caught red-handed trying to use sensitive intelligence information for political gain.

As Americans, we cannot allow this to stand. There is definitely a new tone in Washington, and it is deafening. It is the tone of obstruct at any cost. It is the tone of politics comes first, and the business of the American people comes last. We must hold these legislators accountable, and we must send a clear message that politics has its place and that place is not in the exploitation of intelligence information or the obstruction of judicial nominees. It's time for a new tone in Washington, and 2004 can't get here soon enough.

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

Bobby Eberle is President and CEO of GOPUSA (www.GOPUSA.com), a news, information, and commentary company based in Houston, TX. He holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Rice University.


69 posted on 11/25/2003 4:57:58 PM PST by deport
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To: deport
AP article


Senate Republican staffer put on leave for accessing Democratic files

JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

(11-25) 16:48 PST (AP) --

WASHINGTON(AP) -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said Tuesday he had put one of his staffers on administrative leave for improperly obtaining data from the secure computer networks of two Democratic senators.

Hatch, R-Utah, said preliminary interviews suggested that a former Republican member of the committee staff may have also been involved in penetrating the Democratic computers.

"I was shocked to learn that this may have occurred," Hatch said in a statement. "I am mortified that this improper, unethical and simply unacceptable breach of confidential files may have occurred on my watch."

Hatch launched an investigation after Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., protested what they said was the theft of memos from their servers. The memos, concerning political strategy on blocking confirmation of several of President Bush's judicial nominations, were obtained and reported on by The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Times.

Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle informed Hatch on Monday that the committee's four computer servers had been disconnected and that daily backup tapes had been given to the U.S. Capitol Police for safekeeping. He said an outside expert would conduct a forensic assessment to determine if there had been unauthorized access to files.

Hatch said that, at his direction, two federal prosecutors assigned to the committee had conducted interviews with about 50 people.

He said the interviews revealed that at least one current staff member had improperly accessed at least some of the documents that appeared in the media reports and which have been posted on the Internet. The person has denied leaking the information to the press, he said.

The staff member, who was not identified, was put on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of Pickle's investigation, Hatch said.


70 posted on 11/25/2003 5:00:45 PM PST by deport
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To: deport
He said the interviews revealed that at least one current staff member had improperly accessed at least some of the documents that appeared in the media reports and which have been posted on the Internet. The person has denied leaking the information to the press, he said.

The staff member, who was not identified, was put on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of Pickle's investigation, Hatch said.


71 posted on 11/25/2003 5:03:28 PM PST by deport
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To: dep
Remember the Pentagon Papers! Ellsberg was considered a hero by the Left. When will Utah wise up and retire Orrin Hatch?
72 posted on 11/25/2003 5:06:39 PM PST by Bernard Marx (Experience is wonderful: it allows us to recognize a mistake when we make it again.)
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To: deport

73 posted on 11/25/2003 5:07:37 PM PST by arasina (CHRISTMAS! [just try and take my tag line away, Bloomberg])
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To: dep
"senators expect their computers to be secure"


Tough shiite.
We expect ours to be secure also,
secure from you and your RIAA paymasters.
74 posted on 11/25/2003 5:13:07 PM PST by John Beresford Tipton
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To: StarFan; Dutchy; alisasny; Black Agnes; BobFromNJ; BUNNY2003; Cacique; Clemenza; Coleus; DKNY; ...
ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.

75 posted on 11/25/2003 5:14:11 PM PST by nutmeg
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To: Gracey; Alamo-Girl; RottiBiz; bamabaseballmom; FoxGirl; Mr. Bob; xflisa; lainde; dixierose; ...
FoxFan ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my FoxFan list. *Warning: This can be a high-volume ping list at times.

76 posted on 11/25/2003 5:14:58 PM PST by nutmeg
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To: mathluv
"Where is the focus on what is IN the memos? That is very important."

==

Exactly -- if this had been the other way around, having unearthed Republican improprieties, he would be hailed as a hero whistleblower.
77 posted on 11/25/2003 5:22:34 PM PST by FairOpinion
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To: Pukin Dog
Pukin' Dog, you're a sick puppy.
78 posted on 11/25/2003 5:27:30 PM PST by Clint Lippo
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To: FairOpinion
He ought to sue over being suspended as a whistle blower.
79 posted on 11/25/2003 5:36:28 PM PST by Ingtar (Understanding is a three-edged sword : your side, my side, and the truth in between ." -- Kosh)
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To: Ingtar
I think there actually are laws protecting whistleblowers and you are right he should use them.
80 posted on 11/25/2003 5:38:50 PM PST by FairOpinion
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