Republican Aide Improperly Got Democratic Memos[Hatch aide]

REUTERS | November 25, 2003

[the caption king]

By REUTERS

Filed at 8:10 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top U.S. Senate Republican expressed ``deep regret'' on Tuesday in announcing that an internal investigation of computer records found one of his staffers had ``improperly accessed'' Democratic documents.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said he placed the staffer on administrative leave with pay pending a separate probe by the Senate sergeant at arms, Bill Pickle.

Hatch, who had initially ridiculed the allegations, also said a former staffer ``may also have been involved,'' but declined to identify either person by name.

``I am mortified that this improper, unethical and simply unacceptable breach of confidential files may have occurred on my watch,'' the Utah Republican told a news conference.

Hatch said the staffer who got access to the memos denied giving them to the news media and it remained unclear how reporters got them.

The disclosure came a week after congressional law enforcement authorities began looking into what Democrats called an apparent computer theft of 14 staff memos critical of President Bush's embattled judicial nominees.

The Democratic memos were quoted in The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Times earlier this month.

According to the memos, Democrats on Hatch's panel conferred with liberal groups in opposing Bush's most conservative judicial nominees.

Hatch had suggested that the memos had been turned over to the news media by a ``conscience-stricken'' Democratic staffer.

But the senator said on Tuesday that after the Democratic concerns were voiced, he had ``two experienced federal prosecutors'' assigned to his panel interview about 50 people even as computer records were secured.

``It is with deep regret I must report today the interviews conducted to date have revealed that at least one current member of Judiciary Committee majority staff had improperly accessed at least some of the documents referenced in the media reports,'' Hatch said.

Democrats on Hatch's committee said through a spokeswoman they were ``saddened and disappointed to have their suspicions confirmed that Republican staff violated the privacy of Senate computer files.''

The spokeswoman, Tracy Schmaler, also said, ``The investigation that counts is the one being conducted by the Senate Sergeant at Arms.''

``Democratic members ... look forward to the results of that ongoing investigation when it is completed so that all can know the full extent of this violation and wrongdoing,'' she said.

[TC Rider]

These are the same rats who whined about wanting to see every piece of paper that Miguel Estrada ever scratched on.

[Becki]

Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said he placed the staffer on administrative leave with pay pending a separate probe by the Senate sergeant at arms, Bill Pickle.

God Bless the staffer. That alarm needed raising.

Becki

[Doe Eyes]

Does anybody?

Well actually. yes. How is it that you remember?

[Endeavor]

"``conscience-stricken'' Democratic staffer"

That's an oxymoron, right?

[truthkeeper]

From our discussions on Free Republic, which is hardly the mainstream media.

[Sofa King]

Investigating? They'd have given the order to do it!

[Verginius Rufus]

What's the saying? "Don't count your Hatch before he chickens"?

[Endeavor]

Priceless!

[hchutch]

No, I can't imagine them doing that.

Why? Because they have no sense of shame, much less ethics and a sense of right and wrong, which the memos that were accessed PROVE.

Senator Hatch, on the other hand, does have a sense of ethics and does not buy into "the ends justify the means" the way Bill Clinton did when he accepted ChiCom donations to the PRC and lied about Monica (along with a host of other things).

[Rocky]

"The democRATs have successfully turned all attention from the treasonous contents of their memos to how they were leaked."

It worked fifty years ago. Whittaker Chambers, the whistleblower, was painted as the bad guy, and Alger Hiss was just a victim.

The Left has been using this tactic for a long time.

[Defiant]

Sorry, folks, but you just can't go breaking into the computers of the other side and fishing around. Daschle can't do it to us, although he probably would if he could, and we can't do it to them. While both sides would occasionally get evidence of felonious conduct by the other side, most of it would be private strategic planning by politicians that they had privately prepared in the course of their duties. We have to let the bad stuff go in order to let both sides do their job.

It would be nice if there was such a thing as a "conscience strickent Demorat staffer" but there never has been such a thing. We still can't play the game this way.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

"Senator Hatch, on the other hand, does have a sense of ethics and does not buy into "the ends justify the means"

Yeah. That's why, as a songwriter/senator, he proposed remotely blowing up the computers of citizens suspected of having MP3's on their computers.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

Senate Reps vs Dems is like Pee Wee Herman vs Mike Tyson.

[Antoninus]

How many rats complained about the Pentagon Papers? These people are traitors.

[huck von finn]

Hannity's memo was from the Intelligence Committee. This is referring to a series of memos between Dems on the Judiciary Committee.

Um...Do you honestly think there's no connection? How many people were out trolling the servers in a relatively short period of time?

[Chu Gary]

The person in question needs to receive a massive bonus payment, a lavish free dinner at DC's best restaurant and other "punishment."

[Rocky]

"you just can't go breaking into the computers of the other side "

Agreed. But let's not try to run our public discourse the way a judge runs a court. You know, instructions like, "The jury will disregard that last comment." The information is out there now, and we are entitled to consider it. So, let's try not to let the issue about how it was obtained obscure the fact that the letters exist, and that they contain damning evidence of Democrats' motives.

[hosepipe]

[ `It is with deep regret I must report today the interviews conducted to date have revealed that at least one current member of Judiciary Committee majority staff had improperly accessed at least some of the documents referenced in the media reports,'' Hatch said. ]

Hmmm, Hatch running damage control for the democrats.... as he usually does... just whats ON those 900+ FBI tapes Hillery and Bill have saved in their computers... A few other publicans act strangely too ... Hatch is not Bi-partisan hes poly-partisan... as is McLame, Spectre and others...

[Chu Gary]

"Sorry, folks, but you just can't go breaking into the computers of the other side and fishing around. Daschle can't do it to us, although he probably would if he could, and we can't do it to them. While both sides would occasionally get evidence of felonious conduct by the other side, most of it would be private strategic planning by politicians that they had privately prepared in the course of their duties. We have to let the bad stuff go in order to let both sides do their job.

It would be nice if there was such a thing as a "conscience strickent Demorat staffer" but there never has been such a thing. We still can't play the game this way."

I'm disposed to agree with your thinking, but OTOH, that sort of thinking has been the downfall of the Republican Party for many years. The Dims play by a different set of rules while we Pubbies struggle to keep our pants clean as we walk thru their mud. Sorry, Defiant, it's a losing strategy. We need to get a lot more aggressive.

[Defiant]

I agree with that point. Punish the staffer. Slam the Dims who wrote the memo. I am strongly against the analogous exclusionary rule, which requires the suppression of relevant evidence if the police collected it incorrectly. The person still committed the crime, and should be punished. The officer who did something wrong should likewise suffer a penalty, one that is proportionate to the offense. Failed to read the guy his rights? Dock his pay, but don't put a murderer back out on the street.