Can you spot the corrupt officials in this story?Sorry folks, I have been on deadline. Now, some very strange news today that I have no idea what to make of and since it is by way of Foxified WSJ, it really provides me with little ability to even speculate as to why this happened:
WASHINGTON -- Federal agents raided the Office of Special Counsel, a government agency involved in several high-profile and politically sensitive investigations. The agents seized computer files and documents from its chief, Scott Bloch, and his staff.
Mr. Bloch, who was appointed by President Bush, has been under investigation since 2005 by the Office of Personnel Management for employee claims that he abused his agency's authority, retaliated against its staff and dismissed whistleblower cases without adequate examination. Mr. Bloch couldn't be reached to comment.
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Is this related to the series Raw Story and Harpers has been doing on political prosecutions in the deep South? I don't know. Can we trust the DOJ - after everything - to police itself and actually investigate someone helping out the Rove machine? I don't know. Is Bloch a patsy target or corrupt? I don't know. Honestly, this is where things have gotten to. When you cannot tell if the alleged criminals are those making the arrests and raiding offices or the ones whose offices are being raided and who are arrested. Justice is the true victim of this administration and on every level.
ALSO, FROM FIREDOGLAKE:
http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/06/bloch-raid-mafia-turf-warThe Bloch Raid: A Mafia Turf War?By: looseheadprop Tuesday May 6, 2008 3:00 pm
NPR is reporting that FBI agents have raided both the home and office of Scott Bloch:
- snip -
A 2007 WaPo article tells us that Bloch was hard on the trail of Karl Rove:
A U.S. official overseeing a probe of potential White House misconduct declared through a spokesman yesterday that he will not give federal investigators copies of personal files that he deleted from his office computer.
The decision by Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch escalates the confrontation between the Bush appointee and the White House, each of which is investigating the other.
Bloch's office is tasked with upholding laws against whistle-blower retaliation and partisan politicking in federal agencies. Earlier this year, Bloch directed lawyers in his office to look into charges that former Bush adviser Karl Rove inappropriately deployed government employees in Republican political campaigns.
More recently Lurita Doan resigned after Bloch's investigation of her use of federal employees and money to help GOP candidates in the 2006 election found that she had violated the Hatch Act.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a government watchdog agency, conducted its own probe of those claims and concluded that she made the remarks and violated the Hatch Act, which generally prohibits employees of federal agencies from using their positions for political purposes. In a letter last June, Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch urged President Bush to discipline Doan "to the fullest extent," which included removing her from office.
I don't know who are the good guys and the bad guys here. Bloch has been accused by career OSC people of tanking investigations and retaliating against OSC staff. But on the other hand, he exposed one of Rove's most easily indictable crimes. As we know from Siegelman, anyone who exposes Karl to danger of jail gets the full-on storm treatment.
So, I don't know, this looks a bit like a mafia turf war--bad guys fighting with bad guys?
Or did Bloch start out as a loyal Bushie and get to a point where he could no longer go along to get along and decided to draw a line in the sand over the Lurita Doan/Karl Rove matter because it was JUST TOO BIG?
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