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Waxman: White House Politicization "More Widespread Than Previously Known"

"I took an oath to the president, and I take that oath very seriously." So said former White House political director Sara Taylor during an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, a statement she later retracted after Senator Patrick Leahy pointed out that she had actually sworn on oath to the Constitution, not to the commander-in-chief. Yet Taylor's gaffe was actually quite revealing—another sign that the Bush administration's political appointees often place loyalty to president and party above all else, which goes a long way toward explaining why partisan politics has permeated even the most remote corners of the federal bureaucracy.

While there's already a sizable body of evidence to suggest that the White House has presided over an unprecedented wave of politicization, Henry Waxman's Committee on Oversight and Government Reform reported today that the adminstration's "efforts to politicize the activities of federal agencies may be more widespread than previously known."

The documents Waxman's staff turned up speak for themselves. Among them is a November 20, 2006 memo from Taylor to the Office of National Drug Control Policy's White House liaison, Doug Simon, detailing events that drug czar John Walters attended (apparently at Taylor's direction) in the months before the mid-term elections. At most of these events Walters appeared alongside embattled—and in some cases allegedly corrupt—members of Congress, including Richard Pombo, John Doolittle, and Conrad Burns. According to Waxman, some of these events "were combined with the announcement of federal grants to the states or districts of vulnerable Republican members."

If there was any doubt that Walters, along with other Cabinet-level officials, were stumping for Republican candidates on the sly (and at taxpayer expense), that was cleared up by a post-election email from Doug Simon, which is worth reprinting in its entirety.

Folks,
I just wanted to give you all a summary of a post November 7th update I received the other night. Presidential Personnel pulled together a meeting of all of the Administration's White House Liaison's and the WH Political Affairs office. Karl Rove opened the meeting with a thank you for all of the work that went into the surrogate appearances by Cabinet members and for the 72 Hour deployment. He specifically thanked, for going above and beyond the call of duty, the Dept. of Commerce, Transportation, Agriculture, AND the WH Drug Policy Office. This recognition is not something we hear everyday and we should feel confident that our hard work is noticed. All of this is due to our efforts preparing the Director and the Deputies for their trips and events. Director Walters and the Deputies covered thousands of miles to attend numerous official events all across the country. The Director and the Deputies deserve the most recognition because they actually had to give up time with their families for the god awful places we sent them. I attached the final list of all of the official events that the Director and Deputies attended.

Karl also launched into a feisty discussion about the plans for the final two years of this administration. ln no uncertain terms, he said he is not going to let the last quarter of this presidency be dictated to by the Capitol Hill. There are a number of things this administration and more specifically ONDCP have to accomplish before the time is up. lt is time to regroup and move forward.

In the next 2-3 weeks I am going to set up one on one meetings will all political appointees to get a sense your plans for the next two years. lt will just be informational for planning purposes.

Thanks again, Doug Simon

Needless to say, Sara Taylor, who worked closely with Rove, may soon be making another uncomfortable appearance on the Hill, where Waxman has requested her to sit for a deposition by July 24 and a possible hearing on July 30.

Comments

All I can say is that nothing will change with these people in charge.

IMPEACH, INDICT, CONVICT, IMPRISON.

Posted by: David on 07/17/07 at 1:58 PM Respond

Perhaps off topic, but relevant: If the likes of Taylor and Rove have a hard time understanding the rule of law: The Magna Carta puts man below law.

Posted by: Anon on 07/17/07 at 3:15 PM Respond

Check this URL: It may be related. KW="email". I'm thinking the politications is only one aspect: The memo outlines the audits that were done.

Note in the memo there are campaign funds mentioned. Yes, I realize it's not the same topic, but it appears to be related. The above memo discuss the political side; whiule the memo discusses the finances. The common link -- political office; recall, in the DOJ E-mails there were three offices: Political, legal, and public affairs.

Looking broadly, I would presume that the above memos in re Waxman's oversight issues; with the memoranda of the funding would be a subset of the larger issues which the WH legal office, and public affairs would know about, and would have been likely within the destroyed RNC e-mails.

Here's the memo, remember its part of a larger pattern, also link under "anon" below:
[ http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/29445 ]

Posted by: Anon on 07/17/07 at 3:20 PM Respond

TRUE Republicans know they own their loyalty to a higher power.

Question the Party? Question Jesus.

Posted by: John on 07/17/07 at 3:33 PM Respond

Maybe they just feel so darn guilty about the criminal corruption that they're repressing their own personal part in the perversion of the public trust and they actually can't remember who said to fire whom, why all the emails were hastily deleted and what it was that was at stake when they swore to uphold the constitution.
I mean, that's a lot of stuff to think about, and all that thinking, is, like, haaaaard.
I feel so bad for them. I hope they all find really nice lucrative lobbying jobs where someone will finally appreciate all their hard work.

Posted by: Enisiv Veselka on 07/17/07 at 4:07 PM Respond

Students for Sensible Drug Policy has set up an action alert where outraged citizens can send letters directly to the Drug Czar, demanding his resignation. And members of Congress - who control ONDCP's budget - will be copied on all the messages.

http://daregeneration.blogspot.com/2007/07/partisan-republican-drug-czar-must.html

Posted by: Tom on 07/17/07 at 6:49 PM Respond

As far as I've been able to tell, there's only one politician or bureaucrat inside the DC Beltway who puts the oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution" above all other motivations all the time, in every circumstance.

I'm talking, of course, about Congressman Ron Paul. The only TRUE Republican the party has left.
(He opposes the drug war as unconstitutional too, Tom)

Posted by: gvc on 07/18/07 at 12:21 PM Respond

I know Ron Paul is like a breath of fresh air on the hill, but seriously guys, Ron Paul isn't a panacea. Chill out on the RP lovefest; the blogosphere is too saturated with RP fanatics.

Posted by: RealityCheck on 07/18/07 at 12:39 PM Respond

Ron Paul has been outspoken against the Iraq war and has suffered greatly for it. Too bad Senator Clinton has no balls.

Posted by: Judy on 07/18/07 at 3:51 PM Respond

The loyalty oath to Bush is nothing new. It was on TV within the last couple of years and I not only witnessed it but sent an email comment, probably to the Huffington Post, at the time. It was shocking because it is probably treasonous not only to agree to a loyalty oath to Bush but the administration of it as well.Of course, the MSM would not report this, but I shudder to think I was the only one to witness this event.

Posted by: bogi666 on 07/19/07 at 7:39 AM Respond

"Senator Clinton has no balls." Uh, yeah. Brilliant insight there.

Posted by: Howdy Doody on 07/19/07 at 10:36 AM Respond