Special Counsel looking into Karl Rove

Katana

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Apparently the Office of Special Counsel has begun an investigation into "the actions" of Karl Rove over the last six years. It's not a criminal investigation, but an investigation nonetheless. Evidently, the probe began two months ago, and the White House is saying that it was unaware of that fact.

Should be interesting to see what is turned up.

Sorry to link to a video clip. I couldn't find anything written on this yet.

Video
 
I found it hard to believe, too, Vorticity.

There are stories popping up now.

Here are some highlights from one:

A little-known federal investigative unit has launched a probe into allegations of illegal political activity within the executive branch, including a White House office led by President Bush's close adviser, Karl Rove.

The new investigation, which began several weeks ago, grew out of two other investigations still under way at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel: the firing of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias from New Mexico and a presentation by Rove aide J. Scott Jennings to political appointees at the General Services Administration on how to help Republican candidates in 2008.

...

"We're in the preliminary stages of opening this expanded investigation," Loren Smith, a spokesman for the special counsel's office, an independent investigative and prosecutorial agency, said Tuesday. "The recent suggestion of illegal political activities across the executive branch was the basis we used to decide that it was important to look into possible violations of the Hatch Act."

The office, led by Scott J. Bloch, enforces the Hatch Act, a 70-year-old law that bars federal employees from engaging in political activities using government resources or on government time.

Whether politics played an inappropriate part in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, including Iglesias, was at the heart of the controversy that has threatened Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' job. Whether executive branch employees violated federal laws that restrict them from using their posts for political activity also is at the center of the controversy about the January meeting at GSA.

"Six participants have confirmed that, at the end of the presentation, GSA Administrator Lurita Doan asked all present to consider how they could use GSA to 'help our candidates' in 2008,'" 25 Democrats wrote in a letter of complaint on Monday to White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten.

Among questions the senators asked Bolten:

_"Why did Mr. Jennings and his staff communicate the presentation materials which bear the White House seal, via a private e-mail account affiliated with the Republican National Committee?"

_"Does the White House consider the preparation and delivery of such a presentation to be an appropriate use of taxpayer funds?"

...

The White House said it had not yet been contacted by the Office of Special Counsel on the matter.
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Link
 
Hmmm. It would appear that the investigator has been under investigation himself.

The Office of Personnel Management's inspector general has been investigating allegations by current and former OSC employees that Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch retaliated against underlings who disagreed with his policies -- by, among other means, transferring them out of state -- and tossed out legitimate whistle-blower cases to reduce the office backlog. Bloch denies the accusations, saying that under his leadership the agency has grown more efficient and receptive to whistle-blowers.

The probe is the most serious of many problems at the agency since Bloch, a Kansas lawyer who served at the Justice Department's Task Force for Faith-based and Community Initiatives, was appointed by President Bush three years ago. Since he took the helm in 2004, staffers at the OSC, a small agency of about 100 lawyers and investigators, have accused him of a range of offenses, from having an anti-gay bias to criticizing employees for wearing short skirts and tight pants to work.

The 16-month investigation has been beset by delays, accusations and counter-accusations. The latest problem began two weeks ago, when Bloch's deputy sent staffers a memo asking them to inform OSC higher-ups when investigators contact them. Further, the memo read, employees should meet with investigators in the office, in a special conference room. Some employees cried foul, saying the recommendations made them afraid to be interviewed in the probe.
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Link

From another story on this:

At the OSC, Bloch is supposed to protect whistleblowers. But he's been charged with reprising against those who challenge his agency and others. Before Bloch was appointed by Bush to take over the OSC, he was a deputy director and counsel at the Justice Department's Task Force for Faith-based and Community Initiatives.

"By most measures, his tenure has been an absolute failure," says Adam Miles, legislative representative at the Government Accountability Project. "He's been under pressure to start doing something." Miles notes that GAP did not initially expect the complaint it filed against Bloch in 2005 to go anywhere. "It was referred to a federal entity called the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency," Miles recalls, "and we thought it would just rot there." But the case was handed to Pat McFarland, the inspector general for the Office of Personnel Management. McFarland is a former St. Louis detective who spent 22 years as a Secret Service agent before becoming IG at OPM in 1990.

McFarland's investigation of Bloch, Miles says, "hasn't been a totally transparent process but we're hearing it's reaching a conclusion--which could be motivation for Bloch to start this investigation into the White House. If OPM does turn up any adverse information on Bloch, it would be more difficult for the White House to get rid of him while he was actively investigating them." But this could cut the other way. If Bloch is the subject of an investigation, he might be inclined to treat the White House favorably to protect his own position. In either case, there seems to be a conflict of interest. Bloch, Miles says, "may not be the appropriate person to be conducting the investigation" of Rove and the White House.
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Link


And the plot thickens...
 
How much would you be willing to bet that the investigator(s) will be fired by the Bush administration for some reason that is, of course, completely unrelated to this investigation?
 
Chaos said:
How much would you be willing to bet that the investigator(s) will be fired by the Bush administration for some reason that is, of course, completely unrelated to this investigation?
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At this point, they're capable of just about anything, so I wouldn't be surprised.
 
This is worse than whitewater as far as wastes of time unless I am missing something. Its like a investigation into a CT.
 
corplinx said:
This is worse than whitewater as far as wastes of time unless I am missing something. Its like a investigation into a CT.
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No (unless I'm missing something, too). I'm beginning to think that you're just successfully reading between the lines.
 
Katana said:
Hmmm. It would appear that the investigator has been under investigation himself.
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If the integrity of OSC leaderhip is in question, I find it troubling that OSC is investigating Rove's cell.

One of the points raised above is rather innocuous. Anytime one is contacted by outside agencies, it is standard bureaucratic protocol to inform one's supervisors/leadership.

On the other hand, the attempt to control that contatct, via "only meet in this room" smells a bit . . . like a fish . . . left out in the sun for a day or three.

DR
 
Darth Rotor said:
*snip*
On the other hand, the attempt to control that contatct, via "only meet in this room" smells a bit . . . like a fish . . . left out in the sun for a day or three.

DR
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You are, of course, correct. This thing smells significantly better than so much of what the Bush administration has been doing.
 
corplinx said:
Its like a investigation into a CT.
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“A conspiracy is nothing but a secret agreement of a number of men for the pursuance of policies which they dare not admit in public.”
-Mark Twain
Iglesias said that on April 3, he filed a Hatch Act complaint with the OSC, charging that Karl Rove and others may have violated the law by firing him over his failure to initiate partisan-motivated prosecutions. Iglesias said he subsequently spoke with OSC chief Scott Bloch, who made clear that he was planning to launch an investigation. Despite suggestions that the White House may have initiated the OSC investigation to obstruct parallel congressional probes, Iglesias expressed confidence in Bloch.

Iglesias also said that while evidence of Rove’s potential illegal actions is currently only circumstantial, “I believe if OSC digs in, they can get direct evidence... [t]he Justice Department papers everything. I mean, the most minute issue has an incredible researched and memoed product. There has to be a paper trail. I haven’t seen it yet. If it’s not at the Justice Department, it has got to be at the White House."

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/24/iglesias-matthews/
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If there's no difference between politics and policy... can the Hatch Act be violated to begin with?
 
"The Office of the Special Counsel has it" sure beats "Teh Internets ate my homework, and I can't find it on teh google."
 
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