In light of the distasteful reminder of Monica Goodling and Alberto Gonzales today, it may help to clear the palate by voting for your favorite lawyers in the annual poll of lawyers by Law Dragon has begun. You can vote for your favorite lawyers and judges here.
I am honored to be included on the ballot again this year.
On another practice-related story, Obama’s acting Deputy Attorney General James Cole was blocked by Republicans in the Senate this week. Cole is an extremely talented lawyer who was given a recess appointment. He has a long history of public interest work and distinguished service as a lawyer. [However, as one of our regulars has pointed out, Cole is opposed by the Government Accountability Project for his role in the AIG investigation]. He is being opposed in part for his writings about terrorism in a single op-ed article where he merely referred to terrorism as a crime. The Democrats could not muster the 60 votes to end a filibuster — even with the vote of Sen. Lugar joining his Democratic colleagues.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/04/richard-lugar-indiana-2012-senate-race-fundraising-/1 Richard Lugar faces tea party battle.
Richard Lugar is one of those republicans that for the life of me I dont understand how he can stay in such ugly organization. I have always found him to be thoughtful, principled, fair minded, and knowledgeable none of which seem to be high on republican list of important qualities.
Is there more to the Cole filibuster than meets the eye?
http://www.whistleblower.org/program-areas/corporate-a-financial-accountability/national-finance-reform/james-cole-a-aig
“As rumors of Cole’s imminent nomination gained credence in late April 2010, GAP began receiving frequent calls from AIG alumni and current staff about serious problems with Cole’s oversight practices as IC.”
http://www.whistleblower.org/component/taxonomy/term/summary/77/101
Summary: From GAP’s Daily Whistleblower News
The nomination of James Cole to the position of deputy attorney general was defeated last night due to a Republican filibuster. While several Democrats were quick to point out the need for a complete national security team, Republicans – in particular, Senator Chuck Grassley – maintained opposition to Cole’s appointment over “Cole’s time as an independent consultant to insurance giant AIG, as well as Cole’s views on combating terrorism.”
GAP repeatedly criticized Cole’s nomination, as whistleblowers at AIG informed us about serious problems with Cole’s oversight practices in his role as independent consultant. This led to GAP posting several questions to Cole online via YouTube and continually blogging about the highly questionable practices he employed.
I’m in and have voted.
This is additional evidence that not reforming the filibuster rules at the beginning of the session was a disastrous mistake. The Republicans will not compromise on anything substantial and they will fight to the death to block judicial and staff appointments. Obama has to announce this from his bully pulpit that the Republicans are blocking even appointments to the President’s administration.
The democrats only have 53 potential votes. This is unfortunate, but it also shows that an Obama appointment can be a good one. Lugar seems to be a fairly principled guy, and, therefore, he is drawing strong primary opposition from the tea party.
Vote early…Vote often…