In a little noticed action, the Virginia bar has reprimanded Monica Marie Goodling, the attorney at the center of the allegations of politicization of the Bush Justice Department. Many are complaining that the reprimand shows that the bar has little teeth in enforcing such ethical rules. On the other hand, the reprimand is still more punishment that John Yoo, Jay Bybee and others received for their support of alleged war crimes over the torture program. (Actually, Bybee was not just spared punishment by the Obama Justice Department but he was previously given a lifetime appointment as a federal judge).
Goodling was found to have committed “a criminal or deliberately wrongful act” that reflected adversely on her “honesty, trustworthiness or fitness to practice law.” She agreed to the reprimand and previously admitted before Congress that she used political affiliation and other political considerations in hiring lawyers for career positions in the U.S. Department of Justice.
She was just one example of people with less than stellar resumes being given high positions by the Bush Administration based on their blind partisan loyalty.
What is striking about the lack of significant punishment from the bar and the lack of any criminal charge is that Goodling (who is described as deeply religious and a graduate of Regent University Law School) lied to her supervisor on her actions.
President Bush did unprecedented damage to the Justice Department by filling it with hacks and political operatives. In Goodling’s case, she had little experience that would warrant an entry level position at Justice — let alone one of the highest positions in the department. She only graduated from Regent University Law School in 1999. She was the face of the type of policies and personnel pushed by Alberto Gonzales — generally viewed as one of the worst Attorneys General in the history of the department. On April 6, 2007, Goodling resigned, writing to Gonzales, “May God bless you richly as you continue your service to America.”
She is reportedly working “market research in Arlington, Va.”
Source: VA Lawyers Weekly
Want to commit a white collar crime? Hire a lawyer as your agent and your ass is covered. That is why we have the current financial problems. If lawyers weren’t allowed to act as agents in white collar crime, the whole mortgage mess and the upcoming insurance company mess wouldn’t have happened.
In Colorado, Alison Maynard found all sorts of problems with the background of the attorney regulation counsel. It appears that he lied about his education and experience and his mortgage was mysteriously paid off.
http://lawmrh.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/denver-court-rules-colorados-open-records-law-applies-to-attorney-regulation-counsel-john-gleason-in-andrew-thomas-inquiry/
http://therealcolorado.blogspot.com/2010/09/john-gleason-lawyer-impersonator.html
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/05/10/136177349/federal-judge-acquits-ex-glaxo-lawyer-before-defense-even-starts?ft=1&f=1001
…another log for the fyre….
Joeey
That’s just because of the money and inside connections right?
How you get a dis a bar ? I lika da cowboy bars.
She should have been disbarred. Most American’s must understand, by now, that there are two justice systems in America.
Never mind there is a John Jay McNulty
http://www.scribd.com/doc/5956238/Failure-To-Investigate-DaProcess-Of-Public-Corruption
Is Paul McNulty, Paul J. McNulty and Jay McNulty the same person or is there a Jay McNulty who used to work at DOJ and is a different person? I can’t find a “Jay McNulty” on usdoj.gov so I think that Jay McNulty is Paul McNulty’s nickname. Can I write about “Jay McNulty” on this blog?
2manyusernames:
Your comments entirely miss the point of the report. U.S. attorneys are routinely replaced with a change of administrations. There is nothing inherently inappropriate about that. What Monica Goodling did was to introduce ideological and, yes, religious tests into the hiring process. She is a theocrat, and a rather incompetent one at that.
Her punishment by the Virginia Bar was quite mild considering her admission of dishonesty and criminal conduct. In many jurisdictions, she would have had her license actually suspended for a year or more. I suspect without knowing that she has been given some leeway due to her inexperience and the highly charged political atmosphere in which she worked. Look at her mentors after all.
Nice response Frank!
Elaine,
Great video of a disturbing moment in recent history.
2many – nice misuse of facts!
Yes Clinton did remove 93 prosecutors when he came into office – still fewer than Poppy or St. Ronnie did but that was during their first year when historically Presidents replaced them.
Boy Blunder and his Super Friends did the same when they came into office and then LATER tried to remove 8 that they viewed as politically incorrect. So those 8 were unusual and different from the previous presidential changes. There is also documentation that some of them were removed not for performance but for political reasons. Not even Nixon tried to pull that stunt.
I put in an unsuccessful attorney misconduct complaint against Carolyn Lamm, former ABA president. She was my opposing counsel. I wrote:
Lamm lied again on page 9 to 10 “Rule 60(b)(3) may only be invoked on a motion, and the “motion for relief from final judgment must be filed in the district court and in the action in which the original judgment was entered”. Bankers Mortgage Co. v. United States, 423 F. 2d 73, 78 (5th Cir. 1970). Any such motion, therefore, must have been brought within the time period allowed in the Colorado District Court, not here.”
In fact, Bankers Mortgage Co. v. United States, 423 F. 2d 73, 78 (5th Cir. 1970), says “Although the Rule by its terms does not limit motion practice to the court which rendered the judgment” paragraph 10 and continues “Two types of procedure to obtain relief from judgments are specified in the rules as it is proposed to amend them. One procedure is by motion in the court and in the action in which the judgment was rendered. The other procedure is by a new or independent action to obtain relief from a judgment, which action may or may not be begun in the court which rendered the judgment.” So Lamm specifically misquoted the 5th Circuit both as to whether a 60b(3) motion can be brought as an independent action and as to whether it can be brought in a different court.
The 5th Circuit continues “procedural differences in the motion practice and the independent action, but these have not been found to raise due process considerations which would bar treating a Rule 60(b) motion as an independent action.”
Furthermore, the law passed by Congress is clear that although there is a time limit on an action filed as a motion in the originating court, “(d) Other Powers to Grant Relief. This rule does not limit a court’s power to: (1) entertain an independent action to relieve a party from a judgment, order, or proceeding; (2) grant relief under 28 U.S.C. § 1655 to a defendant who was not personally notified of the action; or (3) set aside a judgment for fraud on the court.” See http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/Rule60.htm
Dear Cowboy
Yes, Obama did keep Bush DOJ lawyers. They announced they were keeping the U.S. Attorneys who had each of the 94 districts and I think the others are civil service jobs.
What an incredibly biased piece. Sentences such as
President Bush did unprecedented damage to the Justice Department by filling it with hacks and political operatives
are hardly appropriate nor are they true. I wonder if such statements could be labeled defamation. It is also amusing that they attack Ms Goodling because she wasn’t experienced enough. After all being president doesn’t need any experience at all.
As pointed out there is little difference between Obama’s DOJ and Bush’s DOJ or any other president.
Yes, Bush fired 8 attorneys. Clinton fired 93. He too replaced them with replacements that may or may not have been as qualified but were indebted to him. It was certainly politically motivated.
Metro,
One of the side benefits of the CS is the continuation of government….
From a layman’s point of view it seems hard to tell the difference between the Bush DOJ and Obama’s DOJ…Did lots of Bush lawyers stay on after the election?
Blouise,
That is correct…That is why they have classified and non classified CS employment….at will and not….but what these folks did was edge out classified CS employees….and make it the graft that the purpose of the act was trying to eliminate….
I am unaware if Bush or Cheney did a signing statement for this act….lol….
AY,
You are correct regarding Civil Service but there are many positions in both state and federal government that don’t fall under their purview. Presidents, governors, and their appointed department heads have plenty of high paying positions into which they may place hacks to whom they owe favors without the oversight of Civil Service.
I realize that your a lawyer & have to be careful, but giving the slime mold an “alleged” when they have freely admitted to enabling and promoting acts that are clearly defined as war crimes is a bit much.
If Yoo and Bybee held up a bank & were filmed do it, then went on TV and bragged about robbing the bank and later claimed that the money from the bank robbery paid for the death of Bin Laden I don’t think you would call them alleged bank robbers. These guys & many others are war criminals, like the Japanese we prosecuted for water boarding after WWII. There is no alleged about it.
And people think that the Civil Service Commission was created to eliminate this very issue….wasn’t it Arthur was killed or assassinated by Guiteau (sp) because he was not given employment….I think James Garfield was trying to eliminate the spoils system even back in the lat 1880’s……Oh yeah…this was all after the war atween the states….and political patronage was at a Federal height….
Good for the State of Virginia….