Replies to post #38419 on Discover GOP Opprobrium

[teapeebubbles]

By any reasonable measure, outgoing Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) hasn’t exactly been a moderate.

Lott was forced out of his Majority Leader seat in disgrace in late 2002, after heralding the segregationist platform of former South Carolina senator Strom Thurmond. Speaking at a Thurmond’s 100th birthday bash, Lott said, “When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either.” Lott’s history of intolerance is well-documented. In 1981, Lott declared, “Racial discrimination does not always violate public policy.” In 1998, he likened homosexuality to “personal problems as alcoholism, kleptomania and ’sex addiction.’” He maintains an affiliation with the Council of Conservative Citizens, described as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League. In June 2007, Lott likened securing America’s borders to an “electrified goat fence,” stating that “there’s an analogy there” for immigration reform.

And that’s just on questions of tolerance and diversity. On practically every question of domestic and foreign policy, Trent Lott has been a consistent and predictable conservative Republican.

And yet, many reporters are noting that his abrupt resignation from Congress manages to move to the Senate Republican caucus even further to the right. Oddly enough, that’s true.

The departure of Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott will cost Congress one of its premiere deal makers and opens the door to a further shift to the right by Senate Republicans.

Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl appears all but certain to get the whip post now held by Mr. Lott and would bring a more confrontational style to the No. 2 leadership job. Skirmishes were already taking shape yesterday between younger Senate conservatives and the Republicans’ increasingly isolated moderate wing, which is trying to hold onto a place in the party leadership.

Yes, moderate Senate Republicans — all three of them — had come to rely on Trent Lott as an ally.

The point isn’t that Lott harbored some centrist sympathies — he never has — it’s that he seemed to enjoy the art of the deal. He relished pragmatism, and was willing to occasionally strike compromises.

Lott’s departure from Capitol Hill in the coming weeks after 34 years in Congress — 16 in the House, 18 in the Senate — is further evidence that bonhomie and cross-party negotiating are losing their currency, even in the backslapping Senate. With the Senate populated by a record number of former House members, the rules of the Old Boys’ Club are giving way to the partisan trench warfare and party-line votes that prevail in the House. […]

“The Senate is predicated on the ability of people being able to work together,” said former senator Don Nickles (R-Okla.), who was majority whip for much of Lott’s years as majority leader. “I’m not throwing rocks at anybody, but there’s just been a lot less of that.”

Former majority leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) agreed: “Senator Lott’s resignation means the loss of one of the few Republicans in leadership who often excelled in finding compromise and common ground.”

It seems almost silly to think the departure of a right-wing Republican from Mississippi could make the Senate GOP even more conservative and ideologically rigid, and yet, here we are.

[teapeebubbles]

It's just not enough that a number of administration officials have been investigated for malfeasance; the Bush Administration takes it the extra mile. The man who's charged with investigating some of that malfeasance is himself under investigation. And he's clearly no slouch at malfeasance.

Scott Bloch heads the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), an odd little agency that was set up to police federal employees of infractions that do not rise to the criminal level. The OSC's main brief is enforcing the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from using government resources for political ends (so Bloch should be a busy man). He's also supposed to make sure whistleblowers do not suffer retaliation. The OSC reports to the White House.

Bloch himself has been under investigation since 2005 for a variety of infractions, including retaliating against employees who took issue with internal policies and discriminating against those who were gay or members of religious minorities. At the direction of the White House, the Office of Personnel Management's inspector general has been pressing on with an investigation of Bloch.

Which makes this all the more curious. From The Wall Street Journal:

Recently, investigators learned that Mr. Bloch erased all the files on his office personal computer late last year. They are now trying to determine whether the deletions were improper or part of a cover-up, lawyers close to the case said.
Bypassing his agency's computer technicians, Mr. Bloch phoned 1-800-905-GEEKS for Geeks on Call, the mobile PC-help service. It dispatched a technician in one of its signature PT Cruiser wagons. In an interview, [Bloch] confirmed that he contacted Geeks on Call but said he was trying to eradicate a virus that had seized control of his computer....

Mr. Bloch had his computer's hard disk completely cleansed using a "seven-level" wipe: a thorough scrubbing that conforms to Defense Department data-security standards. The process makes it nearly impossible for forensics experts to restore the data later. He also directed Geeks on Call to erase laptop computers that had been used by his two top political deputies, who had recently left the agency....

Geeks on Call visited Mr. Bloch's government office in a nondescript office building on M Street in Washington twice, on Dec. 18 and Dec. 21, 2006, according to a receipt reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The total charge was $1,149, paid with an agency credit card, the receipt shows. The receipt says a seven-level wipe was performed but doesn't mention any computer virus.

Jeff Phelps, who runs Washington's Geeks on Call franchise, declined to talk about specific clients, but said calls placed directly by government officials are unusual. He also said erasing a drive is an unusual virus treatment. "We don't do a seven-level wipe for a virus," he said.


The punchline to all this is that even if Bloch were a paragon of integrity, his investigations of administration wrongdoing would be nearly pointless. For instance, Bloch launched an investigation of General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan after she asked her fellow employees "How can we help our candidates?" The comments had come after a political briefing by Karl Rove's aide. Bloch's investigation concluded that Doan should be fired. But that was in June. Bloch made his recommendation to the White House, which has done nothing since. And as for Bloch's wide-ranging probe of Karl Rove's political briefings to federal officials throughout the government? Don't count on any results. It's enough to make a man cynical.