Did Gonzalez purjor himself during his Senate confirmation hearing?

I Was listening to Al Franken this morning and he was talking about Gonzalez testimony before the Senate. I missed the beginning, but he was saying that Gonzalez seems to have lied about his roll in getting then Governor Bush exempted from jury duty in Texas. Gonzalez testimony before the Senate apparently doesn't jibe with the recollection of the Judge and the two lawyers in the case. Gonzalez seems to have tried to beg his client off jury duty because he (Bush) might subsequently have to determine whether the defendantshould be granted clemency. This for a waitress charged with a DUI. The real issue seems to have been Bush's own DUI, which was then still secret.

Seems like bizarre stuff. I haven't been able to find confirmation on the net and I haven't heard the story elsewhere. Anybody-know what gives?

--IMM

Actually, if you go to www.bushwatch.com, they have a story (either under the editorials or today's news) which discusses this in detail. The piece is titled something like "Whom Do You Believe? Gonzales, or Three Lawyers and a Judge?" I just read it this evening myself.

As I understand perjury, the false statement must be material to the issue at hand.

Main Entry: per·ju·ry
Pronunciation: 'p&r-j&-rE
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural -ries
Etymology: Anglo-French perjurie parjurie, from Latin perjurium, from perjurus deliberately giving false testimony, from per- detrimental to + jur- jus law
: the act or crime of knowingly making a false statement (as about a material matter) while under oath or bound by an affirmation or other officially prescribed declaration that what one says, writes, or claims is true —compare FALSE SWEARING

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=perjury

utterly compelling, but I'm still not sure what Gonzalez did or did not say before the committee.

Are you attorney as well??

by Michael Isikoff.

I guess there's no law against it, but I really don't ever remember hearing about a Gov. sitting on a jury. Don't remember ever hearing about a Senator either for that matter. I am quite sure if any Governor was chosen to sit on a jury, the media would jump on it.

I guess I don't see the big deal with Shrub getting out of it. I know when I was Dir. of Accounting for a mid-size Company and was summoned to jury duty during month-end closing, I went to our attorney and asked him to talk to somebody. It had nothing to do with not wanting to serve, and everything to do with simply not being able to be away from the job at a critical time.

and then Gonzales lied about it to Congress.

n/t

Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel of the State Bar of Texas requesting an investigation into misrepresentations White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales made in a written response to a question posed to him by the Senate Judiciary Committee which is considering Gonzales’s nomination for Attorney General.

The complaint alleges that Gonzales inaccurately portrayed his role in appearing before a Texas court when President Bush, then Governor of Texas, was summoned for jury duty. Gonzales has claimed that although he appeared in court with the Governor, he merely observed the defence counsel make a motion to strike the Governor from the jury panel and then when asked by the Judge whether the Governor had any views on this, replied that he did not.

In marked contrast, Michael Isikoff, reporting for Newseek, has written that the defence lawyer, prosecutor and judge involved in the case all recall the incident differently. In their version, Gonzales asked to have an off-the-record conference in the judge’s chambers where Gonzales then asked the judge, David Crain, to strike Mr. Bush from the jury, arguing that the Governor might one day be asked to pardon the defendant. Isikoff writes that Judge Crain found Gonzales’s argument “extremely unlikely” but out of deference, agreed to allow the motion to strike, which the defence lawyer then made.

CREW’s complaint alleges that by misstating the facts surrounding the conversation in the judge’s chambers Gonzales may have violated 18 U.S.C. §1001, which makes it a federal crime to make false statements to a congressional committee. The complaint further alleges that Mr. Gonzales has violated two Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure: 8.04(a)(2) which prohibits lawyers from committing crimes that reflect adversely on their honesty or trustworthiness; and 8.04(a)(3) which prohibits lawyers from engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.

http://www.citizensforethics.org/press/newsrelease.php?view=30

As in, said "I did not help Bush get out of jury duty" or whatever.

If he danced around it, though, and he probably did, you can't prove perjury.

if so, then he lied