Scott Bloch, WH Special Counsel Says He Won't Provide Files to WH OPM. Showdown time!

A couple of Bush cowboys are facing off in the not-so-O.K. Corral.
One is armed with a flash drive of secret files on his key chain.
The other is reputed to have a fishing reel in hand....
Where's the boss of this gang of crooks anyway? Who's in charge?

It's a real case of the bad guys facing off against the bad guys :rofl:

================================================
U.S. Special Counsel Says He Won't Provide Files
Official Calls Personal Records Not Relevant to OPM Probe
By Elizabeth Williamson - Staff Writer - Nov 30, 2007; Page A03
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/29/AR2007112902401.html?nav=rss_politics


A U.S. official overseeing a probe of potential White House misconduct declared through a spokesman yesterday that he will not give federal investigators copies of personal files that he deleted from his office computer.

The decision by Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch escalates the confrontation between the Bush appointee and the White House, each of which is investigating the other.

Bloch's office is tasked with upholding laws against whistle-blower retaliation and partisan politicking in federal agencies. Earlier this year, Bloch directed lawyers in his office to look into charges that former Bush adviser Karl Rove inappropriately deployed government employees in Republican political campaigns.

Bloch had previously been targeted by the White House, which in 2005 asked the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to investigate allegations that Bloch had retaliated against whistle-blowers among his own staff members and improperly dismissed whistle-blower cases brought to the agency by others.

Bloch said in a written statement that the personal computer records requested by the OPM are not relevant to its investigation, which he earlier called a "fishing expedition."

...........

Head of Rove Inquiry in Hot Seat Himself
Bloch Used Private Company, Geeks on Call, to Delete Files On His Office Computer
By JOHN R. WILKE - Nove28, 2007; Page A6
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119621772122306160.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us


WASHINGTON -- The head of the federal agency investigating Karl Rove's White House political operation is facing allegations that he improperly deleted computer files during another probe, using a private computer-help company, Geeks on Call.

Scott Bloch runs the Office of Special Counsel, an agency charged with protecting government whistleblowers and enforcing a ban on federal employees engaging in partisan political activity. Mr. Bloch's agency is looking into whether Mr. Rove and other White House officials used government agencies to help re-elect Republicans in 2006.

At the same time, Mr. Bloch has himself been under investigation since 2005. At the direction of the White House, the federal Office of Personnel Management's inspector general is looking into claims that Mr. Bloch improperly retaliated against employees and dismissed whistleblower cases without adequate examination.


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, ...........

Geeks On Call hires kids off the street and tells them to fix computers. No training, no supervision, only guesses on what the hell is inside the box.

This was no ordinary virus wipe!

Cover-up: special investigator "cures" virus with 7-stage hard drive wipe
By Joel Hruska | Dec 02, 2007 - 07:10PM CT | http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071202-cover-up-special-investigator-cures-virus-with-7-stage-hard-drive-wipe.html

The head of the Office of Special Counsel who is currently leading an investigation into allegations against Karl Rove is taking fire over allegations that he improperly and illegally disposed of documents and files. Since this is the sort of nonsense that only makes sense if you live inside the Ultimate RDF generator (i.e. inside the Beltway), I'll take a moment and break things down.

.....

Where things get interesting from a technical standpoint is when Bloch contacted an outside company, Geeks on Call ... technicians visited Bloch and performed various services—including what the company refers to as a seven-level hard drive wipe.

A seven-level wipe? As you may know, simply deleting data off a drive or performing a high-level format does very little to prevent data from being recovered off the drive in question by experts. There are programs and utilities that over-write data on the drive with random patterns, making it more difficult to recover—but not necessarily impossible.

A seven-level wipe program (such as the one used on Bloch's system) would over-write an entire hard drive with randomized ones and zeros, but would go through the entire process seven times, thus theoretically eliminating any hope of restoring the original data. Paying for such a procedure doesn't exactly jive with virus removal, and the Washington Post states that Bloch also scrubbed the laptops of two of his aides in a similar fashion.

.... the government does have strict rules and policies in place regarding how information is to be stored, archived, and deleted. Attempting to irrevocably delete the data on his hard drive may have prevented certain materials from becoming public (assuming no backup copies exist), but doing so only raises questions about what, if anything, Bloch might have been trying to protect .... either Bloch was taken to the cleaners by Geeks on Call, or Bloch is covering something up.

U.S. Special Counsel Says He Won't Provide Files
Official Calls Personal Records Not Relevant to OPM Probe
By Elizabeth Williamson - Nov 30, 2007; Page A03
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/29/AR2007112902401.html


A U.S. official overseeing a probe of potential White House misconduct declared through a spokesman yesterday that he will not give federal investigators copies of personal files that he deleted from his office computer.

The decision by Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch escalates the confrontation between the Bush appointee and the White House, each of which is investigating the other.

Bloch's office is tasked with upholding laws against whistle-blower retaliation and partisan politicking in federal agencies. Earlier this year, Bloch directed lawyers in his office to look into charges that former Bush adviser Karl Rove inappropriately deployed government employees in Republican political campaigns.

Bloch had previously been targeted by the White House, which in 2005 asked the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to investigate allegations that Bloch had retaliated against whistle-blowers among his own staff members and improperly dismissed whistle-blower cases brought to the agency by others.

Bloch said in a written statement that the personal computer records requested by the OPM are not relevant to its investigation, which he earlier called a "fishing expedition."

..............

There was a problem with computer techs copying porn collections from computer hard drives they worked on.

Wouldn't it be ironic that Porn on a hard drive might help save our democracy?

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Scott_J._Bloch

"Scott J. Bloch was nominated by President George W. Bush as Special Counsel in the Office of Special Counsel on June 26, 2003. Bloch's nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 9, 2003."

............

Bloch was "... Deputy Director and Counsel to the Task Force for Faith-based and Community Initiatives at the Department of Justice. Previously, Mr. Bloch was a Partner with Stevens & Brand, LLP, where he practiced in the areas of civil rights law, employment law, and legal ethics."

Bill Berkowitz, "Bloch-ing Justice. When Scott Bloch became head of the Office of Special Counsel he declared war on equal protection for gays in federal workplaces," Dissident Voice, October 12, 2004. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Oct04/Berkowitz1012.htm

# Bill Berkowitz, "The Chopping Bloch. Running amuck as head of the Office of Special Counsel, Scott Bloch is charged with assembling his own 'palace guard'," Dissident Voice, December 28, 2004. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Dec2004/Berkowitz1228.htm

"Whistleblower Staff Blow the Whistle on Special Counsel. OSC Staff Want Independent Investigation of Illegal Personnel Practices," PEER (Freedom of Information Center; Common Dreams), March 3, 2005. http://foi.missouri.edu/whistleblowing/wstaffblow.html

# "FBI to Investigate Whistleblower Protection Agency Head — New Complaint Alleges Condoleezza Rice Probe Shelved Until After Election," PEER, March 31, 2005. http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=504

"Special Counsel Hired Son’s Boarding School Headmaster; Consultant Deal Worth $112,000 Produces Only a Four-Page Memo," PEER (Common Dreams), April 12, 2005. http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0412-07.htm

Daniel Pulliam, "OPM investigator launches probe of Office of Special Counsel chief," GovExec.com, October 19, 2005. http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=32592&dcn=todaysnews

"Who Will Blink First? White House and OSC Investigate Each Other: Bloch Must Recuse Himself," Project on Government Oversight, April 24, 2007. http://pogo.org/p/government/ga-070424-osc.html

Tom Hamburger, "Critics doubt official looking into Rove. Advocacy groups cite Bloch's ties to the administration," Los Angeles Times, April 25, 2007. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-probe25apr25,1,3709384.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&track=crosspromo

Karl Rove's Least Likely Interrogator: Scott Bloch and the Office of Special Counsel
By Daniel Schulman - April 25, 2007 - http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2007/04/bloch.html


News: The controversial director of the OSC is launching the most high-profile (and politically fraught) investigation of his stormy, three-year tenure. Is it a courageous effort to expose White House malfeasance, or a last ditch attempt to save his own hide?

He's been accused of rolling back protections for federal workers who face sexual-orientation discrimination; installing staffers in key posts who share his religious-conservative worldview; wielding his prosecutorial power for partisan purposes; and turning his agency into a "black hole" for whistleblower disclosures and complaints of reprisal. Welcome to Scott Bloch's stormy, three-year tenure at the helm of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), the federal government's obscure whistleblower-protection agency, which is also in charge of policing whether federal employees are engaging in political activity on the job.

Though he's long been in the crosshairs of watchdog groups and watched closely by Congress, Bloch may have just picked the biggest fight of his tenure—and it's not the one anyone expected him to take on. In a move that has shocked even his own staffers, Bloch is gearing up for a large-scale investigation into the administration's political operation, zeroing in on the man who has turned that operation into a veritable satellite office of the Republican National Committee: Karl Rove.

OSC will also probe the disappearance of an untold number of emails that were sent by White House officials using nongovernmental, RNC-issued email addresses and the circumstances behind the firing of at least one U.S. Attorney, New Mexico's David Iglesias. "I've never seen this done before," an OSC investigator told me today, referring to the scale of the investigation. "I think this is a first." He told me, however, that questions remain about whether the agency has the "legal authority to look to the depth that he says we're going to look. I haven't a clue whether we do or not. But I'm sure that will be tested."

In an ironic twist, Bloch is the first OSC chief to face a whistleblower complaint of his own, one filed by a group of career OSC staffers who allege, among other things, that he engaged in the very retaliatory practices his agency is charged with investigating.

=====================
P.S. Bloch has a fixed five-year term.
Bloch, a loyal Bushie, served in DoJ's office of faith-based programs.

Your tax payer dollars are needed, so Bush Administration can investigate Bush administration.
That has a lot of people :ROFL: at the request for another 3 million.

===============
Budget Shortfall May Shutter White House Probe
Justin Rood Reports - Sep 17, 2007 - http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/09/budget-shortfal.html


A task force probing allegations of illegal activity by Karl Rove and other former and current White House officials is in jeopardy due to lack of funding ...

Without a last-minute infusion of nearly $3 million, the special task force may be unable to pay its staff and buy the kind of technical assistance it needs to investigate allegations that White House political operatives may have improperly injected politics into government activities .....

In April, Special Counsel Scott Bloch announced that a new, six-member task force from his office would probe the use of private e-mail accounts by White House aides, the firing of at least one U.S. attorney by administration appointees and presentations of political data by White House aides to other officials in government.

The cost of the task force for 2008 would be $2.89 million, according to OSC estimates. But Bloch started the probe long after he submitted his 2008 budget ....

With Bloch and the White House investigating each other's alleged misbehaviors, it isn't hard to understand why relations between the two have been strained for some time.

Then in June, Bloch issued a blistering report on another White House appointee, General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan. He found she had engaged "in the most pernicious of political activity" by encouraging her subordinates to find ways to support Republican candidates. .....

............

Today's Must Read
By Paul Kiel - Nov 28, 2007
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004790.php


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...

....

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.

Doan, the White House and Wikipedia
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/government-inc/2007/11/doan_the_white_house_and_wikip_1.html


It has been several months since Government Inc. last checked in on General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan and the U.S. special counsel's recommendation that she be removed from office for allegedly violating the Hatch Act.

Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch urged President Bush on June 8 to discipline Doan "to the fullest extent" over allegations that she asked political appointees how they could "help our candidates" during a January meeting at the GSA.....

Doan has denied any wrongdoing ... Doan's lawyer, Michael J. Nardotti Jr., took exception to the special counsel's findings. He wrote, "It is clear that the conclusions of the OSC report are far off the mark and are based on tenuous inferences and careless leaps of logic." ....

A White House spokesman said this week that the president still has not made a decision and has not set a date for doing so. In the meantime, it has come to Government Inc.'s attention that there is an engaging page devoted to Doan on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lurita_Doan "The neutrality of this article is disputed."), the "free encyclopedia" online. The anonymous contributors ......

==============

Checking the IP numbers of the Wikipedia propaganda edits:

Someone inserts a bunch of Doan biography and deletes political scandal material on May 25, 2007, starting a page edit war on Wiki..
IP 147.210.157.75 =
147.210.0.0 - 147.210.255.255
netname: FNET-UBDX, Cellule Reseau REAUMUR, Universite Bordeaux 1
351 Cours de la Liberation, 33405 Talence CEDEX, France

Who was in France, deleting this, as of 06:35, 25 May 2007?

"On May 24, 2007, the Washington Post reported, "The <[United States Office of Special Counsel>] has found that General Services Administration chief Lurita Alexis Doan violated the federal Hatch Act when she allegedly asked GSA political appointees during a January briefing how they could 'help our candidates' win the next election, according to a report by the office." In their 19 page report, Special Counsel investigators wrote, " actions, to be certain, constitute an obvious misuse of her official authority and were made for the purpose of affecting the result of an election." The report went on, "One can imagine no greater violation of the Hatch Act than to invoke the machinery of an agency, with all its contracts and buildings, in the service of a partisan campaign to retake Congress and the Governors' mansions." Doan said she fundamentally disagrees with the findings."

Who deleted this and put in a bunch of propaganda as of 02:44, 13 September 2007 = 72.75.42.200

"Waxman said in the letter that one method suggested was using 'targeted public events, such as the opening of federal facilities around the country.'...."

A customer of Verizon Internet Services Inc., 1880 Campus Commons Dr, Reston VA
Also, 71.251.48.171 Verizon Internet Services Inc.
DELETE OF: *"Doan also generated consternation within her agency and on Capitol Hill with her proposals to curb the agency's contract audits and to cut the inspector general's budget by $5 million. The audits, which aim to ensure that the government is getting the best prices for goods and services, have saved taxpayers more than $1 billion over the past two years, the inspector general's office reported."<ref name=WP-GSA-20070326>

Another from 72.75.42.200 = Verizon Internet customer makes six edits.
Another from 71.252.51.137 = Verizon Internet customer makes two edits.
Another from 151.200.159.34 = Verizon Internet customer makes two edits.

Revision as of 05:44, 29 November 2007, by IP 68.106.185.131, tries to re-edit the material back in.
Cox Communications Inc., Atlanta GA 30313

At this hour, the edit battle has re-engaged while I was preparing this post:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lurita_Doan&action=history

We are still waiting for action on these publically-known and evidenced crimes.
Let me guess, someone wrote an Executive Order changing the meaning of "violated the law" ??

From Jun-08-07 = GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY. Is Everyone in the WHITE HOUSE Going to the "OUT" House?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1069515

Still waiting for a reply from Sen. Collins, about her staff's violations posted right on the Internet.

===================
Doan Hatch-Act Report Delivered to Bush
By Daniel Pulliam | Friday, June 08, 2007
http://blogs.govexec.com/techinsider/archives/2007/06/doans_hatch_act_report_goes_to.html


The Office of Special Counsel confirmed that it delivered to President Bush today its investigative report concluding General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan violated the law .....

It is a bout time the Democrats in congress show us who is in charge. A bunch of crooks, idiots and blow hards, or the real policy makers of this country. If Leahy let's this butt get away with this he should be locked up himself. MOVE....MOVE NOW.

What we have here is a loyal, faith-based Bushie in charge of investigating the junta for the junta.
He may be asked to answer for his actions, but, can anyone fire him? I don't think so. Anyone?

Is this an effort to get rid of Bloch? If so, then first they need to establish " neglect, inefficiency or malfeasance in office."

============
Attorney: New claims against special counsel are firing offense
By TIM KAUFFMAN - Nov 28, 2007 - http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=3214329


President Bush should fire Special Counsel Scott Bloch in the wake of revelations that he had computer hard drives at the agency erased ....

....

Bloch has been under investigation by the Office of Personnel Management inspector general since 2005 based on claims that he retaliated against employees who spoke out against his policies and that he threw out whistleblower cases without evaluating their merits. Earlier this year, he announced a sweeping investigation into the legality of briefings on Republican electoral strategy given by White House officials to political appointees at most agencies.
Debra Katz, the attorney representing employees who made the charges against Bloch, said the report confirms what her clients and others inside OSC have been saying since the OPM investigation began: “that Mr. Bloch and his political henchmen have continuously obstructed the investigators’ efforts to get at the truth.”

Bloch, who was appointed by Bush to a five-year term, can only be removed for neglect, inefficiency or malfeasance in office. Katz said there’s more than enough evidence to warrant his dismissal.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

If this guy can thumb his nose at Leahy and congress does that mean we can walk into the House of Representatives and take any seat we want. After all some piddle asshole plain old government employee is telling Leahy the same thing cheney did ...GO FU** YOURSELF?????????

Not even the would-be dictator can push him out!

White House Investigator Short on Funds
By Paul Kiel - Sep 17, 2007 - http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004204.php

Back in April, Scott Bloch, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, announced that his office would "leave no stone unturned" in pursuing White House malfeasance. In fact, a special task force was assembled to handle all of Karl Rove's alleged dirty doings.

Problem is, Bloch apparently forged ahead without actually having the money to fund the task force. And as Justin reports over at The Blotter, it's not looking like he'll be able to land that extra $3 million. So some of those stones might just have to stay right where they are.

Without a last-minute infusion of nearly $3 million, the special task force may be unable to pay its staff and buy the kind of technical equipment it needs to investigate allegations that White House political operatives may have improperly injected politics into government activities, according to Jim Mitchell, spokesman for the U.S. Office of Special Counsel....

.....

The OSC is an odd creature -- it's actually a White House office, and the House of Representatives apparently told Bloch to go ask for the extra money from the White House's Office of Management and Budget. So now Bloch is in the odd position of asking for more money from the White House in order to fund this extra investigation. .....

We are still waiting ......

=================
Special Counsel Calls On Bush To Punish GSA Head
By Laura McGann - June 12, 2007 - http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003412.php

The head of the General Services Administration should be punished "to the fullest extent" (i.e. fired) for wrongfully attempting to help Republican candidates based on their political affiliation, Special Counsel Scott Bloch wrote in a letter to President Bush released last night.

Now GSA chief Lurita Doan's fate is up to the White House. Bloch's Office of Special Counsel, which is charged with investigating Hatch Act violations, interviewed Doan for nine hours over the course of two days and spoke with 21 GSA employees, the Associated Press reports:

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said they had received the Bloch letter and it was under review. ....

Bush Appointee Pulls Plug on Whistleblower Fete
By Justin Rood - Sep 11, 2006 - http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001498.php


So the White House appointee who's in charge of protecting government whistleblowers abruptly canceled last week's "Whistleblower of the Year" award ceremony, the WPost reports today.

The award was to go to a prison safety manager, Leroy Smith, who jeopardized his health, his marriage and his job in order to alert officials that dangerous toxins were poisoning workers and inmates at a California facility.

So why did the appointee, Office of Special Counsel (OSC) chief Scott Bloch, pull the plug on the event? Bloch says the sudden death of an employee's relative caused it. But OSC staffers say that's B.S.:

Bloch scuttled Smith's fete, these employees believe, because he got wind of Smith's plan to take his award and head over to a news conference with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Smith and the watchdog group -- which has criticized Bloch in the past .........

...........

That they would throw Bloch under the bus so quickly.

Now they're the champions of an open government? Whaaaaa?

June 15, 2005 = Scott Blochs Sad Saga
By Hans Johnson - http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2159/


Openly gay staff members bore the brunt of Bloch's wrath and were the focus of his reassignment plans.

On freedom, the Bush administration speaks with a forked tongue. Executive rhetoric at the start of the second term has taken a welcome turn toward prodding other nations to respect human liberty. But such exhortations ring hollow—if not downright mendacious—in the face of what the president’s appointee at the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is doing to undermine civil rights, the rule of law and the legacy of public service here at home.

The saga of Scott Bloch and mismanagement at the OSC has persisted for a year and a half—under the radar of the national press. The agency upholds nondiscrimination policy and ensures protection for federal workers who blow the whistle on corruption, waste or abuse. The OSC is one reason public agencies have grown increasingly diverse and efficient, and it has traditionally done its job enforcing the federal workforce rulebook outside the crush of media scrutiny. But this low profile has become a cloak of obscurity that Bloch has ingeniously exploited.

Bloch began his tenure as Special Counsel in January 2004 following a stint on a Justice Department task force to secure selected churches a place at the trough of federal aid. ..........

Chopping Bloch
For 3 years, Bush's Special Counsel Has Made the Recent Firings of U.S. Attorneys Look Like Child's Play
by Hans Johnson - President, Progressive Victory - http://www.progressivevictory.com/031407bloch.htm


Imposition of partisan demands and reprisals against the corps of U.S. attorneys are just two symptoms of a more rampant rot within the White House.

For 3 years, a Bush-appointed lawyer with a pedigree in religious advocacy and now on the public payroll has been abusing his power over public servants. In addition to trying to make the administration safe for theocracy, he has undertaken a relentless attack on gay people and 30-year-old policies putting private behavior off-limits of consideration by government personnel operations.

His name is Scott Bloch, head of the federal Office of Special Counsel. .....

...... In an effort to appear productive and reduce a large backlog of whistleblower cases, Bloch has eliminated more than 600 cases without investigation.

......... Bloch is already under investigation by the Office of Personnel Management. In a 2005 Senate hearing on his mismanagement, the chair of the oversight committee, Susan Collins (R-Maine), didn't even bother to show up. .....

CLASSIC: "We will not leave any stone unturned."

==============
04/24/2007 - http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?pid=189590
Rove's Newest Investigator Is Under Investigation

....

On Tuesday, The Los Angeles Times reported that the Office of Special Counsel, an obscure federal investigative and prosecutorial agency that is supposed to protect federal employees from prohibited personnel practices, is preparing to jump into one of the most sensitive and potentially explosive issues in Washington, launching a broad investigation into key elements of the White House political operations that for more than six years have been headed by chief strategist Karl Rove.

The new investigation, which will examine the firing of at least one U.S. attorney, missing White House emails, and White House efforts to keep presidential appointees attuned to Republican political priorities, could create a substantial new problem for the Bush White House.

Rove is tied to all three elements of the OSC investigation. "We will take the evidence where it leads us," Scott Bloch, head of the Office of Special Counsel, told The Los Angeles Times. "We will not leave any stone unturned."

............. It is a dizzying situation. The investigator investigating officials who oversee the agency that is investigating the investigator. Forget firewalls. This looks more like a basement flooded with backed-up sewage--with the water rising.

Crimes. Congress needs to appoint it's own Special Prosecutor.

Meet Scott Bloch by Steve Benen
Posted April 25th, 2007
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/10610.html


Yesterday, we talked about the Office of Special Counsel launching a broad investigation into Karl Rove’s political activities, with particular attention on the prosecutor purge, RNC emails, and fairly obvious Hatch Act violations in which Rove’s office politicized various federal agencies. .....

I expressed some optimism for the investigation. After all, the OSC has a lot of tools at its disposal, including subpoena power. Paul Light, a New York University expert on the executive branch, said of Bloch’s plan, “This is a big deal. It is a significant moment for the administration and Karl Rove.”

In retrospect, I probably wrote this with a tad too much optimism. The investigation could be a big deal, and the OSC is capable of launching a thorough and revealing probe, but given the background of the OSC’s Bloch, skepticism is probably wise.

................

SPECIAL COUNSEL SCOTT BLOCH: WRONG CHOICE FOR WHITE HOUSE OVERSIGHT INVESTIGATIONS
http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/27785

24 Apr 2007 // Washington, DC – The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is launching a broad investigation into at least three Bush administration scandals – the firing of U.S. Attorneys, missing White House emails and the White House’s exercise of improper political influence over presidential appointees in the executive branch. OSC, headed up by highly controversial presidential appointee Scott Bloch, is the wrong entity for this investigation. The fact that OSC has been charged with handling these matters suggests the possibility that the White House is orchestrating a cover-up of its illegal and improper activities.

Bloch has come under widespread criticism for his gross mismanagement and politicization of the office. Bloch is currently under investigation by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for his mistreatment of career appointees, who have alleged the exact kind of retaliation that OSC is designed to investigate. OSC employees have alleged that Bloch has tossed out legitimate whistleblower cases to reduce the office backlog. ......

...........

Did Scott Bloch Spike the Doan Investigation?
by emptywheel - May 26, 2007 - http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/05/did_scott_bloch.html


You might remember the last installment of the Lurita Doan saga, where her claims to be distracted from Scott Jennings' political presentation by her crackberry were disproved by her own crackberry files. In that post I noted that the actions of the person who liberated this report and got it to at least the WaPo and the LAT had probably increased the chances of Lurita Doan getting fired for her Hatch Act violations.

I'll bet Doan and her lawyer are pissed this report got leaked--kudos to whatever person in OPC liberated this report, which was provided to at least the WaPo and LAT. As the report notes, only President Bush can implement the recommendation of the report, which is to fire Doan. Any bets on whether, by leaking the report, the chances are greater that Doan will actually be canned for her illegal political activities?

As it turns out, I was more right than I knew. You see, according to POGO, the version that got liberated was not the final draft. And there was at least one rather significant difference between the liberated version and the version now on the WaPo website. The new version concluded that:

Due to Administrator Doan's status as a Presidential appointee confirmed by the Senate, the President, and not the Merit Systems Protection Board, must make regarding imposition of disciplinary action. Therefore, ... the Special Counsel hereby submits this report of Prohibited Political Activity, together with any response of Administrator Doan, to the President for appropriate action.

Whereas the liberated version made a strong recommendation that Bush fire Doan. After reviewing that the law dictates that "a violator must be removed from her position," the report continues:

...............

Rove Investigator Himself Under Investigation
By Jason Leopold - 24 April 2007 - http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042407U.shtml


A federal investigation into the political activities of Karl Rove, announced late Monday, is being headed by a Bush appointee who is currently the target of an internal White House probe - calling into question the integrity of the administration's efforts to conduct an independent review of Rove's work as White House political adviser.

The news underscores how deeply the Bush administration is mired in scandal.

..........

Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Bloch's own questionable behavior as special counsel makes him the "wrong choice" to investigate Rove.

"Having transformed into a virtual black hole for legitimate complaints of retaliation, Bloch is decidedly not the right person to tackle the issues of misconduct and illegality that surround top White House officials," Sloan said, "There is a serious question as to whether Bloch will just provide cover for an administration that has been covering for him."

..........

Originalists, Federalism, and Scott J. Bloch
Mel Seesholtz - May 30 2005 - http://www.counterbias.com/307.html



The battle over Bush's judicial nominees, Bill Frist's threatened "nuclear option" and the eleventh hour "bipartisan compromise" have occupied the news recently, and with good reason. Many of the Bush nominees - including those now headed for lifetime seats on the federal bench - are "originalists."

What's an "originalist"? The term refers to the way a jurist interprets the U.S. Constitution. H. Jefferson Powell defined the originalist perspective in his 1987 article "Rules for Originalists" in the Virginia Law Review: "Those who advocate giving normative force to the 'original intent' of the Constitution's framers... adherence to the Constitution's original meaning(s) without locating that (those) meaning(s) in the founders' actual intention."

Failed Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork offered a functional definition his 1990 book The Tempting of America. An originalist believes "all that counts" for a judge interpreting the Constitution "is how the words used in the Constitution would have been understood at the time ."

.........

Scott J. Bloch is another Bush appointee who has a problem with equality and civil rights, especially when applied to gay and lesbian Americans employed by the federal government.

On May 28, 1998, President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 13087 prohibiting discrimination against federal employees based on sexual orientation. Enforcement of that order fell to the Office of Special Counsel. ........

For Immediate Release: April 12, 2005
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=509


SPECIAL COUNSEL HIRED SON’S BOARDING SCHOOL HEADMASTER — Consultant Deal Worth $112,000 Produces Only a Four-Page Memo

Washington, DC — U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch, who is responsible for enforcing civil service rules, hired his son’s former Catholic boarding school headmaster as an expert consultant, in apparent violation of civil service rules, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). In addition, Bloch gave the ex-headmaster a one-year appointment under which he would be entitled to receive as much as $111,966.40 but the only work produced was a four-page memo.

On March 16, 2004, Bloch hired Alan Hicks, a former headmaster of St. Gregory’s Academy, a Catholic boarding school, who left in the wake of allegations concerning priests sexually preying on young students, to serve as a consultant for a one-year period. Hicks was paid at an hourly rate of $53.83 for work not to exceed 2080 hours but Bloch has refused to divulge the total amount Hicks received.

In documents obtained by PEER under the Freedom of Information Act –

* Hicks’s sole work product consisted of a single four-page memo to Bloch dated September 16, 2004. Bloch’s office withheld the entire text of the memo on the grounds that its contents are “predecisional”;
* Although the total amount that Hicks was paid was not disclosed, Hicks was also reimbursed $598.75 for travel, food and lodging to attend two OSC staff retreats .......

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don't think so.....

Any reports back yet on whether Rove abused his power or what happened to the emails? I'm holding my breath...

Thanks, for another fascinating thread.

Kicked
Recommended
Bookmarked

Scott Bloch Search results: News articles and analysis about "Scott Bloch" from washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Scott+Bloch

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That Whistle's Been Blowing for Two Years
By Stephen Barr - Oct 12, 2007; Page D04 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/11/AR2007101102396.html

The investigation has run for two years, and it's possible the Bush administration will have left office before the charges and countercharges are resolved.

....

In 2005, a group of anonymous employees, joined by public-interest organizations, filed a complaint against Bloch, which the White House referred to the inspector general at the Office of Personnel Management .....

This week, a lawyer representing the employees wrote to White House counsel Fred Fielding urging him to request an interim report from OPM "regarding what its investigation has uncovered to date, and to explain the reasons for its long delay in concluding this investigation."

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U.S. Special Counsel Says He Won't Provide Files
Official Calls Personal Records Not Relevant to OPM Probe
Elizabeth Williamson - Nov 30, 2007; Page A03 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/29/AR2007112902401.html

.... decision by Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch escalates the confrontation between the Bush appointee and the White House, each of which is investigating the other.

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Bloch said in a written statement that the personal computer records requested by the OPM are not relevant to its investigation, which he earlier called a "fishing expedition."

.... Bloch said he does not recall ordering the erasure of data in the hard drives of laptops used by chief of staff J.R. Sanchez and another top aide who had left the agency. Bloch had asked that the files in his computer be encrypted and moved to a portable "thumb drive," which he carries on his keychain, his spokesman said.

This month, the Office of Personnel Management sent a letter to Bloch requesting access to his America Online account, which he uses for personal e-mail communication. The letter further asked him to surrender the files transferred to the thumb drive.

........ Attorneys representing the staff members in the complaints against Bloch cited the latest dispute in calling for his resignation.

"At the time that he initiated this probe of Karl Rove, we thought he was doing this to make himself bulletproof so the White House could not take disciplinary action against him," said Debra Katz, an attorney for the staff members.....

Continuing Obstruction of OPM OIG Investigation of Scott Bloch
February 1, 2007 - http://www.kmblegal.com/news_feb_1_07.php

Mr. Clay Johnson, III
Chairman, President's Council on Integrity And Efficiency
U.S. Office of Management and Budget....

Re: Continuing Obstruction of OPM OIG Investigation of Scott Bloch

Dear Mr. Johnson: I am writing to you for the second time to request that you take steps immediately to address continuing efforts by Special Counsel Scott Bloch and his political staff to interfere with and obstruct the investigation of his misconduct that is being conducted at your direction by the Office of Inspector General, Office of Personnel Management (OIG). On January 30, 2007, Rebecca McGinley, one of Scott Bloch's schedule C employees, sent an email to all employees of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC). In that email (the complete text of which is enclosed), Ms. McGinley made the extraordinary claim that you have personally instructed the OIG that its investigators may not directly contact OSC employees to set up interviews of relevant staff witnesses, unless Ms. McGinley is informed. Indeed, in the January 30 email, Ms. McGinley directs staff that have been contacted directly by the OIG that they must notify her of this contact. Further, she has claimed that you have directed that the OPM investigators must conduct all interviews at OSC headquarters, unless the employee being interviewed specifically requests otherwise.

In her email, Ms. McGinley claimed that "this is how OSC conducts investigations and OPM OIG is expected, and has been directed to follow our procedures." Ms. McGinley admonished the staff that if they were contacted by OPM OIG directly, they were required to "notify me immediately."

Ms. McGinley's representation of OSC policy is patently false. For reasons that should be obvious.......

Therefore, on behalf of my clients, I request once again that you take affirmative steps to require Mr. Bloch and his appointees not to interfere with the IG's investigation. Specifically, we must insist that .......

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