Was She Acting On Her Own?

Does It Really Matter?

Colleagues Cite Partisan Focus by Justice Official

WASHINGTON, May 11 — Two years ago, Robin C. Ashton, a seasoned criminal prosecutor at the Department of Justice, learned from her boss that a promised promotion was no longer hers.

“You have a Monica problem,” Ms. Ashton was told, according to several Justice Department officials. Referring to Monica M. Goodling, a 31-year-old, relatively inexperienced lawyer who had only recently arrived in the office, the boss added, “She believes you’re a Democrat and doesn’t feel you can be trusted.”

Ms. Ashton’s ouster — she left the Executive Office for United States Attorneys for another Justice Department post two weeks later — was a critical early step in a plan that would later culminate in the ouster of nine United States attorneys last year.

Ms. Goodling would soon be quizzing applicants for civil service jobs at Justice Department headquarters with questions that several United States attorneys said were inappropriate, like who was their favorite president and Supreme Court justice. One department official said an applicant was even asked, “Have you ever cheated on your wife?”

Ms. Goodling also moved to block the hiring of prosecutors with résumés that suggested they might be Democrats, even though they were seeking posts that were supposed to be nonpartisan, two department officials said.

And she helped maintain lists of all the United States attorneys that graded their loyalty to the Bush administration, including work on past political campaigns, and noted if they were members of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group.

By the time Ms. Goodling resigned in April — after her role in the firing of the prosecutors became public and she had been promoted to the role of White House liaison — she and other senior department officials had revamped personnel practices affecting employees from the top of the agency to the bottom.

I suspect she was largely acting on her own when it came to the lower level employee decisions but was taking orders from the Rove White House when it came to the US Attorneys themselves.

So who and what is Monica Goodling? I think she is what Bob Altemeyer would call an authoritarian follower.

Authoritarian followers usually support the established authorities in their society, such as government officials and traditional religious leaders. Such people have historically been the "proper" authorities in life, the time-honored, entitled, customary leaders, and that means a lot to most authoritarians. Psychologically these followers have personalities featuring:
1) a high degree of submission to the established, legitimate authorities in their society;
2) high levels of aggression in the name of their authorities; and
3) a high level of conventionalism.
Because the submission occurs to traditional authority, I call these followers right-wing authoritarians.

This brings us to one of the most important facts about Monica. Sandy Levinson at Balkinization explains:

Still, the story walks on eggs with regard to one of the most important aspects of Ms. Goodling, her religious zeal. Lipton mentions that she graduated from Regent Law School, '99, and notes that that is Pat Robertson's law school. But there has still been no genuine examination of the extent to which Ms. Goodling used her remarkable clout within the Justice Department to focus on hiring not only conservative Republicans, but also persons who were equally opposed to what she no doubt believes is the sinful secularism of modern society.

Disciples of charismatic religious leaders like Pat Robertson are trained to not question authority - are by their very nature "authoritarian followers". This makes them very useful to secular authoritarians like Karl Rove. If Monica Goodling had any knowledge of Constitutional Law and theory, which is doubtful considering her educational background, it would be displaced by the wishes of the authoritarians she worked for. The story of Monica Goodling is not so much about the purge of US Attorneys as it is about the danger of the religious right in government.

Will she sing....

....or do a Sergeant Schultz?
Goodling Granted Immunity in DOJ Probe

A federal judge approved an immunity deal Friday allowing former Justice Department aide Monica Goodling to testify before Congress about the firing of eight federal prosecutors.


Goodling, who served as the department's White House liaison, has refused to discuss the firings without a guarantee that she will not be prosecuted. Congress agreed to the deal, Justice Department investigators reluctantly agreed not to not oppose it and U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan gave it final approval Friday.


"Monica Goodling may not refuse to testify," Hogan began his brief order, which said that Goodling could not be prosecuted for anything other than perjury in connection with her testimony.


Lawmakers want to question Goodling as part of an inquiry into whether the Justice Department played politics with the hiring and firing of department officials. What began as an inquiry into whether U.S. attorneys were fired for political reasons has grown to include the role of the White House in the firings and whether the Justice Department officials misled Congress about them.


Goodling's lawyer has said that, with an immunity seal, she would cooperate and testify honestly.

So will that "honest" testimony finger Rove or will Monica have a series of memory lapses?

Update
The commissar thinks she will sing.

So, will Ms. Goodling, who was in a position to know, spill the beans about Purge-gate, or will hearing be another I-dont-remember-fest? There are too many possible ways to read the tea leaves, but it seems to me likely that she made a deal with Congress, and will talk forthrightly. If so, it should be very enlightening.

The American Taliban

I am an atheist but until recently a tolerant one. You can believe whatever magic makes you feel good. I had no trouble with "In God We Trust" on money, manager scenes on public property or even the Ten Commandments. But when the Radical Christians began to take over the government of this secular nation with the help and encouragement of Karl Rove and the Bush administration it became too much.
Goodling Shed Tears Before Revelations About Firings

A former U.S. Justice Department official and central figure in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys tearfully told a colleague two months ago her government career probably was over as the matter was about to erupt into a political storm, according to closed-door congressional testimony.

Monica Goodling, at the time an aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, sobbed for 45 minutes in the office of career Justice Department official David Margolis on March 8 as she related her fears that she would have to quit, according to congressional aides briefed on Margolis's private testimony to House and Senate investigators. The aides spoke on condition of anonymity.

Margolis's description of the emotional scene in his office sheds new light on divisions that were developing in the Justice Department's Washington headquarters as the Democratic-controlled Congress was demanding documents that might show White House involvement in the dismissals.

Goodling, 33, who was Gonzales's White House liaison, resigned April 6 and has invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination to refuse to answer lawmakers' questions about her role in the firings. Her lawyers cited accusations by Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty that Goodling and others had misled him about the firings as a basis for refusing to testify.

Compelled Testimony

The House Judiciary Committee has voted to compel her testimony by granting limited immunity from prosecution. Goodling may have signaled in a letter yesterday -- sent by her lawyers to the Justice Department -- that she is eager to tell Congress her side of the story.

The letter noted that the Justice Department, which is conducting its own inquiry into whether Goodling improperly considered the political affiliation of applicants to be prosecutors, is powerless to block the congressional grant of immunity.

Now there was a time before George W. Bush when the DOJ would be staffed by people form the finest law schools in the country. Now many of not most are from the fourth tier Regent University School of Law, founded by televangelist Pat Robertson. Yes that would include Ms Goodling who was crying because she was about to lose a job she should have never had in the first place.

Charlie Savage of the Boston Globe tells us about Regent University in
Scandal puts spotlight on Christian law school

The title of the course was Constitutional Law, but the subject was sin. Before any casebooks were opened, a student led his classmates in a 10-minute devotional talk, completed with "amens," about the need to preserve their Christian values.

"Sin is so appealing because it's easy and because it's fun," the law student warned.

Regent University School of Law, founded by televangelist Pat Robertson to provide "Christian leadership to change the world," has worked hard in its two-decade history to upgrade its reputation, fighting past years when a majority of its graduates couldn't pass the bar exam and leading up to recent victories over Ivy League teams in national law student competitions.

But even in its darker days, Regent has had no better friend than the Bush administration. Graduates of the law school have been among the most influential of the more than 150 Regent University alumni hired to federal government positions since President Bush took office in 2001, according to a university website.

One of those graduates is Monica Goodling , the former top aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who is at the center of the storm over the firing of US attorneys. Goodling, who resigned on Friday, has become the face of Regent overnight -- and drawn a harsh spotlight to the administration's hiring of officials educated at smaller, conservative schools with sometimes marginal academic reputations.

This is a very big part of the Bush administration's attempt to dismantle our form of government and much greater threat than al-Qaeda or the Taliban could ever be. Make Monica testify and make it uncomfortable and if she won't cooperate - throw her to the lions.

Attorney Purge-gate News

Monica Goodling is back in the news today.
Gonzales aide in firings controversy resigns

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' top aide, who refused to testify before Congress about her role in the politically charged firing of eight U.S. attorneys, abruptly quit her job Friday.

"I am hereby submitting my resignation to the office of attorney general," Monica M. Goodling said in a three-sentence letter. There was no immediate reason given for her departure, but Goodling's refusal to face Congress intensified a controversy that threatens Gonzales' job.

Asserting her right under the U.S. Constitution not to incriminate herself, Goodling rejected demands last month for a private interview with a House of Representatives committee investigating the firings.

Since one thing most of the fired US Attorneys had in common was they refused to use their office for Rovian style politics many of us asked; what about the 85 that didn't get fired? Well we are getting some answers to that question.
Ex-state official freed
Judge calls evidence she steered travel contract 'beyond thin'

Federal judges Thursday ruled that former state purchasing supervisor Georgia L. Thompson was wrongly convicted of making sure a state travel contract went to a firm linked to Gov. Jim Doyle's re-election campaign and freed her from an Illinois prison.

During 26 minutes of oral arguments, all three judges assailed the government's case, with Judge Diane Wood saying at one point that "the evidence is beyond thin."

During a news conference later Thursday, Doyle, a former state attorney general, said the three judges did an "extraordinary thing" by entering an order finding Thompson innocent and ordering her immediate release.

Decisions at that level of the federal judicial system usually take weeks or months after oral arguments.

Thompson, 57, will remain free on a signature bond until the appeals court issues its written decision.

The commissar writing in the comments section of his own post sums it up nicely.

Georgia Thompson was clearly railroaded by a politically-motivated US Attorney.

As far as Fieger goes, there is such a thing as “a pattern of behavior.” When the DOJ has been as thoroughly politicized as it has been, at some point the burden of proof swings the other way.

And there is a related point, i.e. that every “loud-mouth” Democrat who has been prosecuted by one of the ‘loyal 85′ is going to challenge such prosecution. How many of these “guilty loudmouths” will walk?

Patrick, I repeat my initial email. You are making a mistake by investing your credibility on this. I cannot even keep up with the explosion of rot that has infested the DOJ. Today, the assistant USAs to Rachel Palouse took demotions or quit.

This whole issue is going to blow up, far bigger than it is today, The admin’s defenders (and I include the LA Times-ellipsis-bashers in there) are going to look foolish.

And speaking of Rachel Palouse, this is what that's all about.
3 federal prosecutors quit manager posts

In a surprising move, three top lawyers in the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office resigned their management positions Thursday and will return to prosecuting cases.
The resignations of the first assistant U.S. attorney, who is second in command, and the chiefs of both the criminal and civil divisions of the office, were communicated internally late Thursday afternoon, according to a source with direct knowledge of the events. The job changes followed a visit to the office by a representative from the Executive Office of the U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C.

U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, who chairs a Senate subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts, issued a harsh statement Friday after learning of the resignations.

"This is another example of the proud corps of U.S. Attorneys being deprofessionalized," Schumer said. "We wonder in how many other offices the same lack of confidence is taking its toll. Attorney General [Alberto] Gonzales has a responsibility to see that the finest people are put in these positions, not simply cronies."

The resignations are certain to raise questions, especially in light of the controversy surrounding Gonzales and the way the Bush administration replaced eight U.S. attorneys around the country since August.

Minnesota's U.S. Attorney, Rachel Paulose, took the job in March 2006. No one has linked her to the controversy in Washington.

"It's just absolutely extraordinary that these three top managers would voluntarily demote themselves," said one defense attorney knowledgeable about the office. "I mean, it's a rank cut. ... And then it would be a salary cut, too."

A source familiar with the office said Thursday's resignations were more about management style and communication than politics. But they take on added significance because they follow a number of other managers who have voluntarily stepped aside since Paulose took over.

Welcome to Gonzo's world.

The Cultist

The Washington Post has a piece on Monica Goodling this morning that paints a picture of another Christian Soldier and cultist turned Bush loyalist. A graduate of Evangelical basic training and Pat Robertson's advanced training for young wingnuts who rose rapidly in the Bush administration because of loyalty.
Bush Loyalist Rose Quickly at Justice

Part of a generation of young religious conservatives who swept into the federal government after the election of President Bush in 2000, Goodling displayed unblinking devotion to the administration and expected others to do the same. When she started at Justice, "no job was too small for her," and as she moved rapidly up the ranks, none "was too large," Corallo said.

"She was the embodiment of a hardworking young conservative who believed strongly in the president and his mission," said David Ayres, former chief of staff to Bush's first attorney general, John D. Ashcroft.

This week, Goodling, 33, became the most prominent federal official to invoke the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying before Congress since Lt. Col. Oliver L. North refused to answer questions -- until he received immunity -- during the 1986 Iran-contra hearings.

Goodling, now on an indefinite leave, most recently served as senior counsel to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and as Justice's liaison to the White House. Her name appears on several e-mails about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are eager to ask her about those dismissals.

Explaining why she invoked her right against self-incrimination, her lawyer, John M. Dowd, called the investigation "hostile" and said that some committee members "have already reached conclusions."

So what was her mistake? According to her fellow cultists it wasn't what she did.

To her supporters, Goodling's only mistake -- if she made one at all -- was not anticipating the political peril before the 2006 midterm elections.

"The young conservatives who came off the campaign and were new to town with this administration, they've never seen lean times," said a veteran Republican political appointee who declined to be quoted by name saying anything critical of Goodling. "They had no appreciation for what would happen after the Democrats took control and how tough it would be."

So the only mistake she made was the same one Harold Meyerson talked about, she didn't recognize that things had changed.

The real mistake that Ms Goodling and many other young Republican Christians have made is they fail to recognize that the Pat Robertsons, Gerry Falwells and James Dobsons are not about spirituality or Jesus but about pure political power. Hence their unholy aliance with the Bush administration. Perhaps Ms Goodling needs a little jail time so she can find the real Jesus and discover what he taught and stood for.

More on Monica Goodling here.

Update
Rational Republican John Cole has a must read post on this:
Thank God For Chuck Schumer

So Who is Monica Goodling?

As Ron Hutcheson of McClatchy explains she is a cultist and in the middle of the purge of US Attorneys.
Who is Monica Goodling?

Goodling, 33, is a 1995 graduate Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., an institution that describes itself as "committed to embracing an evangelical spirit."


She received her law degree at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va. Regent, founded by Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson, says its mission is "to produce Christian leaders who will make a difference, who will change the world."

Monica Goodling was a Pat Robertson cultist who was trained to be an unquestioning Republican cultist. Part of the collective insanity of the Evangelical Christian movement. And as a cultist/soldier she was a key player in the Prosecutor Purge.

E-mails show that Goodling was involved in planning the dismissals and in later efforts to limit the negative reaction. As the Justice Department's liaison to the White House, she could shed light on the extent of White House involvement in the dismissals.


Goodling took a leading role in making sure that Tim Griffin, a protege of presidential adviser Karl Rove, replaced H.E. "Bud" Cummins as the U.S. attorney in Arkansas. Documents released to Congress include communications between Goodling and Scott Jennings, Rove's deputy.


In an Aug. 18, 2006, e-mail to Kyle Sampson, then Gonzales' chief of staff, Goodling warned of potential political problems with Griffin's appointment and underscored White House interest in getting it done.


"We have a senator prob, so while wh is intent on nominating, scott thinks we may have a confirmation issue," Goodling wrote.


At Jennings' request, documents show, Goodling agreed to meet last summer with two Republican activists from New Mexico who felt that U.S. Attorney David Iglesias wasn't doing enough to pursue allegations of voter fraud by Democrats. Iglesias believes the issue was a key factor in his firing.


In a June 20 e-mail, Jennings asked Goodling to arrange a Justice Department meeting for New Mexico Republican Mickey Barnett, who came to Washington with Paul Rogers, another GOP activist.


"It is sensitive - perhaps you should do it," Jennings suggested.


"Happy to do so," Goodling replied. A copy of her daily planner, which was provided to congressional investigators, shows that she met with the two the next day.

It appears that MS Goodling may have been well advised to invoke the fifth.

More on Monica Goodling here.

More on Monica Goodling

So who does Monica Goodling's attorney, John M. Dowd, represent, Miss Goodling or the White House? The reason for invoking the fifth amendment is that she is afraid she will lie?
Justice Official Won’t Testify on Prosecutor Firings

WASHINGTON, March 26 — A lawyer for a Justice Department official involved in the controversial firings of eight United States attorneys said today that his client would not testify on Capitol Hill because she is convinced she would not be treated fairly.

The official, Monica Goodling, the Justice Department’s liaison to the White House, is invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and so will decline to answer “any and all questions regarding the firings,” her lawyer, John M. Dowd, said.

The legal logic of this is so bizarre it could have only come from the White House. That combined with Ms Goodling's sudden disappearance shortly after the story first broke would indicate the Justice Department and the White House are concerned about what she might say.

As Bill in DC noted yesterday the congress should simply grant her immunity for anything she might have done in the past. The Democrats should go easy on her. Beating up a nice Christian Girl is not good PR but make her tell what she knows. This is just one more indication that the White House has a lot more to hide than we know.

Update
TPM reader BK has a different take:

Monica Goodling does have a good faith basis for pleading the Fifth Amendment - just not the ones in her lawyer's letter that are getting all the attention.
Under the federal False Statements statute, 18 USC 1001, it is a felony to cause another person to make a false statement to Congress. Since McNulty has allegedly told Senator Schumer that he made a false statement to Congress based on information provided to him by Monica Goodling, Goodling could very well be prosecuted for a Section 1001 violation.

All the rest of the crap in her lawyer's letter is intended to sooth as much as possible WH anger at her for invoking the Fifth.

Related Posts
So Who is Monica Goodling?

If they didn't do anything wrong......

If they didn't do anything wrong......

........why are they trying so hard not to talk about it?
George W. Bush says he wants the truth to come out about the firing of US Attorneys but will go to court to avoid having his advisers testify under oath. And now Monica Goodling, an aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who mysteriously went on leave about the time the shit first hit the fan, will take the fifth about prosecutor firings.

An aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will invoke her constitutional right to refuse to testify before a Senate panel investigating the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, her lawyer told the committee.

Monica Goodling, who helped coordinate the dismissals as the attorney general's White House liaison, will invoke her Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, her lawyer said in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. She will refuse to be interviewed by committee lawyers and decline an invitation to testify at a public hearing, said attorney John M. Dowd, citing the ``legally perilous'' environment of congressional probes.

Goodling, 33, now on leave from Gonzales's staff, is one of four agency officials the Justice Department said could be interviewed by the panel. The Judiciary Committee is probing whether the firings were carried out for improper political purposes, such as interfering with criminal investigations.

Now if she hadn't done anything wrong why would testimony before congress represent a ``legally perilous'' environment. Maybe it's this.

Goodling has served as a Justice Department spokeswoman and as an aide to Gonzales, where she functioned as a liaison with the White House.

Or maybe this.

Goodling was one of five senior Justice Department aides who met with Gonzales for that Nov. 27 discussion. Department documents released Friday to Capitol Hill show she attended multiple meetings about the dismissals for months.

She also was among aides who on Feb. 5 helped Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty prepare his testimony for a Senate hearing the next day — during which he may have given Congress incomplete or otherwise misleading information about the circumstances of the firings.

Additionally, Goodling was involved in an April 6, 2006, phone call between the Justice Department and Sen. Pete Domenici , R-N.M., who had complained to the Bush administration and the president about David Iglesias, then the U.S. attorney in Albuquerque. Domenici wanted Iglesias to push more aggressively on a corruption probe against Democrats before the 2006 elections.

There is more to this story than anyone could have ever imagined.

Update
Bill In DC says

Give her immunity

And Steve Soto thinks it's all part of the conflict between the Bush cultists and the professionals.

What really is going on here is an internal battle at Justice. Gonzales and his hacks like Goodling are at war with the career staff and allies of Deputy AG Paul McNulty, who believes that Goodling misled him when she prepared his testimony for Congress in which he lied.

[....]

The loyal Bushies like Abu and Goodling are covering for their bosses at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, while Justice veterans are rallying around McNulty and others who refuse to go down for this political hatchet job. And now that Goodling is taking the Fifth, it will get worse from here on out.

Ed Morrissey says it sure doesn't look good.

It sounds like Goodling fears a perjury trap. It's how Fitzgerald nailed Scooter Libby, after all, and Goodling probably sees a likely repeat. However, having a senior aide to the AG taking the Fifth in front of Congress will do no good for Gonzales' political fortunes. People will rightly wonder why senior Justice officials cannot testify honestly to Congress without incriminating themselves -- and they're not going to blame Congress. The assumption will be that some crime got committed, because without a crime there's no chance of incrimination, at least not in the legal sense.