Politics wrongly used in hirings

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jul 28, 2008 | by Marisa Taylor

WASHINGTON -- Top aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales violated federal laws and Justice Department policies by selecting employees based on their conservative and Republican leanings, a joint report by two department watchdog agencies concluded Monday.

The report by the department's inspector general and Office of Professional Responsibility found that in some instances, especially involving the hiring of immigration judges, the improper screening was "systematic."

"This resulted in high-quality candidates for important department positions being rejected because of improper political considerations," Inspector General Glenn Fine said.

Investigators also found that three Justice Department officials had provided inaccurate information to Congress, Fine's investigators and their own department. The Justice Department still employs one of them, John Nowacki.

The report is the second to find that department officials disproportionately weeded out candidates with liberal credentials and hired those with conservative affiliations. The inspector general and the Office of Professional Responsibility also found that several other former Justice Department officials were screening candidates improperly for the department's honors program and summer internships.

According to a tally from both reports, at least seven officials used improper hiring practices.

Discrimination based on political affiliation when hiring career employees violates federal hiring laws, but it isn't a crime. The most severe punishment for such misconduct would be firing, and most of the officials singled out in the report have resigned voluntarily.

In a statement Monday, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who succeeded Gonzales, said the findings disturbed him. "I have said many times, both to members of the public and to department employees, it is neither permissible nor acceptable to consider political affiliations in the hiring of career department employees," he said.

Mukasey added that the Justice Department had made several changes to the hiring process to prevent political considerations from being weighed in the future.

The latest report didn't dispute Gonzales' claim that his aides violated hiring laws without his knowledge. In a statement that Gonzales and his lawyer issued Monday, the former attorney general reiterated that defense and deflected responsibility for the way that politics influenced his department's hiring.