Justice Report on Minority Hiring Edited

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- A report by consultants about hiring and promotion of minority and women attorneys at the Justice Department was heavily edited to delete criticisms before it was publicly released on the Internet.

Although the statistical information was kept in the edited version, most of the conclusions by KPMG Consulting and Taylor Cox & Associates -- even some complimentary ones -- were blackened out. The report was initiated in January 2002 and completed in June 2002, but kept under wraps until its partial release earlier this month.

Justice Department officials Friday defended the editing as recommended by career lawyers at the agency because it is part of the "deliberative process" prior to a decision. They stressed numerous ongoing programs to hire and retain greater numbers of minority and women attorneys

snip>

After the edited version was released on the Justice Department's web site, the deleted portions were electronically reconstructed by the Tucson, Ariz. operator of a web site called thememoryhole.org. The original report was then posted on that web site.

It shows that the Justice Department's editors chose to delete most of the conclusions, which Duffy said was necessary because they were opinions and recommendations meant for internal department decision-making. She said the statistics, which were released, adequately portray the situation.

more.................

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-justice-minority-lawyers,0,4391521.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[blueseas]

1. Edit or hiding?

Everyone in this *administration needs to hide something.

We need sunshine laws!