Would Justice(Department) Clean the House?

[RedEarth]

The Justice Department has a message for Congress: clean up your house or else we may have to do it for you. A senior federal law enforcement official told TIME that the paralyzed and often lax House ethics committee has created a vacuum that prosecutors won't hesitate to fill. The House’s internal mechanism for keeping corruption in check is “broken,” says the official.

By contrast, current criminal probes of lawmakers are expanding rapidly. Like the Abramoff probe, the investigation into former Republican Representative Randy “Duke” Cunningham from San Diego is also widening. Last week, defense contractor Mitchell Wade OF MZM, INC. pleaded guilty to supplying more than $1 million of the $2.4 million in bribes Cunningham previously admitted taking in a scheme that touches Defense Department officials and two other members of Congress. A Defense Department spokesman tells TIME that "there is an ongoing review by appropriate organizations within the Department" as to whether the Cunningham- and MZM-linked intelligence contracts would have compromised any Pentagon intelligence programs.

But in a body that likes to think it can police itself, some wonder if prosecutors are overreaching. The Justice Department has “every right to investigate when a law is being broken,” says a senior House GOP aide, “However, there is a feeling that they may be crossing boundaries into where the ethics committee should be performing. And it's just another reason why the ethics committee needs to get up and running.”

Staff of the ethics committee—which is only beginning to get up and running after a partisan deadlock that's lasted for 13 months—did not return phone calls Friday for comment. Jan Baran, an attorney who has often represented elected officials caught in ethics cases, said Justice may be “saber rattling” since the ethics panels cover congressional rules and not criminal offenses, which are Justice's province alone. But if Justice is really just trying to warn Congress to crack down on sleazy conduct, “I think they're correct.… Not only the Department of Justice, but I think the public is telling Congress: if you're going to have some rules make sure people obey them.”

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1167705,00.html

[msatty99]

1. Maybe I am cynical

but I just don't expect government (including DOJ) to police itself or
'clean house' anymore. At 49 years of age, I have had my hopes for
that kind of justice dashed too many times. I got excited when Abramoff
plead out..Fitzgerald came out with an indictment..but, there is too
much inertia and too much entangling powers that nobody with power can
can 'hurt' anybody without hurting themselves.

Haven't you noticed how they 'kill the messenger'. Witness the Bush
vow to criminally investigate the whistleblowers from the NSA who
tipped the warrantless electronic surveillance. Hell we still don't know
what was being surveilled. My pet theory is Bush was targeting political
enemies large and small for black mail purposes. But all we have been
told is that it was all spying on phone calls to Osama.

I am scratching my head...why would a loyal NSA guy tip out on spying on
Al Quaeda...

And I note how that story is slowly fading away...just like the Plame leak.

[depakid]

2. "...some wonder if prosecutors are overreaching"

Right. Like who?

Typical right wing media lies. I won't even read this garbage any more.