Rove Assistant, Scott Jennings, Resigns

[AnnInLa]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/04/jennings-resigns/

J. Scott Jennings, White House Deputy Director of Political Affairs, has been Karl Rove’s right-hand man, assisting him in schemes ranging from the U.S. attorney scandal to political briefings at government agencies.

ThinkProgress spoke with a White House spokesperson today who confirmed that Jennings is resigning, less than two months after his boss stepped down. The official told ThinkProgress that Jennings would be leaving “sometime soon.” KYPolitics.org reports that Jennings is leaving to become a principal at Peritus Public Relations in Kentucky.

A look back at Jennings’s tenure at the White House:

Installed political cronies as U.S. attorneys: Jennings was intimately involved in installing Rove-protege Tim Griffin as U.S. attorney in Arkansas. E-mails show that “Jennings was in close contact with Griffin, even working out the logistics of getting Griffin appointed.” A former RNC research director, Griffin was allegedly involved in a voter suppression scheme in the 2004 election.

Briefed government employees on helping GOP candidates: In Jan. 2007, Jennings and GSA chief Lurita Doan held a briefing for agency employees on “ways to help Republican candidates.” Multiple other government agencies report similar briefings. The Hatch Act explicitly prohibits partisan campaign activities on federal property.

Skirted Presidential Records Act by using political e-mail accounts: Jennings was one of at least 80 White House aides who stopped using official government e-mail accounts to avoid public scrutiny. Instead, he used a “gwb43.com” e-mail address to correspond about his political — and potentially illegal — activities.

The White House official with whom ThinkProgress spoke could not give a reason for Jennings’s departure.

[babylonsister]

1. Rec'd! Running scared, he is. nt

[L. Coyote]

11. Audio and VIDEO of the Hearing =LINKS ROVE no show, Jennings takes the heat.

Audio and VIDEO of the Hearing =LINKS


Questions, Round One
rtsp://avs1.senate.gov/334674080220073833.rm


Questions, Round Two; Closing
rtsp://avs1.senate.gov/334674080220071447.rm


http://leahy.senate.gov/POD/07AUG/080207a.mp3

Refresh your memory here (the Culture of Corruption is too complicated):

Karl Rove fails to appear at Senate Judiciary Commitee hearing on US Attorney firings
Aug-02-07 Archive: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1501743

[L. Coyote]

12. Sen. Leahy, "White House’s newly minted claim of “immunity” ... is a sham."

Opening Statement Of Sen. Patrick Leahy,
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,
On Hearing On “Preserving Prosecutorial Independence:
Is The Department Of Justice Politicizing
The Hiring And Firing Of U.S. Attorneys? – Part VII”
August 2, 2007

Today, the Committee welcomes Scott Jennings, Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs. He is accompanied by his attorney Mark Paoletta, whom the Committee has permitted to be seated with Mr. Jennings at the witness table to provide him with counsel. Mr. Jennings, through his attorney, has informed the Committee that he will refuse to answer questions falling within the President’s unsubstantiated blanket claim of executive privilege. I had a chance to meet with Mr. Jennings just before the hearing. I thanked him for appearing today and shared my hope that he would instead cooperate and testify to the best of his knowledge and information. I reiterate that hope -- the choice is his.

His appearance here today contrasts with the failure to appear by Karl Rove, who was also served with subpoenas to produce documents and testify today. Mr. Jennings’ appearance shows that the White House’s newly minted claim of “immunity” for White House employees is a sham. .......

MORE: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1501743

[L. Coyote]

20. VIDEO: LEAHY: Senate Subpoenas Karl Rove and Scott Jennings = July 2007

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x59807

[tanyev]

2. Good. I didn't realize he was still there.

[Eurobabe]

26. I thought that Rovian sperm donation product was gone a long time ago?

[rucky]

3. How did he get to keep his job for the last couple of months...

assisting someone who's already resigned?

[defendandprotect]

4. That's a good bit of evil departing ---

[Robbien]

5. Just having a "Dept of Political Affairs" in the admin is an abomination

What else is that department supposed to do but promote the president's political party. All taxpayers shouldn't be paying for that.

That is what the RNC is supposed to do.

[pacalo]

10. Exactly.

[driver8]

14. But this is Bizarro world...

they can do whatever the hell they want.

Imagine if a Dem had a "Dept. of Political Affairs" -- shit would certainly hit the fan!!

[L. Coyote]

6. Can we IMPEACH now? K & R #5

[L. Coyote]

27. kick again

[L. Coyote]

28. last one

[rateyes]

7. Good riddance.

[OregonBlue]

8. Going where to join KKKarl to do what? in the next election. Does anyone know what these

pukes are up to?

[L. Coyote]

9. E-Mails Show Machinations: JENNINGS, Griffin, Sampson, Goodling

E-Mails Show Machinations to Replace Prosecutor
Administration Worked for Months to Make Rove Aide U.S. Attorney in Arkansas
By Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, March 23, 2007; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032202266.html


... Some of the thousands of pages of e-mails ... underscore the extraordinary planning and effort, at the highest levels of the Justice Department and White House, to secure Griffin a job running one of the smaller U.S. attorney's offices ...

... Sampson wrote to Monica Goodling ... said that he would speak .. with Michael A. Battle, chief of the office that oversees U.S. attorneys, and make sure that Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty's office "knows that we are now executing this plan."

... Griffin was never formally nominated ... Sampson and others were devising ways to hire Griffin into the Justice Department's criminal division until he could be moved into the U.S. attorney's spot ... Rove aide J. Scott Jennings used an RNC e-mail address to arrange a telephone call about Griffin with Sampson and Goodling ... an hour later, Goodling wrote to Sampson ... "We have a senator prob, so while wh is intent on nominating, scott thinks we may have a confirmation issue," she wrote. "The possible solution I suggested to scott was that we (DOJ) pick him up as a political . . . and then install him as an interim" U.S. attorney.

"I agree but don't think it really should matter where we park him here," Sampson replied, "as AG will appoint him forthwith to be USA."

... Justice officials had arranged to hire Griffin into a political position in headquarters, at a salary of $142,900, then transfer him immediately to work in the U.S. attorney's office in Little Rock and await his nomination. ...

FROM Jun-12-07: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1029113&mesg_id=1100303

[Bitwit1234]

13. Why should any of the republicans be scared of the investigating

committee, they are all talk and no progress. WHAT HAVE THEY DONE. Not one real crook that they have subpoenaed has shown up.

Wheres, rove, meirs or some of the Attorney General crooked lawyers.

They know they have nothing to fear from this committee they are all talk.

[blogslut]

15. So, how many resignations does that make since November 2006?

Anybody?

[L. Coyote]

25. Gonzales, Rove, Melman, Libby, Powell, Rumsfeld, Bolton, Miers, Harvey, Goodling, McNulty, Taylor

Short, partial list continues:

Bartlett, Nicholson, Pace, Portman, Mercer, Berenson, Ashcroft, Battle, Griffin, Comey, Kim, Elston, Mercer, Schlozman, Ralston, Goodling, Sampson, Ring, Foggo, Card, Hughes, McCallum, Keisler, Safavian, Norton, Griles, Federici, Flanigan, Wolfowitz, Tenet, Yoo, Philbin, Tobias, MacDonald, Cambone, Feith, Perle, Hadley, Woolsey, Scully, Smith, Foster, Fleischer, O'Neill, Snow, Zinni, McClellan, Kaplan, Scalia, Olson, White, Veneman, Clarke .....

Congress: Hastert, Domenici, Ney, DeLay, Frist, Cunningham, Lott,

STILL WAITING: Stevens, Graig, Lewis, Vitter,

[L. Coyote]

16. Jennings set up NM R meeting with Goodling. Note timing: Domenici and Jennings resign.

So much corruption, so many possibilities:

* Rove’s aide, Scott Jennings, set up a meeting between White House Liaison Monica Goodling and New Mexico Republican officials in June 2006 to talk about the U.S. Attorney “situation” in New Mexico, describing it as “sensitive.” OAG 112


* According to documents and testimony, Sara Taylor, the head of the White House political operation and a deputy of Mr. Rove’s, and Scott Jennings, another aide to Mr. Rove, were involved in the discussions and planning that led to the removal of Bud Cummins and bypassing the Senate confirmation process to install Tim Griffin, another former aide to Mr. Rove, as U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Arkansas. Kyle Sampson’s Testimony Before the Senate Judiciary Committee, March 29, 2007

FROM: Evidence Of Karl Rove’s Involvement In Plan To Target And Remove U.S. Attorneys
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1501743#1501794

=================================
Rove Aide Resigns By Paul Kiel - March 30, 2007
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002927.php

Maybe it's a coincidence.

White House political director Sara Taylor is out the door at the White House, according to Washington Wire. Taylor came up a number of times yesterday during the Kyle Sampson hearing as having worked closely with Sampson (along with another Karl Rove aide Scott Jennings) to install Rove's former aide Tim Griffin as the U.S. Attorney in eastern Arkansas.

"we never got an explanation of why Susan Ralston left."

=================================
WAXMAN released key e-mails, probable Hatch Act violations negating executive privilege
WAXMAN's House Committe on Oversight and Government Reform Investigations
White House Use of Private E-mail Accounts
http://oversight.house.gov/investigations.asp?ID=251


In his letter to White House counsel Fred Fielding, Waxman revealed e-mail communications providing evidence that White House employees were trying to circumvent the archives system, probable Hatch Act violations.
Scott Jennings E-Mails. Scott Jennings, then deputy director of political affairs ... used “gwb43.com” e-mail to GSA about partisan briefing to political appointees at GSA ...Jennings’s assistant emailed the PPT and wrote: “It is a close hold and we’re not supposed to be emailing it around.”

Jennings used his “gwb43.com” account to recruit through the “Kentucky Republican Voice,” a posting from May 2005 advertised 17 vacancies, a second posting sought applicants for SBA, postings encouraged applicants to use “gwb43.com” address.

Susan Ralston, Rove’s executive assistant, invited two lobbyists working for Jack Abramoff to use her RNC e-mail account to avoid “security issues” writing: “I now have an RNC blackbeny ... No security issues like my WH email” and wrote Mr. Abramoff: “.. an RNC laptop at the office for political use. I can access my AOL email when necessary so if you need to send me something that I need to read, you can send to my AOL email and then call or page me to check it.”

Kevin Drum writes ... staffers “using private accounts specifically to evade legitimate congressional oversight” might lose their claim to executive privilege.

[L. Coyote]

17. Jennings ... used “gwb43.com” e-mail w/GSA 4 partisan briefing w/political appointees

Waxman Reveals New Evidence Showing White House Use Of Political E-mail Accounts
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/29/white-house-email-archives

.... several White House aides “said that they stopped using the White House system except for purely professional correspondence. … ‘We knew E-mails could be subpoenaed,’” said one aide.

In a new letter to White House counsel Fred Fielding, House Government and Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman reveals new e-mail communications that provide further evidence that White House employees were trying to circumvent the archives system:

New Scott Jennings ... used “gwb43.com” e-mail accounts to communicate with the General Services Administration about a partisan briefing that Mr. Jennings gave to political appointees at GSA on January 26, 2007. When Mr. Jennings’s assistant emailed the PowerPoint presentation to GSA, she wrote: “It is a close hold and we’re not supposed to be emailing it around.”...

.... Susan Ralston, who was Karl Rove’s executive assistant, invited two lobbyists working for Jack Abramoff to use her RNC e-mail account to avoid “security issues” with the White House e-mail system, writing: “I now have an RNC blackbeny which you can use to e-mail me at any time. No security issues like my WH email.” Ms. Ralston similarly wrote Mr. Abramoff: “I know have an RNC laptop at the office for political use. I can access my AOL email when necessary so if you need to send me something that I need to read, you can send to my AOL email and then call or page me to check it.”

FROM: Has Rove's Egg Hatched? The Firing of KARL ROVE or Why His Family Needs Him Now.
Aug-15-07 http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1591504

[L. Coyote]

18. Waxman: Allegations of misconduct at GSA, the Oversight Committee letter to Karl Rove

Following up on the GSA Hearing regarding Jennings PPT presentation at GSA, the Oversight Committee sent a letter to Karl Rove to learn what other agencies received political presentations and whether federal agencies or resources were used to help Republican candidates.

Letter to Karl Rove (pdf) >>
http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=195

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

... questions were raised about the legality and appropriateness of Mr. Jennings’s presentation and the discussion that followed it. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service issued an 11-page report that found that both the presentation itself and Ms. Doan’s comments could be violations of the federal Hatch Act. According to CRS, the White House presentation alone may cross the line into being an impermissible “political activity” under the Hatch Act when “the sponsor or presenter is closely affiliated/identified with a partisan political campaign, invitations are directed only to ‘political’ employees of a department, and the objectives and agenda of the program appear to have a partisan slant.”

As part of the Committee’s investigation into Mr. Jennings’s presentation, I ask that you answer the following questions:

* Did you approve of the slides in Mr. Jennings’s presentation? Did you approve of Mr. Jennings’s participation in this meeting?

* Does the White House Office of Political Affairs or the White House Counsel have a policy addressing when and where White House employees can make political presentations such as the one Mr. Jennings gave at GSA headquarters on January 26, 2007? Please explain the legal authority you believe allows you to make such presentations on federal property during business hours.

* Did Mr. Jennings, you, or any other employee of the White House Office of Political Affairs consult with the White House Counsel or the Office of the Special Counsel about whether delivering this presentation to federal government employees in a government building during business hours violated the Hatch Act or any other rules, policies or procedures?

* Have you, Mr. Jennings, or other employees of the White House Office of Political Affairs given this political briefing or any similar briefing mentioning future elections or candidates on other occasions? Please provide the Committee a list of the dates, times, and locations of any of these presentations at which federal officials were present, whether they occurred on federal property or not, as well as a list of the people and organizations who participated.

* Have you, Mr. Jennings, or other employees of the White House Office of Political Affairs provided Mr. Jennings’s PowerPoint presentation or any similar presentation to federal officials mentioning future elections or candidates to people or organizations outside of the White House Office of Political Affairs? Please provide the Committee a list of who received the presentation, as well as the dates, times, and locations the presentation was provided.

* Who prepared the PowerPoint presentation given by Mr. Jennings? Did your office use federal funds to prepare this briefing? If so, please explain the legal authority that you believe allows you to use federal funds to prepare political briefings such as the one Mr. Jennings presented at GSA headquarters on January 26, 2007.

* Why did Mr. Jennings and his staff assistant use private “gwb43.com” accounts rather than their “eop.gov” accounts to correspond with Administrator Doan’s office about the PowerPoint presentation?

In addition, I ask that you provide the Committee with any documents and communications relating to (1) the presentation of the PowerPoint presentation or any similar presentation mentioning future elections or candidates to federal officials and (2) the use of federal agencies or resources to help Republican candidates. ......

Henry A. Waxman
Chairman

[L. Coyote]

19. Rove resignation unlikely to hinder Hatch Act investigations

Rove resignation unlikely to hinder Hatch Act investigations
By Elizabeth Newell - Aug 14, 2007
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=37737&sid=61


The resignation of Karl Rove, President Bush's top political strategist, will not stall ongoing inquiries into potentially improper political activity at agencies ....

The Office of Special Counsel, the independent agency charged with protecting the merit system and investigating Hatch Act violations, is in the middle of a government wide investigation focusing on briefings delivered by White House staffers ..... Rove's departure won't change the course of the agency's probe.

....

The ongoing OSC investigation hinges on the question of whether violations occurred at similar political briefings at other agencies.

.....

A White House spokeswoman refused to comment on whether Jennings or other Rove staffers would be leaving alongside their boss at the end of August.

.........

[lovuian]

21. We need more Power Scottie

Scottie can't get rid of the Antimatter emails they just keep haunting them

[Wiley50]

22. KY Politics takes lots of KY Jelly

Ask Mitch McConnel what he puts on his bunns

[L. Coyote]

23. VIDEO: Sen. Kennedy grills Scott Jennings on Hatch Act violations

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x44956

[L. Coyote]

24. VIDEO: Shumer Questions Jennings on US Attorneys Firings Parts 1 and 2

Part 1 http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x59809

Part 2 http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x59811