FLorida Rep. Wexler on Justice Department Corruption

Congressman Wexler has posted an update on the Republican Justice Department scandal...and some of the most damning evidence comes from the Bush Administration itself. This is a scandal that strikes at the heart of our democracy, because without an independent judiciary, democracy cannot exist. The Bush Administration's subversion of the American justice system for self-serving, partisan purposes is about as unAmerican as you can get. From Daily Kos:

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the Bush Justice Department fired people for blatantly partisan purposes - breaking the law and injecting politics into our justice system...

This week, Glenn Fine, the Inspector General, assigned to investigate the politicization of the Justice Department released a critically important 392 page report.

In it, he stated they found "significant evidence that political partisan considerations were an important factor in the removal of several of the U.S. attorneys." Remember, this report comes from Bush's own Justice Department investigation. Imagine the scathing report that would come from a fully nonpartisan source...

The report is so damning of Alberto Gonzales, Rove, Miers, and others that the current Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, has appointed a Special Prosecutor to investigate and, if warranted, issue criminal charges.

Whether this is the beginning of real accountability remains to be seen, but it is my mission to try to make sure Congress does not abdicate its responsibility to do its own investigations.

Later this week, Chairman Conyers and the Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on this matter, where I expect to vigorously question Inspector General Fine and other witnesses...

Given the fact that John McCain's campaign is chock full of Bush and Rove allies, there is no reason to think a McCain administration would stop the corruption and mismanagement of the justice department. Obviously, working to elect Obama gets us much closer to this goal.

While we are dealing with very serious issues in Congress this week, it is my view that the threat posed by a corrupting of the Justice department is of vital importance and must be dealt with seriously by this Congress.

Nothing less than our system of justice is at stake. We must not be distracted from that reality.

Please keep vigilant.

Sincerely,

Congressman Robert Wexler

I find it interesting that Sarah Palin is ALSO embroiled in a similar subversion of government for self-serving purposes. The Troopergate scandal is more trivial than the Justice Department scandal, but it really illustrates that the McCain/Palin ticket is just more of the same Bush corruption and abuse of power. And just like the Bush Administration, the McCain/Palin ticket does NOT represent American democracy.