No criminal
prosecutions are planned for former Justice Department
officials accused of allowing politics to influence the
hiring of prosecutors, immigration judges, and other
career government lawyers, U.S. attorney general
Michael Mukasey said Tuesday.
Mukasey used his
sharpest words yet to criticize the senior leaders who
took part in or failed to stop illegal hiring practices
during the tenure of his predecessor, Alberto
Gonzales.
But he told
delegates to the American Bar Association annual meeting,
"Not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a
crime. In this instance, the two joint reports found
only violations of the civil service laws."
Other intrusions
of Bush administration politics into department hirings
and firings remain under investigation. Justice officials
say the attorney general's remarks do not preclude
criminal prosecutions if wrongdoing is found in the
firing of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 and the hiring
practices in the department's civil rights division.
The political
controversies prompted Gonzales's resignation last year.
Senate Judiciary
Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said Mukasey "seems
intent on insulating this administration from
accountability."
The Vermont
Democrat said Mukasey's remarks "appear premature based
on the facts and evidence that congressional investigators
and the inspector general have uncovered so far" in
the hiring scandal. "We must continue to pursue the
truth and facts, and hold any wrongdoers accountable,"
Leahy said.
An internal
investigation concluded last month that, for nearly two
years, top advisers to Gonzales discriminated against
applicants for career jobs who weren't Republican or
conservative loyalists.
The federal
government makes a distinction between "career" and
"political" appointees, and it's a violation of civil
service laws and Justice Department policy to hire
career employees on the basis of political affiliation
or allegiance.
Yet Monica
Goodling, who served as Gonzales's counselor and White House
liaison, routinely asked career job applicants about
politics, the report concluded.
Mukasey, who once
was a federal judge in New York, said the Justice
Department has taken steps under his leadership to prevent a
recurrence of the hiring scandal.
"I have made
repeatedly clear...that it is neither permissible nor
acceptable to consider political affiliations in the hiring
of career department employees," Mukasey said.
If the problems
were to recur, Mukasey said, he is confident department
employees would speak up.
That did not
happen during Gonzales's tenure, he said. Gonzales appeared
unaware of the political hiring process outlined by Goodling
and his then-chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, the report
said.
"There was a
failure of supervision by senior officials in the
department. And there was a failure on the part of some
employees to cry foul when they were aware, or should
have been aware, of problems," Mukasey said.
Sen. Charles
Schumer, D-N.Y., said more must be done to prevent political
hiring at the agency. "Even if it is true they didn't commit
a crime, it would be appropriate to make what they did
a misdemeanor so that, in the future, those who
violate the civil service laws cannot escape
unscathed," Schumer said in a statement.
Goodling's
lawyer, John Dowd, declined comment when asked about
Mukasey's speech.
The ABA has been
at odds with the Bush administration on a range of
issues, including treatment of prisoners suspected of
terrorist ties and the need for a federal law to
shield reporters from subpoenas.
Mukasey said that
on the issue of politics in his department, there was
no disagreement with the lawyers' group.
"Professionalism
is alive and well at the Justice Department," he said.
Some candidates
for career Justice Department jobs who were excluded
because of politics could be invited to apply for new
positions, Mukasey said.
He also ruled out
firing or reassigning those who were hired under the
now discarded evaluation process.
"Two wrongs do
not make a right," he said. "People who were hired in
an improper way didn't themselves do anything wrong." (AP)
