No More Incumbents Blog

This week, the Senate and Congress in general will take up a large number of extraordinary issues that will spark a number of political fights. 

These include but definitely will not be limited to:

• That little issue with the economy
• electing new leaders for the next Congress
• Economic Stimulus Package debate
• Expelling Ted Stevens
• Punishing Joe Lieberman by stripping him of his chairmanship or water boarding (which ever hurts Democrats politically the least)
• Saving or Incinerating the US Carmaker industry

• for more see - Congress set for fiery post-election session

Whatever happens there will definitely be a lot of fighting and it won’t be over something safe like steroids in base ball, or executive pay for financial firm CEOs or diet pill relief for super models.

The election is over and everyone is safe for 2 – 6 years and they are going to act like it for a change as they prepare to come out fighting…

ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, dinnnngggg

Senator Ted Stevens, that other famous politician from Alaska that was involved with the Bridge to No Where, is working to keep something near and dear to him, something every prison inmate wants….  his law license.

The Alaska Supreme Court this week gave U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens some breathing room as he attempts to defend his law license from suspension, giving him until Nov. 24 to prepare a defense to a bar disciplinary proceeding.

On Oct. 30, three days after a District of Columbia jury found him guilty of seven felonies for lying on his annual Senate disclosure statements, the Alaska Bar Association asked the state Supreme Court for an immediate, interim suspension of Stevens’ license to practice law.

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As anyone that has ever read a John Grisham novel knows, having a law license in prison is worth its weight in gold labeled cigarettes.  Helping himself to get back out of jail will likely be his first priority, as it definitely looks like he’s going to have a hard time avoiding those 6 or 7 guilty felony counts against him. 

Plus, it might even allow him to earn a few bucks (or at least home improvement credits from his new best buddies), which is most certainly better than spending his online hour writing Hydroxycut reviews for a few extra bucks.  Fortunately for the senator the Russian Mobile Prison system has not yet caught on in Alaska, even though it does make for entertaining reality tv on local cable access broadcasts.

The revelations of the State Department covering up improper access by contractors into Barack Obama’s passport, travel and consular report information was not the first time the US State Department under the Bush Administration has take political sides against the Senator.

The State Department previously denied the Senator from attending a meeting in Indonesia until the State Department could line up a Republican Senator to make the trip jointly with Barack Obama.  Their move stalled his trip and denied him the high profile event.

The State Departments latest political ploy seems to come right out of the cover up play book.  After the first two security breaches, the State Department promptly fired the contractors.  On the surface this looks like a punishment, but as soon as the State Department fired those contractors, the government lost all jurisdiction at the State Department level to question the contractors about their actions.  Those contractors can now hide behind lawyers and the 5th amendment and will never have to explain their actions or come clean about what they were doing, why they were doing it, nor what they did with the illegal information that they obtained.

Of course, the Bush administration is very experienced at keeping quiet itself whenever a legal process is under way and they know that the best way to keep a legal process continuing is to keep it in the courts for as long as possible. 

1. They therefore appear to have engineered to hire contractors, who could be fired. 
2. Allowed those contractors to gain access to sensitive private information about a Senator and Presidential Candidate. 
3. Then they fired the contractors such that the Inspector General would not be able to question them nor investigate them. 
4. They conveniently ignored the transgressions for 2 months and would have ignored them further if something had not gone wrong on March 14, 2008 when it happened a fourth time.

Regardless, the Bush Administration has a long history of not shedding light on any transgressions.  The State Department has proven to be extra inept and extra political over the last 8 years and it is doubtful that Secretary Rice even garners any respect from her own staff since they did not even report this latest security breach up the chain of command.   Even if Secretary Rice had a stake in shedding light on this situation, which she does not, she seems to lack the ability to command her own Department.  She couldn’t illuminate anything at the State Department even if she ordered a 1,000 points of light from Murray Feiss let alone run an investigation into the wrong doing under her watch.

It is extremely likely that the Justice Department will enter into an investigation by next Monday if not before the week is out.

Over the last three months Senator Barack Obama’s private passport information has been accessed improperly by members of Condoleeza Rice’s State Department.

3 separate events people at the State Department accessed Senator Barack Obama’s passport record.

Barack Obama’s Passport records were breeched on

• January 9, 2008
• February 21, 2008
• March 14, 2008

2 people were contractors that were fired

The third person has not yet been fired but has been disciplined.

Actions after Breeches

Monitoring system was tripped when high profile personnel passport files are breeched.

Condoleeza Rice was notified on March 19, 2008 and stated that the systems and the processes worked appropriately.

It would appear that Secretary Rice nor anyone working for her took this seriously enough to contact Barack Obama personally and immediately after the breech in security.

This raises many questions as to why Rice was not notified in January and why no investigation into the pattern of breeches is taking place.

An official from the State Department placed a routine call about the issue to Barack Obama’s Senate office on March 20, 2008, six days after the third breach.

Major Related Events

In 1991, an independent counsel was established to investigate the George H Bush administration when Governor Bill Clinton’s passport files were breeched - supposedly to look into Bill Clinton’s travel history. Some people were looking to see if Bill Clinton had visited Moscow as a student.

It is not illegal for the access to take place unless information from the file is disseminated. If dissemination takes place, then it is protocol for the Justice Department to be notified to consider a criminal investigation by the Inspector General, an office that is currently vacant and being run by a Deputy Inspector General. The Justice Department currently indicates that there is no criminal investigation taking place.

Privacy Act Violations can be criminal when information is passed along.

Minor Related Events

Several months ago, the State Department was under fire for not processing passport applications fast enough. At that time a number of college interns were even brought in to process paperwork.

Reasons Why Notifications should have taken place

• Barack Obama is a national figure
• Barack Obama is a US Senator.
• Barack Obama is a front runner for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

Potential Information in the File

• Information about Barack Obama’s travels while in public office.
• Information about Barack Obama’s travels while living in Indonesia.
• Reports by consulate officials in relation to Barack Obama during all trips abroad.
• Reports by consulate officials about Barack Obama’s mother as a cross reference when Barack Obama was a minor living over seas.

Time to Fire Up an Independent Counsel

It would appear, like a bad scene in Forest Gump,that we are headed for yet another independent counsel investigation.  The Bush Administration will likely be strapping up their skate shoes tonight and hoping to navigate the mine fields of once again failing to control sensitive information on their own watch.  It should surprise no one that if the Bush Administration can not keep their own CIA operatives, keeping a Senators passport files safe or even your information safe is not possible.  The level of incompetence seems to know no bounds.