Can of Worms Explodes

Our friends at Pittsburgh Post Gazette  have opened a delicious can of worms and the Rove Republican Racket should begin to sweat.

It appears U.S. Attorneys from around the country were racking up frequent flyer miles at the expense of Uncle Sam.

Even the Main Justice blog site has picked up the story.

The Post Gazette writes:

Mary Beth Buchanan spent more than half of her eight years as U.S. attorney in the Western District of Pennsylvania on the road, racking up at least 347 trips that cost taxpayers more than $450,000. Ms. Buchanan, a Republican who stepped down in November, a year after a Democrat won the White House, and other U.S. attorneys often were permitted to sign off on their own travel and then get rubber-stamp approval from the Executive Office of United States Attorneys. In March, however, the Department of Justice under the Obama administration changed those regulations after reviewing travel by all 93 U.S. attorneys. The department now requires approval for out-of-district travel from the director or deputy director of the executive office. "The previous policies and procedures were admittedly inconsistent," said department spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz. "Changes to the process were made to ensure full compliance with departmental travel policies and procedure and to strengthen controls and oversight of U.S. attorney travel."

The change of regulations is not the story. The real story is where, why, and when did these Rove Republicans travel? Was it political work? Were they justified in traveling so much or were they sightseeing at taxpayer expense?

It's time for the Congressional Oversight Committees to issue subpoenas and make these free-spenders pay.

Goodbye Mary Beth!

Today, another queen of the Rove Republican Racket leaves office, U.S. Attorney of the Western District of Pennsylvania, Mary Beth Buchanan.

She enjoyed political witch hunting and will always be remembered for jailing Tommy Chong of "Cheech and Chong" fame for selling bongs...excuse us, water pipes. By jailing him for nine months, her reputation went "Up in Smoke."

Main Justice reminds us of how political she was:

[Regarding the] unsuccessful prosecution of former Allegheny County medical examiner Cyril Wecht. Her office dismissed all charges against the Democratic defendant after a federal judge threw out evidence that he ruled was improperly obtained. Wecht’s supporters accused Buchanan of targeting him because of his politics. Former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh asked Attorney General Eric Holder to discipline Buchanan for “vindictively” suggesting at a news conference that Wecht was guilty....

Good-bye and good riddance!

Flimsy

The Keystone State's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review had a Sunday expose on U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, who is part of the Rove Republican Racket.

The story highlights the fact that the U.S. Justice Department under the Rove-Bush-cheney Administration was a political arm that targeted Dems more than GOPers. here's the lead:

For three years, lawyers for Dr. Cyril H. Wecht professed that federal prosecutors were persecuting the former Allegheny County coroner because of his Democratic politics -- a claim they admit people accused of public corruption frequently use. "It's the first line of defense of someone in public office," said Dick Thornburgh, a former Republican governor and an attorney general under President Reagan. "But this case was so flimsy from the outset that there had to be some reason it was brought." Thornburgh was part of the legal team that vigorously defended Wecht, 78, of Squirrel Hill on public corruption charges, which U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan dropped last week. An examination of public corruption cases brought by Buchanan since her September 2001 appointment by President Bush shows the majority of defendants were registered Democrats. Of 18 defendants charged with public corruption crimes during her tenure, 13 were Democrats and two were Republicans -- former state Superior Court Judge Michael Joyce of Erie and a South Fayette police officer convicted of conspiring to sell nearly 9 pounds of cocaine -- according to voting records. Party affiliations of three defendants are unknown.

To read the full story, click here.