In Which I Am Lied to By Specter’s Staff
I called up Senator Specter’s office this morning to inquire about the White House purge on US attorneys, and not five minutes ago had an interesting conversation with Specter’s Judiciary Legislative Aide, a man named Andrew Mountain.
He told me, with regard to the purge, that Arlen Specter stands up for the role of Congress and that while the Senator hadn’t released a formal statement on the matter, he was concerned about what was going on. The Senator, he assured me, was aware of the matter. The Senator had always emphasized the role of the Judiciary Committee, and had always insisted on fair, unbiased hearings for nominees. He would pass my concerns along to the Senator. He wasn’t sure if the Senator knew about these provisions, but would look into it.
Within one minute of hanging up, I went back to Josh Marshall’s Talking Points Muckraker site and learned that “Former Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) slipped the language into the bill at the very last minute, according to one of the Republican managers of the bill.” Interestingly, Mr. Mountain never mentioned that fact in the course of our ten minute conversation. Not once. Kind of a glaring omission.
A spokesperson for Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), who led the House team working on the bill, said that the provision was inserted by Specter into the final draft of the bill. The language was apparently requested by the Justice Department. Specter’s office didn’t respond to numerous requests for comment.
So I called back, and asked Mr. Mountain why he had neglected to inform me of his boss’s role in this particular provision. Mr. Mountain suggested that I was “attacking his integrity”. That Mountain “was not there when the legislation was passed.” That he had not “intentionally misled me.” That Specter always stood up for the role of Congress. When I pointed out Specter’s oh-so-brave-and-independent-and-maverick decision, in the face of the illegal warrantless NSA wiretapping, to give the administration everything they wanted and then some (including retroactive immunity from prosecution), Mountain denied that this was true.
Greenwald, again:
Section 702(b) is entitled “Mandatory Transfer for Review,” and this is what it says (emphasis added):
In any case before any court challenging the legality of classified information intelligence activity relating to a foreign threat, including an electronic surveillance program, or in which the legality of any such program or activity is in issue, if the Attorney General files an affidavit under oath that the case should be transferred to the Foreign Intelligence Court of Review because further proceedings in the originating court would harm the national security of the United States, the originating court shall transfer the case to the Foreign Intelligence Court of Review for further proceedings under this subsection.
I am under no illusions that politicians are honest or principled people. It’s impossible to be honest and principled when your job description is to advocate for a broad array of constituents and at the same time to represent the views of a national party. There’s a reason Senators and Representatives aren’t the best candidates for President: their entire careers are about selling out this cause and that in pursuit of compromise legislation. Furthermore, I believe that this horsetrading is a necessary function of the job: we all see what kind of twisted results occur when you have tyranny of the majority.
At the same time, this inherent dishonesty rankles me and makes me angry. I do my level best to play honest and fair with people, and when I ask an honest question I expect a straightforward and honest response. I’m a taxpaying constituent, and as a citizen of a representative democracy, I expect my representatives and their staffers to deal with me honestly and straighforwardly, regardless of party differences.
So yes, I suppose I am questioning Mr. Mountain’s integrity. There is only so much smoke a man can have blown up his ass: after that, everything is in question. And you can bet I’ll be doing research today to find out just how long Mr. Mountain has worked in Specter’s office. I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt for now with regard to whether he was in Specter’s employ when the legislation was passed. Mr. Mountain is Specter’s Judiciary Legislative Aide: this isn’t a reception or flack position. This is a position filled by a qualified person who is engaged in analysis and research.
But after having a conversation in which Specter’s role in writing the legislation that allows Bush to replace attorney’s fired without cause with interim appointees who can remain in the office for the remainder of his presidency, without confirmation by the Senate Judiciary committee, was completely omited; and a follow-up conversation in which Specter’s role in the warrantless NSA spying scandal; you’ll pardon me if my faith in Mr. Mountain’s words isn’t rock solid.
July 18th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
[...] and shameless liar” must be a requirement to work in Arlen Specter’s office: whether it’s providing constituents honest answers to “who doctored the PATRIOT Act so [...]