The Bush Administration has no shame. Once again, they've taken a government agency and twisted it into an arm of the RNC. This time it's the DOJ and their intervention in Alabama's election system. Read today's NY Times Editorial to learn about the most recent potential voter disenfranchisement by Republicans.
Apparently there is no situation--or agency--this administration won't politicize.
Remember George Deutsch, the 24 year-old "Bush-Cheney '04" campaign staffer that was assigned to NASA? He spent a year terrorizing scientists and demanding changes to their scientific reports. The problem? He didn't know anything about science. In fact, he didn't even have a college degree. His only qualification was a few months of propagandizing on the president's campaign trail--a trait that he brought along to NASA. As a political appointee, Mr. Deutsch claimed that his job "was to make the president look good."
How about the FDA? In December, 2003, two advisory committees of health experts voted 23-4 to recommend allowing over-the-counter sales of Plan B. In any other case, this result would've been sufficient for the agency. However, the Bush Administration overruled the experts and placed the status of Plan B on hold. Three years later, the FDA is still dragging its feet.
Read an article by Susan Wood, former Assistant Commissioner for Women's Health at the FDA, on the politicization of science in this administration.
And finally, there is the DOJ itself. I'm almost surprised President Bush hasn't simply replaced the agency with the Federalist Society. It would be more honest, at least. In the past few years, political appointees have overruled career staff on numerous cases involving the Voting Rights Act--the fundamental legal protection for minority voting rights. In essence, nonpartisan lawyers decided that state legislation--including Tom Delay's redistricting plan and Georgia's photo ID law--were violations of the VRA; however, political appointees with a vested interest in the outcome vetoed those unbiased decisions. To avoid future controversy, the Bush Administration simply banned career staff from making recommendations on VRA cases. Apparently only short-term political appointees have the expertise to understand the legal issues in those cases.
Read an article by Mark Posner, a former attorney in the DOJ's Civil Rights Division and currently a professor at American University.
And here is a Washington Post article on the Georgia case.
You are not logged in.
In order to post a comment, you must be logged in. If you have a member account, please log in to comment.
If not, you can make an account just by filling out the form below. It's quick and free.
