Corruption, thy name is BushCo

Recently I wrote about the firing of a U.S. Attorney who was investigating Republican corruption. Thanks to some digging at TPM, it appears that this is not an isolated incident but rather part of a larger plan that, thanks to a little known clause in the Patriot Act, "allows the White House to replace these fired USAs with appointees who don't need to be approved by the senate". It appears that at least seven such "forced resignations" have already occurred and some of the replacements are nothing short of Republican political hacks.

Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) took to the senate floor earlier this afternoon to
discuss the White House's firing of US Attorneys around the country and decision
to appoint replacements without senate approval. See the video here.

Josh Marshall:

Okay, so we already know that the White House has now taken the unprecedented step of firing at least four and likely seven US Attorneys in the middle of their terms of office -- at least some of whom are in the midst of corruption investigations of Bush administration officials and key Republican lawmakers. We also know that they're taking advantage of a handy provision of the USA Patriot Act that allows the White House to replace these fired USAs with appointees who don't need to be approved by the senate.

Given that these new USAs are being plopped into offices currently investigating Republicans and other administration officials and others into states with 2008 presidential candidates, there's certainly ample opportunity for mischief.

So we're looking into just who the White House is appointing.

Well, let's start with the estimable J. Timothy Griffin, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas since December 20th. So we're looking into just who the White House is appointing.

[...]

Well, let's start with the estimable J. Timothy Griffin, US Attorney for the Eastern
District of Arkansas since December 20th.

[...]

So who's Griffin and what experience does he bring to the job?

Well, top of the list seems to be his stint at the White House where he worked for Karl Rove doing opposition research on Democrats. That was until late last year. According to this Arkansas Times report, for the last ten years -- with the exception of two one year stint -- he has always worked as a Republican party opposition
researcher digging up dirt on Democrats. Deputy Research Director for the RNC
from 1999-2000. Research Director for the RNC from 2002-2005. Oppo Research
Director for Karl Rove 2005-2006. Prior to 1999? Well, he was associate
independent counsel investigating Henry Cisneros from 1995-96. After that he
went to work for Dan Burton on the Hill to investigate Asian money contributions
to the DNC.

Back in 2000, when he was in charge of digging up dirt on Al
Gore, he apparently had a poster hanging on the wall behind his desk which read: "On my command - unleash hell on Al."

So clearly, Griffin's a pretty apolitical guy.