How to Replace Eric Holder, President Romney Style
When I give speeches or interviews, I am often asked how the Department of Justice can be fixed. Of course Mitt Romney has to win in November to undo the damage Eric Holder has done. But winning is only step one. It is just as important that President Romney appoint the right person as attorney general. Appointing the wrong person will cover over the rot inside DOJ (and perhaps even strengthen it) because some conservatives will be less willing to criticize bad DOJ policies in a Romney administration.
So who is the right person to serve as Eric Holder’s replacement? First, let’s list some qualifications. The next attorney general cannot view the threat of terrorism as a law enforcement issue. It is a national security issue and should be treated as such.
Next, because racialist policies are being used to advance a broad leftist agenda to the detriment of American business, institutions, and state sovereignty, the next attorney general cannot be a coward, to borrow Eric Holder’s term, about racial matters. (Of course my New York Times bestseller Injustice details this very problem.) Candidates fearful of what the once-proud and now corrupt NAACP says about him or her are not qualified to serve in a Romney administration. Many others in the GOP sold out the dream of Constitutional racial equality in the face of such threats.
Last, and perhaps most importantly, the next attorney general must recognize that the vast majority of the career civil service will seek to thwart the administration’s goals. The next attorney general sadly must view many in the career civil service as an instrument of Democrat Party policy.
I’ve spoken with a broad range of former Justice Department officials about who satisfies these three requirements, and a number of names emerge.
In no particular order, the people who are best suited to replace Eric Holder are listed below.
No state has suffered under Eric Holder more than Arizona, and nobody knows this more than Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne. Horne is intimately familiar with the radicalism of DOJ policies – from the lawlessness of Fast and Furious to the lawless immigration policies of Eric Holder. Washington could use a dose of common sense from a state attorney general. Horne would bring a healthy skepticism to the bureaucracy and send a signal that the Romney administration will respect state sovereignty over elections while asserting control of American borders.
Arizona Attorney General Horne
Senator Jon Kyl
Retiring Senator Jon Kyl from Arizona would bring all of Horne’s knowledge plus the ability to maneuver inside the halls of Congress. Kyl understands the damage that Holder has done to the nation and is one of the few senators to call for his resignation.
Texas Senator John Cornyn would also fit the bill. He too has called for Holder’s resignation. He understands firsthand the damage that the Holder Justice Department’s politicized enforcement of voting laws has done to the state of Texas, whether blocking voter ID or making radical arguments about Texas redistricting. Best of all, Cornyn knows how the DOJ has failed to protect military voters, and one suspects Cornyn would make protecting the military’s right to vote a top priority.
During the campaign, Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann rarely attacked Mitt Romney, but blistered other foes like Newt Gingrich. Not only does she recognize the national security threats posed by Islamic terror, she is also a brilliant lawyer. She would be the second female, and first Republican female attorney general. She also keenly understands the corrupt role that Holder’s DOJ has played in a wide range of racially charged issues such as voter identification objections. And few can doubt her willingness to tangle with the bureaucracy. She appears immune to leftist criticism, a trait that past GOP attorneys general completely lacked to their own detriment. Simply, she knows how to fight. On top of these attributes, as a member of Congress, historical practice suggests that she would have an easier path to confirmation than other potentially controversial candidates.
Two lesser known names emerged from my discussions with former top DOJ officials: Greg Katsas and Mark Filip.
Katsas is a partner at the law firm Jones Day. Katsas served as the assistant attorney general for the Civil Division in the Bush (43) Justice Department and later as the acting associate attorney general – the third-ranking DOJ official. He is a genuine patriot, brilliant lawyer, and seasoned DOJ vet. He argued against Obamacare at the Supreme Court. While he was the acting associate AG, Katsas gained firsthand understanding of the lawless and business-killing mischief the Civil Rights Division is capable of. In the Clinton years, Eric Holder served in the slot just above the associate attorney general and went to a D.C. law firm afterwards. Katsas shares the same career trajectory as Holder, but without Holder’s baggage, and with brilliance and talent Holder never had.
Greg Katsas
Former Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip left a lifetime appointment on the federal bench to join the Justice Department in March 2008. He is widely respected for his strong commitment to national security and law and order. But he also has firsthand familiarity with the left-wing rot in the DOJ. Indeed, it was Filip and Attorney General Michael Mukasey who exposed the militant liberal biases of the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) and, in particular, OPR attorney Tamara Kessler. Kessler tried to improperly castigate John Yoo for his analysis of the legality of enhanced interrogation techniques. (Ironically, although Kessler’s report was subsequently repudiated, she is now the head of the office overseeing civil rights and civil liberties at the recently befouled Department of Homeland Security.)
Mark Filip
Finally, Michael Mukasey deserves further mention. Mukasey is a man of great integrity who “restored” the Justice Department once before. The prior “restoration” was really just a warm-up for 2013 and I can’t think of anyone better suited to clean up the disaster left by the current attorney general. Mukasey is solid on terror policy. (Watch this amazing 2012 speech by Mukasey on radical Islam at the Republican National Lawyers Association meeting.) Yet some former DOJ officials I spoke to about this story replied Mukasey was “not good” on issues of race. Perhaps so, perhaps not. But one thing is for sure, Mukasey has a deep and abiding respect for the rule of law. He brings integrity to anything he touches. And he knows lawlessness when he sees it, and these days, that is the problem inside this Justice Department. One need not be on a crusade to stamp out race-based preferences to see that a racialist policy infuses Eric Holder’s DOJ. Don’t forget, Mukasey’s Justice Department approved the case against the New Black Panther Party. His Justice Department would have seen it through. Holder’s did not.
So take your pick: Horne, Kyl, Cornyn, Bachmann, Katsas, Filip, or Mukasey. Any of them are better than some of the other names being mentioned, names that frequently are associated with defense of race-based preferences, ideological elasticity, fear of the left, or deference to bureaucrats. Any of the seven would be the right kind of person to reverse four years of ideological and racial corruption under Eric Holder.
But if you think you have a better idea, add it to the comments section below.
While these all seem like solid choices for running a functional agency staffed by serious attorneys representing the people’s interests, the perfect choice for the first month at the DOJ is someone completely different.
Donald Trump.
Because we really need someone who can comfortably say “You’re fired!” over and over and over again.
My MAIN criteria would also be someone who could forcefully state ‘you’re fired’. Furthermore, an AG who is capable of making sure that the attorneys adhere to the ‘rule of the land’ – the Constitution – and to the letter of the law, must never, ever become the top law enforcement officer!
Meaning,once those running the AG’s office stink from the head up, they become incapable of prosecuting thugs running amok, whichever permutation they arise from. Their staff reflects the same rotten, anti-American stench.
I take this issue of anti-American lawlessness very seriously, and I wrote several commentaries on the subject. ‘
‘Will Barack Hussein Obama’s Lawless ‘Justice’ Dept…Under The Aegis of AG Holder… Finally ! Fall?’
and several others…google ‘Adina Kutnicki’ and the blog will pop up. Links keep bouncing back.
oops – I meant- “furthermore, an AG who is ‘incapable’……”
I thought Chris Christie would be on the list…
Read the 3 tests carefully.
J CHRISTIAN ADAMS!!!!!!!!!!!! And no other is as much a hero and patriot at this crucial time in America.
The Attorney General’s Office is supposed to protect the rights of the public and to follow the law and make sure that everyone else does as well.
What the public doesn’t know is that the Arizona AG’s office also defends the corrupt judges when they get sued. This is a huge conflict of interest.
The position is to political and does not provide the protection for the public who put them in office.
There cannot be accountability when the AG’s office is protecting those in the system who are committing violations against the people’s rights This is mind boggling!
I know that I did not contribute and vote to bring in an AG who turns around and protects the criminals. Something is wrong here.
Give us an honest AG and we might get something good done for our country.
We have experienced our AG refuse to hold judges and attorney’s accountable for crimes because they are in the “boys club” which is the state bar. They do not go up against one another, therefore, the public gets screwed and pays for it.
We have yet to see an AG who walks their talk. Corruption runs ramped!
I’d pick Mark Filip
I’m not sure how qualified he is but I like the idea of putting in the man who has been riding herd over the Dems for a couple years now while serving in the house… California Representative Darrell Issa.
Donald Trump, absolutely
While she is usually mentioned in terms of Secretary of Energy, because of Alaska’s North Slope oil and her stands on American energy independence; I would prefer to see Sarah Palin as AG. She has history, at every level of her career, of slapping down the bureaucracy and sending crooks to jail. Even crooks of her own party. And yes, there are a bunch of Republicans who are just as crooked as Democrats. They need to be taken down too. She has faced the hate of both parties and of the media. Doesn’t seem to have fazed her.
Don’t know if she would take it, because there are other things in play beyond November. But if Mitt Romney is serious about fixing what has gone wrong with this country, and intends to do something about it rather than just change the faces at the trough; Sarah Palin as AG would be one hell of a marker to lay down. She wouldn’t have to be a lawyer herself, in fact not being beholden to the Bar Association would be a plus. She can find and hire bloody-minded honest [OK, patriotic; honest being too much to expect of attorneys] lawyers, give them their directions and backing, and turn them loose.
If Romney wants to keep the TEA Party Patriot movement in the Republican Party, he will have to do things, not just talk. Naming Sarah and turning her loose would be doing.
Subotai Bahadur
Of course there is no requirement that the Attorney General be an attorney. Though I will tell you that the country will suffer if the AG is not an attorney. Appointing a non-attorney will empower nameless faceless bureaucrats. It won’t happen.
yes. Sarah for Secretary of Energy.
As for AG, I want someone who will vow to turn Fast and Furious in-side out and prosecute fearlessly and rigorously. I want high-ranking Obama admin officials to be considering extended visits to countries with which we do not have an extradition treaty.
Sununu for energy. Palin for EPA. Fix their little green wagons.
A commisioner on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has to sign work other people do and go to lots of meetings for what was at the time the highest paid pure patronage position in the Alaska government. Palin was so dramatically unqualified for a slot on the commission that the Alaska Legislature after her appointment passed legislation establishing statutory qualifications, including experience in the oil industry, for a position on the commission. The bill was locally known as the “No More Sarah Palins Act.” Murkowski gave the job to her to try to get her to shut up and sit down after he didn’t appoint her to his US Senate seat. Didn’t work.
The woman was mayor of a town with a government about the size of a suburban real estate office, and she had a City Manager to actually do the work. She kept a holdover chief of staff to actually do the work of keeping the State government running, she wasn’t much on that boring detail stuff, and even with somebody else doing her job she quit after half a term. And you guys want her in the federal Cabinet?
Answer?
Nose on your face, old boy. Nose on YOUR face.
Mr. Adams, what can the new administration do with the career left wing activists the obamtons hired?
If Congress RIFs them, the administration can LIFO the RIF.
No thank you. Not Sarah. I am not saying she is not smart. But, there are others here that are more intelligent and more capable. Thanks to McCain, she is damaged. It’s too bad. I have also been very disappointed with Kyl. He is not the conservative backbone he was once upon a time. His problem may have been McCain, as well. McCain is poison.
Is there any chance Eric Holder can be impeached at the beginning of the new Congressional term? It probably wouldn’t do any good now. Sadly, the Republicans probably cannot win enough of a margin in the Senate to make that practicable, but I do have a wish that the man shall suffer “[R]emoval from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States.”
The truth of the matter is regardless of who is running things, not ONE of these people will every spend 1 second in jail. Just wait until the election is over. Janet N., Holder, tax cheat Gethner & several others are the ruling class untouchables. Just let any ordinary guy try that & see how quickly you would be crucified. One must realize that as long as there is one set of rules for the ruling class & another for everyone else, there is simply no rule of law in America.
Unfortunately you are spot on. There is a long list of corporate examples of harsh punishments that pale in comparison to what elected people in government (both sides of the isle) have done. You can lie, cheat and steal, because for politians and their constituents, the end always justifies the means. If we get what we want, the transgresstion is always overlooked.
I expect that one of Mr. Obama’s final official acts will be to cut blanket pardons for any and all actions committed by his minions during his term of office. Not out of any sense of loyalty, I’m sure he feels none, but simply because they have enough dirt on him to drag him down with them should they face trial.
Sounds about right!
You’re wrong; put Sarah Palin there and you will see a bunch of people behind bars in no time. She has done it before and she will do again if/when the situation calls for it.
Alan West or John Bolton.
What about Rudy Giuliani? He’s a lawyer and a scrapper, and could really roll up his sleeves and clean things out….
One man isnt enough.
The place needs to be swept clean and restocked.
AGs can do that. Fair-minded attorneys across the land can start updating their resumes if things go well on November 6.
The upcoming President will get to pick more than just the head of the Department of Justice. There are a number of Associate and Assistant slots, as well as heads of subordinate agencies – all political appointments.
Point taken. I propose we confine our discussion to the Attorney General at this point for reasons of priorities.
You can do that to the political appointees. However, the Civil Service laws make it extremely difficult to do that with the career Justice department employees. Short of gutting the department budget enough to lay off as many of them as possible, I don’t know of any way to get rid of them. As the author states, they must be viewed as an arm of the Democrat party.
‘Warehouse’ them… let them keep their GS ratings, but put them in a spare office building with limited phone service, and ‘monitored’ internet service, and no duties… just a cube , a table, and a metal folding chair.
Let them spin their Rolodex’s and little black books and vent their frustration to their fellow travelers, and use their controlled access to connect the dots between NGO Lefties & their government allies. And repeat this process for ALL the agencies (EPA, DOE, etc…).
You don’t have to bag everybody, just the worse examples, and let their fate serve as an example to others… create a bureaucratic gulag.
Then shut down the previously populated (staffed) departments/sections.
Of one thing you can be sure: Mitt Romney is already looking at everyone on your list and the one he chooses will be the best of the best. You can be quite sure, also, that everyone of them would jump at the chance to be on the Romney tA Team,
I would recommend one J. Christian Adams as the next United States Attorney General. Besides being extremely well qualified…I think you’ve earned it. Keep up the good work!
If I were in charge, I’d reorganize the Justice Department, with a goal of reorganizing the basest lefties out of jobs and defunded. And If I were Romney, this would be one of my goals throughout the government, especially at the State Department.
Fire everyone above G-8.
I too would recommend J. Christian Adams. You sir no full well how to bring integrity back to the justice system. I have read most of your work and you understand what is at stake and how to go into the bowels of the system to root out those who would do us harm. If I did have a say in the process, I would most suredly vote for you.
Start by firing every last employee of the DOJ. Re-hire the good ones. Do not make the Bush mistake of keeping holdovers as a good will gesture. That bit of decency cost him dearly.
Christie!
I can dream, right?
My dream too. He would make it happen and with a loud voice about those who got trotted out. Yup holder has filtered the worst ones into civil service positions. Pay them, give them an office a windowless space, next to the toilets.. with trivial duties tracking Leftist University profs and if they slip up…BAM>
I would oppose Christie, if you mean New Jersey’s governor. Sure, he stood in the faces of some old guard power mongers… but when the case of the man lawfully moving firearms when he moved into the state was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to three years in prison, SHOULD have been exempted under the Federal Firearms Owners Protection Act but the corrupt judge would not allow that law to be read in the courtoom…. CHristie stepped in and commuted his sentence… which got the chap out of prison.. HOWEVER< he did not pardon or otherwise release the man from his "crime". The man still has a felony record for something he did not do, and thus can never own firearms anywhere in the USA, and will always have that felony record hanging over his head.. makes it tough to find accomodations, find work, get even the lowest level security clearance, can't drive truck with HazMat, can't work in any school few public agencies…. the man's life is still ruined for something he did not do. Besides, he has expended HIGE sums of money trying to appeal the conviction, to get it out of his life, and, as far as I've heard, no success as of yet. Christie utterly failed this man in not totally tossing it out.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in New Jersey continue to charge others for firearms "crimes" that are non-issues in nearly every other state. He has done nothing to get rid of this form of abusive tyranny, nor do I see him as wholeheartedly upholding the INTENT of the Second Ammendment. He is NOT fit to serve as AG.
CHRISTIE??????????? Are you kidding me????? He probably will get all his Islamist friends into the DOJ! Christie is the Republican version of Huma Abedin (with Moochelles butt)! A man who befriends with Islamists and has no problem with Sharia is not fit for ANY office. You can’t fight against the enemy when you are in bed with him! And he’s a gun-grabber. So, ANYONE BUT Christie!
J. Christian Adams
while I have not always agreed (politically) with some things I have never seen malice in the writings.
and he knows what now needs to be fixed.
and the fact he didn’t mention himself here speaks volumes too.
just saw slyfox say same thing above me, sorry I should have just responded of that post.
It is widely known that wrongful civilian acts usually result in severe penalties and, perhaps, jail time. It is, therefore, an abomination that those in government who do wrongful things are allowed to ‘skate.’ They violate our trust as they violate our sensibilities for their own self serving political needs and because of the trust violation alone, their penalties must be far more severe that penalties in the outside world. We need to enact a law – a retroactive one – that would strip these people of their ill-gotten gains in retirement and in other perks. We need severe financial penalties not only to absolutely punish wrong-doers but to show future government employees that they will be held to a higher standard.We need to have a minimum jail time for any violation of trust with escalating penalties for violations by those in higher positions ie: Grade 8 – minimum 10 years, grade 15, minimum 25 years.
First, people can put their foolish fantasies about putting in a non-lawyer away; a non-lawyer would have their lunch eaten and not even realize it until the lunch was gone. A skillful practitioner can tank a case or manipulate its outcome pretty much at will and only another skillful practitioner would even know it had been done – and even a skilled practitioner would have trouble proving that it was a willful or manipulative act.
It really doesn’t matter who the AG is unless s/he is committed to dismissing everyone who serves at the pleasure the moment President Romney’s hand comes off The Bible (or the Book of Mormon, as the case may be); EVERY SINGLE ONE. The new appointee-level managers and supervisors must be committed to the discipline or discharge of any merit system employee who leaks, thwarts, or sabotages the administrations objectives. The new administration must be committed to a reign of terror in the bureaucracy and take the heat from the media; nobody much likes public employees anyway, especially not highly paid government lawyers, so nobody who’d ever vote Republican will care.
The federal government has retained far more of its inherent management rights than most unionized governments so the real issue with the poor discipline and performance of federal employees is feckless management. If you are not comfortable with being called names, hated by at least some of your subordinates, and with being on a Democrat hit-list at every election, you really shouldn’t be a Republican appointee. Appointee-level managers have nothing to lose; they’re going to be fired if the Democrats take over, and there’s nothing short of outright disloyalty that they can do to prevent it, so they might as well try to actually manage and not care whether the BoWash media and the Georgetown cocktail party circuit likes them or not. It is fun to be hated so long as it is the right people who hate you.
That said, an agressive Republican manager has far more to fear from fellow Republicans who expecially at the federal level are dedicated to being nice and being liked by people who hate Republicans. I know that if I were considering taking an appointment in ANY Republican administration at any level of government, I’d want a very clear understanding with my boss as to both his expectations and mine. I’ve been hung out to dry waaay too many times for doing just what my boss told me to do and having my boss suddenly forget having given me those instructions when the media called him; it is a Republican disease.
He will swear on the Bible! You can take that to the bank!
NOT Chris Christie
Did I miss something? Remember – the outgoing president has the opportunity to bestow last minute pardons.
I predict Obama’s pardon list will be long and enlightening.
(Assuming, of course, that the voters reject Obama and send him back to Chicago in disgrace.)
The funny part of this pardon is that Obama cannot pardon for crimes committed in Mexico…Pardon Holder here, but they turn him over to the Mexicans for justice…sweet thought.
When the enemy is in range, so are you. OK, it would be lots of fun to turn Holder over to the Mexicans so he could enjoy the hospitality of a Mexican jail. Then what do we do when some lefty country wants a Republican officeholder? I will NEVER support extradition of an American political figure to face charges in a foreign country regarding any action taken in the course of their office.
Obama can’t pardon a crime that has not been charged yet. SO.. delay Holder’s charges until AFTER the inauguration. He’ll either have to stand to anser them or flee to some non-extradition third world country. Either way, he’s cooked here, and out of harm’s way. In prison here or in exlie there… hey, m akes me remember what happened to Somoza after he was exiled from Nicaragua.. he was spirited off to some South American country, no one know where…. secret… until two years later when an RPG found the Mercedes in which he was riding…… no one ever knew hudunnit. Strange…..
The more we look about it the more rot and fat appears.
Even as a laymen looking at it.
The UN? The USA is are supposed to fund a new buiding? NOT. Let some other bankrupt Euros bid on a site over there. Punt UNESCO for sure.
The Dept of ED. What? Downsize big time if not delete.
General Services? Party time services?
Redefine Dept missions. You know Rats hate that.
The ones that are politically hard to dismantle…starve them.
ONE point. The Media will act as if the Country is DYING. So it’s important to publicly CITE the corruption and waste of Depts… as they are clipped. Show the myriad agencies that are at Cross purposes.
Measures should be recorded IN ADVANCE before subjective Cries.
You’re sounding like Ron Paul.. pity he is “unelectable”. He has a list of federal agencies he would have scrapped. And major “pruning” on most of the rest. Talk about bloat, fat, waste, cronyism, plum pudding….. HE sees it. It Mitt were smart, once elected, he’d get Paul on HIS team and have him point out which agencies need the most work with the trimming knife.. or the chainsaw. Or the excavator to dig a hole and bury them, covering it back up again after.
Get someone with no legal background, but common sense and courage, and let him get rid of the dead wood, and follow the letter of the law.
I am appalled at the people who are suggesting grandstanding blowhard Donald Trump, or making the general suggestion that the new Attorney General not be a lawyer but merely “a man of integrity.”
Yes, integrity is needed—but in the top legal job in the country, it is a lawyer of integrity that is needed. Eric Holder is a lawyer by credential, but he is a lawless political operative. What is needed to restore the Justice Department is a lawyer of integrity—someone who knows, understands, and above all respects the law, and who, because he knows and understands the law, is capable of riding herd on his subordinates in their enforcement of it.
I’m amazed that anybody thinks Donald Trump is qualified for any position above street-sweeper.
Really, people, what world are you living in where a showboating businessman is suddenly the Savior Of The Country?
So he can make money? So what? George Soros can, too, and he does it better.
Out with Obama’s gang of anit-American thugs and in with Romney’s American A-Tean.
Judge Andrew Napolitano…While I don’t always agree with him,I DO always respect him. And,I don’t think there would be any doubt about his integrity,or where the buck stops,with him in charge.
What about Mark Levin or Mayor Guiliani? I’m not at all critical of Mr. Adams picks, only curious. I think Michelle Bachman would be outstanding.
I think no man alive today could do a better job to clean out the US Justice Department and return it’s reputation of fairness than Rudy Guliani.
Mitt Romney is not a man of principle, and he’s not going to act like one.
HE isn’t going to appoint any boat rockers. He’s going to nominate “safe”, “moderate” people to all open positions. There won’t be any new brooms sweeping clean. It will be The Old Guard doing what they always do.
The rot will continue, albeit at a slower pace.
Mr Adams,
This is a serious question and I hope you will answer it directly: why not have the incoming Attorney General fire every lawyer in the DOJ and force everyone of them to have to reapply for a job.
The new Attorney General could precede this announcement with a clear statement that under Eric Holder and Barack Obama the rot inside the DOJ has become so bad that only a complete purge would fix the department.
This, along with a reorganization of the DOJ eliminating the sub-dept for Civil Rights, etc would overnight transform the DOJ and would send a compelling message to the legal community: business as usual is over.
As I say in the post above, the new Romney Administration can and should, must really, fire all of the appointee-level attornies and other appointed managers and supervisors, and do it while President Romney’s hand is still in the air after removing it from The Bible. Sooner or later Republicans MUST learn that they cannot tolerate holdover Democrats in a Republican administration.
The problem is that the federal government has foolishly made most of its lawyers non-appointee civil service employees and they can only be removed for cause and have elaborate due process and grievance rights. If we have both bodies of Congress, they could statutorily make all federal attornies appointees, but that is a two-edged sword. If you have the will and the skill it isn’t hard, just tedious and time consuming, to remove non-performing or badly behaving merit system employees, but you can’t remove them just for failing some political litmus test. Some of them will be very politically active ideologues; those you give orders about their actions and when they fail or refuse to follow those orders, you fire them, and they’ll give you that opportunity. Others will think about their student loans or mortgages and do what they’re told while everyday going to nearby watering holes to sit and drink and weep with their lefty friends about how terrible it is to have to work for troglodyte Republicans. I used to go to some of the lefty bars in our state capital for the express purpose of seeing the poor lefties cry in their beer – and having them see me seeing them do so.
This is a critical problem with the infiltration of the Administration by leftists: the arbitrators are part of the infiltration. Priority 1 1/2 [after finding the proper people to lead the agencies] should be modifying civil-service law, making it easier to fire people who obstruct or resist orders. In this as in so many other arenas, leftists are past masters of using the law to obstruct and destroy.
Imagine if a soldier could only be punished/dismissed after a long and convoluted civil-service proceeding. Ultimately, the situation here is analogous, and there should be a civil parallel to refusing orders in time of war.
Arbitrators are keenly aware of the political environment in which they practice. The reality is that only two or three of the unionized governments actually engage in adversarial collective bargaining; in the rest, the union and a Democrat administration are co-conspirators against the People and they often use arbitrators and the grievance or interest arbitration process to give the union what it wanted while blaming it on the arbitrator who is now back in another state spending a very nice fee.
You just have to set up cases with an eye towards taking the arbitrator to court and having a stupid decision reversed; it resonates in the “arbitral community.” They hate being reversed! I only had to do it once in my second tenure in government and arbitrators, though they sometimes required a little talking to, behaved pretty well; nothing like a state supreme court saying to an arbitrator, “you’re stupid,” to bring them to heel.
“Imagine if a soldier could only be punished/dismissed after a long and convoluted civil-service proceeding. Ultimately, the situation here is analogous, and there should be a civil parallel to refusing orders in time of war.”
They’re only long and convoluted because one party makes it that way and the other party puts up with it or the arbitrator/ALJ won’t stop the nonsense. Nonsense usually but not always comes from the union side and arbitrators tend to be very indulgent of nonsense from incompetent union reps, and most union reps are incompetent. In any event, I’ve done many dismissal arbitrations that started at nine AM and the union rep, the arbitrator, and I were done with the hearing and washing the day down before five PM.
One thing you can almost guarantee is that an employee can be fired for refusing a direct, lawful order. Tell the employee to do something or be fired and if they don’t do it, they’re fired and it is the rarest arbitrator that will overturn the dismissal.
For a long time I have said Andrew McCarthy would make a wonderful replacement for Eric Holder.
Judge Napolitano?
Mukasey should have criminally indicted the NBPP thugs, not just civil charges. That shows how weak he is on race.
Nonsense. As someone who worked on that case, you bring civil charges first to get an injunction. Criminal charges follow after an injunction stops the behavior. That’s why it is a lie to say the Bush DOJ rejected criminal charges.
I would think Giuliani would be on the short list. Yeah, he’s not a gun guy, but he is a law-and-order guy.
Frankly, I would like to see J. Christian Adams appointed as the next attorney general, but failing that I agree that we need someone of the caliber of those he lists in his article above. An ordinary political appointee will not have the tools to fully understand the institutional problems in the DOJ nor the will to correct them if they are recognized.
Just read on Drudge that a federal judge has just rejected the Texas voter ID law.
It really is time to start treating federal judges as politicians if they insist like acting like politicians. When they blatantly ignore the law for political purposes Congress should commence impeachment proceedings. It makes no difference if the Senate convicts or not. One or two such examples might interest the others in simply being judges rather than black-robed politicians.
I know there is a danger to an independent judiciary by taking such steps, but apparently the courts themselves have already given up on on that. If they want to be partisans then they need to be pushed into the arena to fight for their jobs.
The only choice is Mark Levin.
It needs to be someone with the courage to go after Holder himself and others in this administration.
You missed perhaps the best-qualified AG candidate of all—and one who is most assuredly not a politician: Andrew J. McCarthy, the Federal prosecutors who put the “blind sheikh” in jail for life for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. His book, “American Jihad” is a classic analysis of the internal threat to American republican democracy.
I would support Jon Kyl but not the other possibilities. His retirement is a great loss to the Senate. I would also hope that Rudy Guiliani would also be considered. I don’t know that Rudy would want to give up his work in the private sector but he certainly knows how to clean up s big mess. Kyl is one of the very few statesmen in congress.
I don’t think Bachman is very bright. Horne has some baggage regarding some stock dealing years ago. I don’t think he is as forceful as he might be either.
Mr. Adams,
Have you seen THIS? The latest obscenity from the horror show that is this DOJ under the freak show that is the DHS, which is under this absolute nightmare we are living that is this entire admin?
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/08/doj-community-organizing-occupoopers-at-rnc-convention/
I always think it can NOT get worse, and they ALWAYS prove me wrong!
It saddens me greatly that a man of Mr. Adams’ knowledge and experience judges our DOJ has rotted to this extent. Any large organization has knaves and fools; it is simply humanity, but this scale is a threat to our national survival.
I once worked for a world class executive who faced a smaller, but similar problem, a large organization which had failed basic performance goals. He, and a small select group of experts went to an all day review on Friday in a distant city. By Monday, the entire office building, perhaps five stories, a block in foot print, was empty. Thousands were fired, over the week end. The news flew around the global organization, uncommon, but not unique in the private sector.
It was similar on Utah beach, in that the ultimate mission was accomplished, albeit with great pain, and loss. It will take a leader with “4 AM courage”, unflinching courage. Ulysses Grant had this. He was once awaken by terrified subordinates who reported that R. Lee was attacking and killing two Yanks for every Rebel. He replied that he out manned Lee by five – ten to one, and went back to sleep.
It will take a special AG to clean up the DOJ, as Gov. Christie stated, “hard truths… choose respect over love… our duty is to tell the American people the truth.” Mr. Adams just did.
While we all can hope and work to elect Gov Romney as President, don’t forget that in order for a President Romney to appoint a new Attorney General, he will need 60 votes in the Senate in order to do so. For that reason alone, Senator Cornyn (who would be a great choice)probably won’t be nominated because his vote will be needed in the Senate. Retiring Senator Kyl would also be a great choice and has respect on both sides of the Senate aisle, but that is no guarantee of Senate confirmation. Don’t forget what a vindictive Democrat Senate did to retired Senator John Tower when President George H. W. Bush nominated Tower to be the Secretary of Defense in 1989.
Someone suggested Mark Levin. Can’t think of anyone with more guts and qualified. He worked in the Attorney General’s office at one time.
Go Tom Horne! America needs an attorney general who was banned FOR LIFE by the Securities and Exchange Commission. That kind of integrity is rare. Let’s reward it!
Tom Horne would be a no in my book – don’t just pick somebody because they talk the talk – I lived in Arizona, Tom Horne did not step up to the plate when he was needed – I had to file a Federal lawsuit because Tom Horne refused to do his job and prosecute the people that needed to be investigated. I think we can do better than this lazy bum.
One suggestion, we go the Clinton route. We nuke it from space, just to be sure. Fire everyone and start over. Period.
I would actually go one step farther. Yes Holder and the career bureaucrats need to go but the primary problem seems to be at the top! According to the Encyclopedia Britannica “The president’s chief duty is to make sure that the laws are faithfully executed”. Would you any that the President (or any president in recent memory) has fulfilled their chief duty? Let the Congress pass and repeal laws, let the Judiciary interpret the laws, but the executive branch is charged with ENFORCING the laws. Not just the ones they like, but ALL the laws!
Joe – you probably ought to read my book. The problem really isn’t mostly at the top. The problem lies at the bottom and in the middle. The top only greenlights the instincts of the vast Democrat-leaning civil service. The career civil service can bury policy alive. Suggest you read my chapter on Hale County Alabama voter fraud where one DOJ attorney enabled a decade of criminal wrongdoing.
Mr Adams,
If the problem is the middle and the bottom, why not fire the entire hierarchy and insist that they re-apply for their jobs?
I would take Mukasey back in a second. He was outstanding and deserved a chance to do it longer. My other dream picks (keep in mind Mr. Adams may have already excluded some of these based on his criteria in the article):
1. Judge Janice Rogers Brown – her career on the California Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit have shown her to be an independent thinker with a tremendous intellect and a vast reservoir of courage. However, I like her too much on the DC Circuit to want to see her move.
2. Former Solicitor General Paul Clement – Lots of experience in the DOJ, universally well regarded for his talent in conservative circles, but I imagine he will be Romney’s first SC nominee (to replace Kennedy or Scalia).
3. TX Attorney General Greg Abbott – Like AZ, the state of Texas has waged many a high profile battle with DOJ, and the fight to require Voter ID hinges on the extreme view DOJ takes on enforcing racial requirements in federal law. However, AG Abbott is probably destined to run for TX Gov in 2014, so probably does not want the job.
4. Judge William Pryor – Great record as a federal judge and as Attorney General of Alabama.
5. Sen. Jeff Sessions – Committed conservative, former Attorney General of Alabama, has a strong record of fighting for conservative principles in the Senate.
6. Judge Edith Jones (5th Circuit) – Experienced, smart, nobody questions that she’s tough as nails. She’ll never be on the Supreme Court but could be interested in something like this.
I’d still go with Mukasey first, but the names Mr. Adams mentions are all stellar as well.
Admission: Senator Sessions almost made the list, but we couldn’t have too many Senators. Give him an honorable mention. Regarding some others you name, yesterdays debacle on TX Voter ID really was a bad bad omen.
Who else besides Greg Abbott was involved in the TX Voter ID from my list? It appears the case was tried before three liberal (or two liberal and one not very conservative) judges. The Supreme Court may see things differently. I think the court was mistaken to find that because more minorities may be poor, then any effect on those who are poor (a whole $22 to get a birth certificate!) is discrimination against minorities. I think the SC is going to reject that.
All who do serve at the preident’s discresion, I would agree. But what do you do about the civil service types? That being said, if the President SAYS that they will be enforcing the laws of the land, including Immigration, that would,I think, set the tone!
Mr Adams thank you for addressing such an egregiously relevant topic with insight and clarity.
As a long-time observer of the Washington scene from both inside and outside government in our nation’s capitol I am struck by how Democrat Secretaries head an agency with the avowed intention of cleaning house of all GOP and conservative elements from the bottom rungs up to the top levels of decision-making.
The GOP on the other hand, replace the top positions under GOP administrations but fail to clean house. This in effect ensures that there is an in-place bureaucratic resistance that constantly undermines reform and inovation.
We have seen a near complete beurecratic substitution based on liberal, progressive and leftist ideology rather than on profound professionalism.
All I can say is thank you for the hard work of you and your fellow journalists!
Never before have I felt such a lack of justice at the United States Department of Injustice!
As important as getting the right person for Attorney General, will be the new President allowing him to pursue and correct the illegality and injustice that the Holder DOJ has fostered.