The Rap on Karl Rove

E-Mail Watch

Sidney Blumenthal writes for Salon: "When I worked in the Clinton White House, people brought in their personal computers if they were engaged in any campaign work, but all official transactions had to be done within the White House system as stipulated by the Presidential Records Act of 1978. . . . Having forsaken the use of Executive Office of the President e-mail, executive privilege has been sacrificed. Moreover, Rove's and the others' practice may not be legal."

Voter Fraud (Non) Watch

Michael Waldman and Justin Levitt write in a Washington Post op-ed: "Allegations of voter fraud -- someone sneaking into the polls to cast an illicit vote -- have been pushed in recent years by partisans seeking to justify proof-of-citizenship and other restrictive ID requirements as a condition of voting. Scare stories abound on the Internet and on editorial pages, and they quickly become accepted wisdom.

"But the notion of widespread voter fraud, as these prosecutors found out, is itself a fraud. Firing a prosecutor for failing to find wide voter fraud is like firing a park ranger for failing to find Sasquatch. . . .

"Those investigating the U.S. attorney firings should ask what orders went out to other prosecutors in the run-up to the 2006 election. Prosecutors are not hired-gun lawyers on a party payroll. They have a special duty to exercise their power responsibly, particularly in the context of a heated election. Pressure on prosecutors to join a witch hunt for individual voter fraud is a scandal, not just for the Justice Department but for voters seeking to exercise their most basic right."

Sampson Watch

Kyle Sampson, the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the triggerman in the controversial firings, is testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning, even as I finish up this column.

Here is the text of his prepared opening statement, leaked to reporters last night.

Laurie Kellman writes for the Associated Press today: "Eight federal prosecutors were fired last year because they did not sufficiently support President Bush's priorities, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former chief of staff said Thursday, a standard that Democrats called 'highly improper.'

"'The distinction between political and performance-related reasons for removing a United States attorney is, in my view, largely artificial,' Kyle Sampson told the Senate Judiciary Committee. 'A U.S. attorney who is unsuccessful from a political perspective . . . is unsuccessful.'

"Democrats on the panel immediately rejected the concept of mixing politics with federal law enforcement. They accusing the Bush administration of cronyism and trying to circumvent the Senate confirmation process by installing favored GOP allies in plum jobs as U.S. attorneys."

Liberal blogger Josh Marshall writes with an important reminder: "The charge against Sampson and crew is not that they fired them for 'political' reasons. The charge is that they fired these prosecutors for not using their law enforcement powers to help the Republican party."

And David D. Kirkpatrick writes in the New York Times: "It is unclear how much [Sampson] knows about all the motives for the removals, because a Justice Department official like him would typically have little access to internal White House deliberations."

There's liveblogging of the Sampson testimony at TPM Muckraker and at Firedoglake.