Democrat's Swamp Of Corruption

Pelosi said in the run up to the 2006 election that she wanted to "drain the swamp." Perhaps the only good things to come out of the elections in 2006 and 2008 have been that America is being treated to the full and unvarnished picture of just what, in so many ways, how utterly hypocritical that claim was. One of them deals with politicization of the Justice Dept. and the Democrats utter refusal to demand accountability.

During 2008, several armed thugs from the New Black Panthers showed up at a polling station. They were indicted on charges relating to voter intimidation and subsequently convicted, with the only element remaining being the sentencing. But Eric Holder's Justice Dept. decided to withdraw the charges. They have utterly refused to respond to questions - and subpoenas - in the aftermath. Democrats have circled the wagons to protect the Justice Dept. from having to answer for this travesty. This from the Washington Times:

In their bid to protect President Obama's liberal political appointees at the Justice Department, congressional Democrats are surrendering their responsibility to keep a presidential administration honest.

A Feb. 2 letter from Glenn A. Fine, inspector general for the Justice Department, to Rep. Frank R. Wolf, Virginia Republican, ought to give pause to lawmakers of any party. In effect, the letter says there is no independent authority that can investigate any decision by the department to stonewall congressional inquiries. If the department refuses to answer congressional questions by asserting legal privileges that have never been recognized in U.S. history, the IG is powerless to assess allegations of certain sorts of departmental misconduct.

The letter from Mr. Fine explained why the IG says he is prohibited by law from reviewing whether the Justice Department or the White House allowed or instigated political interference in a decision to drop or reduce voter-intimidation charges against members of the New Black Panther Party. This means nearly a dozen separate requests from Mr. Wolf, Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican, and other legislators for Black Panther-related information can be stonewalled by the Justice Department, as can inquiries and even subpoenas from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. In short, the department is saying that it can ignore Congress with impunity.

The House Judiciary Committee's Democrats, led by Chairman John Conyers of Michigan, voted on Jan. 13 to roll over like whipped puppies when presented with a resolution demanding answers from the Justice Department. On a 15-14 party-line vote, committee Democrats voted to look the other way rather than hold the department accountable to Congress. Seven other committee Democrats did not even have the courage to vote on the resolution. . . .

On Feb. 3, Mr. Smith wrote to Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli to ask - based on reports in The Washington Times - if he had had any discussions with White House staff in the course of deciding to drop the Black Panther case. This gets at the heart of political interference with the administration of justice that so concerned Mr. Conyers in 2008. The Judiciary chairman needs to remember why accountability matters and back Mr. Smith's right to have answers.

Democrats have not drained the swamp. They've filled it to overflowing.