Schlozman's finger-pointing backfires

As the lawyers in the Public Integrity Section refuse to take the blame:

Bradley Schlozman, who as U.S. attorney in Kansas City obtained indictments charging workers for an activist group with submitting fake voter-registration forms, defended the timing of the case to the Senate Judiciary Committee this week by saying he acted ``at the direction'' of the department's Public Integrity Section.

The explanation, which Schlozman repeated at least nine times during the June 5 hearing, infuriated public integrity lawyers, who say it implied the section ordered him to prosecute, said two Justice Department officials. Public integrity attorneys handle sensitive cases involving politicians and judges and pride themselves on staying out of political disputes.

A clarification of Schlozman's testimony would stress that he consulted with the section and was given guidance, not direction, said the officials, who asked to remain anonymous because the matter is being deliberated internally. The clarification wouldn't say that Schlozman's Senate testimony was inaccurate, the officials added.

[snip]

Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record), a Vermont Democrat, said the timing of the charges was contrary to agency policy outlined in a manual for prosecutors. The rule says that ``most, if not all, investigations of an alleged election crime must await the end of the election to which the allegation relates.''

In response, Schlozman told the panel that he raised the issue with the Public Integrity Section's election crimes chief.

``I did what I did at the direction of the Public Integrity Section,'' Schlozman said.

Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the Justice Department, declined to comment on whether Schlozman would revise his testimony.

Boyd said the department guidelines cited by Leahy don't flatly forbid the filing of voting-related charges just before an election. ``The policy is not absolute and exceptions may exist,'' he said.

Ah! Kinda like 'You didn't specifically tell me not to jump rope by your cliff, so you're the one responsible'?



I'm afraid Bradley Schlozman's picture will be in the dictionary beside the definition for 'breaking out in a sweat when realizing you've been left hanging'.