Democratic Memos Need Special Prosecutor

Not an editorial the likes of which you'll ever read in the New York Times.

In today's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Democrats, aided by an incredibly gutless Republican leadership, have done a wonderful job of escaping scrutiny in a scandal that should bring the party to its knees and threaten some of its most prominent members with prison.

Lack of a fire wall in a computer system set up by Senate Democrats enabled Republican staffers — with a click of a mouse on a shared-server network -- to gain access to more than 4,000 internal Democrat memos. Some suggest the usual political collusion with left-wing groups, such as People for the American Way, to derail President Bush's judicial nominees.

But some indicate far worse, such as an April 17, 2002, memo from a staffer to Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. It suggests the NAACP Legal Defense Fund conspired with Democrats to influence the outcome of the landmark University of Michigan affirmative action case before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

How? By delaying the nomination of a judge considered hostile to the concept of using discrimination to "end" discrimination....

Manuel Miranda is Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's former judicial nominations counsel. He resigned this month, the caving GOP's first sacrificial lamb. And last week he dropped this bombshell: The 14 memos made public are the least indicting. Mr. Miranda says other memos include "evidence of the direct influencing of the Senate's advice and consent role by the promise of campaign funding and election support in the last midterm election."

Ethics complaints already have been filed against Sens. Kennedy and Durbin and NAACP attorney Elaine Jones, who was "a named party" in the Michigan case. She is resigning her post. And several groups have called for a Justice Department investigation. But that's not enough.

Considering the gravity of what the known memos suggest, the implied illegalities surrounding those not released, and the thick smoke screen Democrats are blowing, the Justice Department must name a special prosecutor to begin a full-fledged criminal investigation of Senate Democrats and their special interest bedfellows.

The integrity of our republic is at stake.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 02/15/04 05:44:41 PM
Categorized as Political.