Memo Shows Frustration With Special Counsel

[L. Coyote]

Source: Washington Post

Memo Shows Frustration With Special Counsel
Staffers Hinted At Impropriety

By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 11, 2008; Page A04

Last September, career investigators at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel opened a probe into whether partisan politics were a factor in the Justice Department's prosecution of former Democratic Alabama governor Don Siegelman on corruption charges in 2006.

Siegelman, who narrowly lost his reelection bid in 2002 and intended to run again in 2006, has insistently alleged that Karl Rove, then a White House adviser, targeted him for prosecution to ensure he did not oust a Republican governor.

But on Oct. 11, OSC chief Scott J. Bloch ordered the case file be closed immediately, saying that he had not authorized it, seven career employees wrote in an internal draft memo made public last week.

"After concerns are expressed that OSC simply cannot close a file without conducting an investigation into theses allegations, the TF is directed to not further investigate this case and to wait for further instructions from the Special Counsel," the employees wrote in the document dated Jan. 18. ................

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