Reply #43: J. Timothy Griffin - Rise of a Very 'Loyal Bushie'

[L. Coyote]

Rise of a Very 'Loyal Bushie'
By Richard L. Fricker - March 28, 2007
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/032707a.html

If you want to know what the career path of a “loyal Bushie” looks like, let me introduce you to J. Timothy Griffin, a Karl Rove protégé who was slipped into the post of U.S. Attorney in Little Rock, Arkansas, and now is at the center of the controversy over whether the Bush administration has sought to politicize federal prosecutions.

Griffin has pretty much touched them all – the Federalist Society, work for a Clinton-era special prosecutor, the Florida recount battle in 2000, opposition research and voter security duties for the Republican National Committee in Campaign 2004, a brief tour as a military lawyer in Iraq, a deputy in Karl Rove’s political shop at the White House.

But now this carefully groomed Republican operative stands out as Exhibit A for Democrats as they contend that the Bush administration imposed political litmus tests on federal prosecutors who wield enormous power over the lives of those they investigate. ...

While at the New Orleans university, Griffin became a leader of the Tulane chapter of the Federalist Society, a powerful conservative legal organization and the chief training ground for right-wing lawyers dedicated to rolling back the liberal gains of the Warren Court and supportive of unrestrained presidential powers. ...

... he joined the Bush-Cheney (2000) campaign as deputy research director working for the Republican National Committee, what’s known in the Washington political world as “oppo” or opposition research ... Griffin’s résumé describes his job as “the primary research resource ... with over 30 staff.”

During the bitter Florida recount battle, Griffin served as legal adviser in Volusia and Brevard counties ... Bush rewarded Griffin in March 2001 with the job of special assistant to Michael Chertoff ....