Ex-Bush official (Monica Goodling) reprimanded by bar

[kpete]

Source: Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Ex-Bush official reprimanded by bar

By Alan Cooper
Published: May 5, 2011

Tags: Lawyer Discipline, Virginia State Bar

Monica Marie Goodling, the key figure in the controversy about the political hiring and firing of U.S. Attorneys during the Bush Administration, has received a public reprimand from the Virginia State Bar.

A VSB subcommittee concluded that Goodling, a member of the VSB since 1999, had violated ethics rules by committing “a criminal or deliberately wrongful act” that reflected adversely on her “honesty, trustworthiness or fitness to practice law.” The subcommittee’s reprimand, to which Goodling agreed, was handed down in March and made public late yesterday.

Goodling was accused of using a conservative political litmus test in personnel decisions. She admitted in 2007 during testimony before Congress that she used political affiliation and other political considerations in hiring lawyers for career positions in the U.S. Department of Justice. She was White House liaison and senior counsel to the attorney general at the time.

She testified, “I crossed the line of the civil service rules. … But I didn’t mean to.” She asserted her Fifth Amendment rights before appearing before Congress and testified only under a grant of immunity.

Read more: http://valawyersweekly.com/blog/2011/05/05/ex-bush-official-reprimanded-by-bar-2/

[hobbit709]

1. Now she needs to be disbarred.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. beat me to it. But, yeah

[hlthe2b]

4. Why wasn't that part of this?

[former9thward]

11. They had that option.

They chose a reprimand which is a slap on the wrist.

[defendandprotect]

30. kr

[Land Shark]

33. A reprimand is a public declaration of misconduct, not much more

[jmowreader]

64. I have a better idea

These are the US Attorneys Monica Goodling fired for not throwing enough Democrats in jail: David Iglesias, Kevin V. Ryan, John McKay, Paul K. Charlton, Carol Lam, Daniel Bodgen, Margaret Chiara, Todd Graves, Bud Cummings, Thomas DiBiagio and Kasey Warner. Daniel Bogden was reinstated to his old job by President Obama, and it seems to me Mr. Bogden needs someone in his office to make coffee and answer the phone. Since that's about all Monica Goodling is suited for, stick her there.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. fuck you and the christian law skule you rode in on

It seems as though our whole society is under attack. From within. These christian warriors never give up. They demand that we share in their irrational beliefs, or else.

It is time to put a stop to this kind of crap for good.

I only hoped that they would have disbarred her instead.

[ThomasE]

16. X-trians?

Can we all sing along now? Ready? -"Onward Christian Nazis. marching as to war"? We have to realize, these "freaks" wii not stop, & they have the SCOTUS on their side too! - WTF!!!

[Joe Bacon]

63. I think you mean "onward ¢hri$tian $oldier$"

Republicans talk the Jesus talk, but they walk the Ayn Rand walk.

[live love laugh]

27. My sentiments (not exactly) but damn close. (Mine are more vulgar.) NT

[ChairmanAgnostic]

31. I tried, but failed to tone it down even more.

[SpiralHawk]

5. Another whacko darkside fundie Death & Destruction & Torture toady (R)

Where do the Republicons unearth these heralds of torture and death and destruction & "deliberately wrongful"?

Why are they steeped in the sicko perverse Republicon Family Cesspool Values of "distortion & untrustworthiness" ?

Why don't republicons ever advocate anything positive, like life and compassion, honesty, integrity and stuff...?

[freshwest]

62. If I could rec that post, I would. Now to what you said there...

'Why don't republicons ever advocate anything positive, like life and compassion, honesty, integrity and stuff...?'

Actually they do, but only to get votes. They are an example of abeyance to whatever they say. As soon as they get in office, the claws come out and they start shredding people down to the bones.

Or we could argue they're for life, but only the kind that doesn't 't cost anything. Or compassion, but only when their tail is in the wringer, ala Delay. Or honesty, but not to anyone deemed unworthy. Or integrity, that's only in their contracts to the rich.

And stuff, well, they can stuff it all where the sun doesn't shine.

:rofl:

[LiberalAndProud]

6. Public shaming. Why does this leave me unsatisfied?

Can we at least put her in stocks on the public square or something. This doesn't smack of justice.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

32. Because you and I would be ashamed. These

christian soldiers have no sense of shame. If they succeed, it was god's will. If they fuck up, it was god's will. If they break the law pursuing those tinny little voices constantly giving them instructions inside their heads, it was god's will.

When it is god's will, there can be no shame, only a righteous sense of pride.

That is why agnostics and atheists are more moral and ethical than effing x-trians. We seek to do what is right, not godly.

[Gemini Cat]

61. I was thinking a nice public flogging

cheerfully administered by the people she screwed over.

[gratuitous]

7. "I broke the law, but I didn't mean to"

I wonder if this defense would work for, oh, say 3 million men and women sitting in cells all over the country? I don't just hate Republican tools for their lawlessness; it's their phony excuses when they get caught. Like Michael Deaver, claiming innocence of influence peddling and corruption because he was drinking pretty heavily in those days, and didn't always remember everything he did during blackouts. Thousands, if not millions, of inmates had to be chuckling mordantly to themselves over that naive defense.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. " . . . get caught."

[beac]

28. Exactly.

And, if she REALLY "didn't mean to" then she is clearly not mentally competent to practice law.
"Whoops! There I go again-- accidentally being unethical. Silly me!"

[Blue_Tires]

8. took them long enough...

[Demeter]

10. It took 4 YEARS?!!!

[Supersedeas]

29. legal ethics....bury it for four years, then paper over of wrist-slap reprimand

[mimitabby]

12. now can the honest judges get their jobs back?

[24601]

49. They weren't judges but US Attorneys and yes, Obama can fire

his appointees and nominate the former Bush officials.

[No Elephants]

53. Obama never fired the D of J appointeees of his predecessor, as Reagan, Clinton and Dummya did.

[24601]

56. He didn't need to - didn't they resign at he end of the Bush term?

That is the custom of political appointees not serving fixed terms. Several were held over if they were involved in complex investigations.

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. YAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOO!

Maybe this means the Legal Bar is returning to reason?

It's a baby step, but, they have to know by now that their Guild has been compromised and nobody trusts lawyers.

[onehandle]

14. Just another Bush Crime Family crony. nt

[indepat]

15. Monica Goodling's actions were but a microcosm of the vast criminality which

comprised junior's administration modus operandi imo. :patriot:

[northoftheborder]

17. I'd like to know how many of those she hired are still in Justice Dept.

[no_hypocrisy]

18. Product of Regent University Law School (Jesus trumps the Constitution).

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/04/09/321239/-Is-Monica-Goodlings-law-degree-worth-the-paper-it-is-printed-on

[Hissyspit]

19. Wouldn't hire LGBT, if I recall.

Breaking federal law and civil servant rules. "I didn't mean to." Such a good Christian.

[calimary]

20. Where'd she get her "law degree"? Liberty "University"?

Or Regent "University"? Is that the one where michele bachmann got hers? What masterful instruction and curriculum they both must offer! Everything taught through an agenda-driven, ulterior-motive, CONservative Christianist filter.

[PatSeg]

23. Regent University

Michele Bachmann went there when it was still called Oral Roberts Law School.

[No Elephants]

54. They didn't like the way the law was going, so they started law schools.

What did we do?

[plumbob]

21. Her defense is "I didn't mean to?"

She got her law "degree" from Regent "University". Well, I knew they were shit, so no surprise.

[PatSeg]

22. Whoa, that's a name I haven't heard

in a long time. Never really expected to hear it again. Yet another reminder of how incompetent that administration was.

[seafan]

24. Do not forget: Monica Goodling named many of her unqualified pals as IMMIGRATION JUDGES.

From Brooks Brothers Rioter to Judge, May 25, 2007


So, where's Monica?, July 28, 2008



Finally, on May 5, 2011, we hear of some accountability extracted from Monica Goodling in a public reprimand, although too little, too late to stop her from damaging our system of justice.


Ex-Bush official reprimanded by bar, Virginia Lawyers Weekly, May 5, 2011

.....

Much of the Justice Department investigation focused on allegations not mentioned in the VSB subcommittee’s determination – that U.S. Attorneys were removed for political reasons.

One of those officials, H.E. Cummins III from Arkansas, described her at the time as “inexperienced, way too naïve and a little overzealous.”

She had limited legal experience before joining the Bush Administration, having graduated from the Regent University law school in 1999. The New York Times reported that department colleagues said she was deeply religious and conservative and seemed to believe that part of her job was to bring people with similar values to the Justice Department.

“I crossed the line of the civil service rules. … But I didn’t mean to.”----Monica Goodling, in front of Congress in 2007, after asserting her Fifth Amendment rights and testifying only under a grant of immunity.

The shame of the Bush years will haunt America forever.

[myrna minx]

25. K&R n/t

[WillyT]

26. K & R !!!

:kick:

[Uncle Joe]

34. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[OKNancy]

35. kick

[underpants]

36. Ex-Bush official reprimanded by bar (Monica Goodling for actions in Bush DOJ)

Source: Va. Lawyers Weekly

Monica Marie Goodling, the key figure in the controversy about the political hiring and firing of U.S. Attorneys during the Bush Administration, has received a public reprimand from the Virginia State Bar.

A VSB subcommittee concluded that Goodling, a member of the VSB since 1999, had violated ethics rules by committing “a criminal or deliberately wrongful act” that reflected adversely on her “honesty, trustworthiness or fitness to practice law.” The subcommittee’s reprimand, to which Goodling agreed, was handed down in March and made public late yesterday.

Goodling was accused of using a conservative political litmus test in personnel decisions. She admitted in 2007 during testimony before Congress that she used political affiliation and other political considerations in hiring lawyers for career positions in the U.S. Department of Justice. She was White House liaison and senior counsel to the attorney general at the time.

One of those officials, H.E. Cummins III from Arkansas, described her at the time as “inexperienced, way too naïve and a little overzealous.”

She had limited legal experience before joining the Bush Administration, having graduated from the Regent University law school in 1999. The New York Times reported that department colleagues said she was deeply religious and conservative and seemed to believe that part of her job was to bring people with similar values to the Justice Department.





Read more: http://valawyersweekly.com/blog/2011/05/05/ex-bush-official-reprimanded-by-bar-2/

---

“I crossed the line of the civil service rules. … But I didn’t mean to.”

[SpiralHawk]

37. Lord save us all from RepubliFundie Zealots and their twisted "family' values

so patently unAmerican

[underpants]

44. Totally unrelated but - I worked for Va. Lawyers Weekly in 1995 in a co-op program

while I was going to school at VCU. I basically did the bank deposits of the membership.

Interesting publication. Members get all court rulings in the state (at the time on a disk) weekly.

Not a great job but I could ride my bike to work.

[Botany]

38. She also took part in voter caging aka voter suppression

w/ bradley schlozman ..... I watched her testify and the minute she slipped up and talked about election
rigging her attorneys behind her pulled the plug on the testimony.

A freaking reprimand? When is somebody going to jail for all the crap they pulled?

[Octafish]

58. +1

Thank you for the reminder, Botany. The return of Justice would do more to fix what's wrong than just about anything.

[Botany]

59. I will always remember that for being the # 3 lawyer ...

.... in the country she wasn't that smart but the minute she started talking about the voter caging operation
the lawyers sitting right behind her* stopped the testimony.



It wasn't 5 minutes after she said that voter caging was part of a direct mail operation that she was gone from
testifying. A fucking reprimand for using the DOJ to help rig elections? :puke:


* bald fellow with stripped tie

[lob1]

39. Another fascist by accident.

[Citizen Worker]

40. At minimum she should have been disbarred in Virginia.

[freshwest]

41. Isn't VA the location of Liberty U? Their alumni may control the state bar there.

[underpants]

46. Liberty U is Falwell's school (Lynchburg). Regent is Robertson's school (Va. Beach).

They are about 4 hours apart.

Oral Roberts Law School in Oklahoma (Michelle Bachmann is an alum) disbanded/dissolved in 2008 to Regent University in Virginia.


She was a member of the final graduating class of Oral Roberts' law school, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school to what is now Regent University.<14>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_Bachmann


http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleid=20080326_222_11725


The law school was founded in 1986.<18> The law school was approved by the American Bar Association ("ABA") in 1989<19> and received full accreditation in 1996.<20> The Law Library received the bulk of its collection after Oral Roberts University School of Law closed and donated its library to Regent University.<21>


RankingsU.S. News & World Report ranks Regent University School of Law as a Tier 4 school, <30> the lowest ranking within the law school category.<31>U.S. News & World Report Regent University's ranking in the 2011 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, Tier 2. <32> The Princeton Review ranked Regent University seventh in the country for quality of life<33> and the most conservative school.<34> The Sustainable Endowments Institute, an environmental report card, based in Cambridge, Mass., gave Regent a grade of D in its 2009 College Sustainability Report Card<35><36> an improvement from the previous year's F grade.<37>

ABA national competition winsIn 2006 and 2007, Regent Law won several national ABA moot court and negotiation competitions succeeding teams from Harvard and Yale.<18><38><39><40> Previous wins took place in 1995 and 2002.<40> In 2008, two students won honors at a national moot court competition hosted by The College of William & Mary.<41>

Bar passage ratesThe 2010 bar passage rate for students taking the Virginia State Bar Exam was 85.7 percent, the highest Bar pass rate in the school's history.<42> The passage rate has improved every year from at least 2001, when the Regent University pass rate was 43.9 percent, compared to the state average of 73 percent.<43>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regent_University#Rankings

[freshwest]

50. It would be interesting to see how many grads from the 3 schools are VA bar members. Just sayin'

Yeah, I see where I confused the two. Not that I like to think about them at all. The Reagan religious right generation is screwing us up.
She should be been disbarred years ago.

[musette_sf]

42. K & R

that woman was a blithering fundie moron. another so-called "graduate" of Regent so-called "University".

definitely had the makings of a Harriet Myers.

[ixion]

43. slap on the wrist, and a badge of honor amongst the GOP faithful

I seriously doubt her career will suffer any because of it.

[rhett o rick]

45. And Alberto "I dont recall" Gonzo goes free. nm

[underpants]

47. Yeah but Alberto found his car

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=8185474

Less than three years after leaving his position as the Attorney General of the United States Alberto Gonzales has finally found his car.

The long delay in finding the late model sedan was attributed to a memory loss, "I just simply couldn't remember where I parked it" said Gonzales in a telephone interview.

Gonzales initially did not answer calls for this story citing the inability to find his cell phone. "I didn't remember where I put it" he said.

<snip>

The former Attorney General of the United States roved the DC area parking lots hitting the trunk latch key on his remote. "I don't remember that it was not tortuous" even returning from his banishment to a teaching position at Texas Tech University in Lubbock to look for his car. He once thought he had found it at the Ikea in Potomac Mills mall but Gonzales says "turns out the trunk that popped open was on a blue car not a red car. I didn't remember that it was red that I was looking for until the nice lady told me it wasn't mine".

Gonzales plans to drive the car back to Texas "if I remember which way it is"

[rhett o rick]

52. In your picture, we see a look that can only be from a sycophant. nm

[underpants]

48. Yeah but Alberto found his car

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=8185474

Less than three years after leaving his position as the Attorney General of the United States Alberto Gonzales has finally found his car.

The long delay in finding the late model sedan was attributed to a memory loss, "I just simply couldn't remember where I parked it" said Gonzales in a telephone interview.

Gonzales initially did not answer calls for this story citing the inability to find his cell phone. "I didn't remember where I put it" he said.

<snip>

The former Attorney General of the United States roved the DC area parking lots hitting the trunk latch key on his remote. "I don't remember that it was not tortuous" even returning from his banishment to a teaching position at Texas Tech University in Lubbock to look for his car. He once thought he had found it at the Ikea in Potomac Mills mall but Gonzales says "turns out the trunk that popped open was on a blue car not a red car. I didn't remember that it was red that I was looking for until the nice lady told me it wasn't mine".

Gonzales plans to drive the car back to Texas "if I remember which way it is"

[underpants]

51. Sorry I duped you

:spank:

[No Elephants]

55. Bushbots remain in this administration, in both appointment positions and

civil service positions--and D of J decided against even writing a letter to the bar about Yoo or Bybee. Don't think D of J even considered writing about Goodling.

Thing is, you don't decide not to even write a letter. You write it and let the bar overseers decide if the lawyer did anything wrong or not. With an internally policed profession, the sympathy tends to be with the professional anyway, but you do your part by writing.

[Veronica.Franco]

57. People act like this is a FIRST ... it's NOT ...

IN the 1950's when my FATHER became Postmaster of our hometown the ONLY other requirement, after passing the test, was that he was told he HAD to be a REGISTERED REPUBLICAN ... standard operating procedure since EISENHOWER ...

[Doctor_J]

60. Not a deterrent to the next criminal

Federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison would be much more fitting