Official resignation thread

[FUNdamental]

The head of the Justice Department's embattled Civil Rights Division is to resign at the end of August, officials said yesterday, making him the latest in a series of senior political appointees to leave the agency amid continued controversy over Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.

Wan J. Kim, the assistant attorney general for civil rights since November 2005, has been closely questioned by congressional Democrats about the administration's policy decisions and allegations by former career officials of improper hiring within the division, mostly under his predecessor.


Kim is set to join nearly a dozen other senior Justice Department officials and aides who have resigned this year. The departures come as Gonzales fends off calls from lawmakers for his resignation over his handling of the firings of nine U.S. attorneys last year and congressional testimony that lawmakers have called misleading.

Wan's predecessor, Bradley J. Schlozman, resigned from the department last week. The department's inspector general is investigating allegations that Schlozman considered political affiliations in the hiring of career employees.

Gonzales said in a statement that Kim, who joined the department more than a decade ago, has "served the Department of Justice and the American people with distinction and honor." The statement continued: "I will miss his honest opinions and valuable contributions as an advisor to me." He praised Kim for enforcing traditional anti-discrimination laws, as well as newer statutes on human trafficking and minority-language ballot requirements.

But Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), who has sharply criticized the Bush administration's civil rights enforcement record, said in a statement that Kim's departure "must not hinder our efforts to demand accountability."

"Too many questions have remained unanswered, too many civil rights laws have not been enforced, and too many officials have resigned to evade the accountability that is to come for the disastrously flawed policies of this administration," Kennedy added.

"Mr. Kim is leaving the Civil Rights Division at a time when there are serious concerns about the Division's priorities, hiring, and decision-making process," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said in a statement.

Schlozman acknowledged during Senate testimony this year that, while serving as head of the Civil Rights Division in 2005, he bragged to colleagues about hiring conservatives and Republicans for career positions in the unit. Officials have also said that Schlozman is under investigation for allegedly pushing aside three minority women in the Civil Rights Division to "make room for some good Americans," as a colleague quoted him saying.

Kim distanced himself from Schlozman's actions during a Senate appearance in June, saying that his own hiring decisions had been free of political ideology: "Talent and competence and ability to me matter, and other things don't matter."

Officials said Kim is going into private law practice.

[FUNdamental]

Just after Mr. Kim's resignation we hear Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales announcing his resignation.

Also, Karl Rove resigned; both were receiving heavy political fall out over several controversial issues including politically motivated hiring and firings.

What will the White House be like this fall with all these people gone?

[FUNdamental]

Tony Snow, White House Press Secretary. Resigned to go back in the public sector where he is not accountable for the truth. Mr. Snow resigned suspiciously after a radio interview he did with known right wing conservative nutjob and liar Mark Levin, where Mark floated a “rumor” to Tony that the Democrats in Congress were trying to get General Petraeus and Ambasador Crocker’s testimony before Congress “private.” Tony sat silent on the issue as Mr. Levin railed against how those “Slimy Demoncrats” were trying to “hide the truth from the American people.” As we all now know, it was the White House that was attempting to get the report “private.” Tony knew it, and did nothing to correct Mr. Levin’s false characterizations.


I will remain silent on "Naughty Boy" Republican Senator Larry, wide stance, Craig at this point.

[mrbowler]

I thought the official line is that Tony Snow resigned because he
was having problems living on his salary of around $160,000 a year, and
could make more outside of government. Doesn't make sense that the republicans would want to make the report private unless they felt Gen.
Petraeus was going to issue a negative report-sure seems everyone pretty much felt that the report was going to show that the "surge" was showing positive results. It all comes down to how credible you feel the person giving the report is-are they going to shoot straight or not? Or do they have pressure being put upon them to influence/guide them to either a more negative/positive or somewhere in between result. JMO-but I don't think that the majority of americans trust the judgement/leadership skills of this administration based on past reasoning/results.

[mrbowler]

This soldier might catch some flak, and I'm not talking about the metal kind.

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"This is General Petraeus's baby," said Staff Sgt. Josh Campbell, 24, of Winfield, Kan., as he set out on a patrol near the market on a hot evening in mid-August."

"Even U.S. soldiers assigned to protect Petraeus's showcase remain skeptical. "Personally, I think it's a false representation," Campbell said, referring to the portrayal of the Dora market as an emblem of the surge's success. "But what can I say? I'm just doing my job and don't ask questions."

"We can't be holding their hands forever," Campbell said. "I'm worried about what's going to happen to this place when we leave."

[FUNdamental]

The surge is working, and by the end of next summer we should be down to the same number of troops in Iraq as before the surge started. Do you hear me and the General? We will be down to 130,000 troops in Iraq by August/September of 2008 because the surge has worked so far. WoooHoooo! Only 130,000 American troops in Iraq by this time next year if all goes to plan!

At this rate it will only take five years and three months to get out of Iraq for good, if all goes well! (160,000 troop level minus 30,000 a year). Screw the GAO report, the surge is definitely working and we will be gone by Christmas of 2012!

[mrbowler]

Originally Posted by FUNdamental

The surge is working, and by the end of next summer we should be down to the same number of troops in Iraq as before the surge started. Do you hear me and the General? We will be down to 130,000 troops in Iraq by August/September of 2008 because the surge has worked so far. WoooHoooo! Only 130,000 American troops in Iraq by this time next year if all goes to plan!

At this rate it will only take five years and three months to get out of Iraq for good, if all goes well! (160,000 troop level minus 30,000 a year). Screw the GAO report, the surge is definitely working and we will be gone by Christmas of 2012!

Yep-You have the surge, and then talk about drawing down troops-of course you don't want to mention that you are going back to pre-surge numbers, but it sure sounds good I thought General P. watched his words properly, and they are meeting positive results from a military perspective. For example we are trying to separate the people who are more radical, and are then classified as detainees( for 1 year )-and are provided some free classroom education on how they should interpret Islam(Koran). U.S. troops are working with ethnic groups(local clans) who want Al-Qaeda eliminated more then they want to eliminate the U.S. troops(ie-they hate us less). Of course Al-Qaeda was not in Iraq before the invasion(or at least not as organized). At least for the time-this should reduce the number of attacks/violence against u.s. troops, but in order to ever reach any kind of positive outcome a political reconciliation must take place which from what I hear/read this will not happen because the local powers don't trust the national government (al-Maliki) who they feel is to pro-iranian. No doubt the u.s. could be sitting 5 years from now-basically in a similiar or worse situation. Although I'm not sure if we can maintain such a large troop presence. The hope is the Iraqi's can stand-up, and we can stand down(yep-boy that's getting old) , but as soon as we start leaving-you have to believe that the ethnic division will take hold, and Iraq slips into a higher level of civil war.

[FUNdamental]

About two weeks after the August 31 deadline to either resign or stay aboard until the end, Regina Schofield, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs,” quietly resigned. She worked closely with Alberto Gonzales. Hmmmmmmmmm?