The New York Times editorial this morning calls for an aggressive investigation into the DOJ's partisan prosecutions, singling out the innocent Wisconsin state worker Georgia Thompson (prosecuted by US Atty Steven Biskupic) among three cases cited.
Wisconsin has been in the national news quite a bit these last few years; few would have believed it would be for corruption and the diminishing integrity of public office for political gain.
I would like to hear what Steven Biskupic has to say about the DoJ's politicalization. Is he for it? Does he dispute that it is taking place?
One part of the Justice Department mess that requires more scrutiny is the growing evidence that the department may have singled out people for criminal prosecution to help Republicans win elections. The House Judiciary Committee has begun investigating several cases that raise serious questions. The panel should determine what role politics played in all of them. ...
Georgia Thompson is a Wisconsin state employee wrongly put in jail on corruption charges by the Milwaukee United States attorney. Despite strong evidence that she was innocent, Steven Biskupic prosecuted Ms. Thompson for corruption and got a conviction. The news hit shortly before a bitterly fought governor’s race, and opponents of James Doyle, the state’s Democratic governor, used the conviction to attack Mr. Doyle as corrupt. An appeals court later freed Ms. Thompson, but only after she had spent months in jail. ...
The Bush administration is throwing roadblocks in Congress’s way. It missed a deadline for turning over documents, and it has refused to make some of the principal actors available to testify. The Judiciary Committee should not be deterred. If Americans are being put in jail for political reasons, Congress must put a stop to it.
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