Denny, You’re Not Smart Here.

I”m sure that the Speaker of the House could find room to take a principled stand on executive power. It’s foolish for him to do so in a case where there is a warrant duly documented by the Justice Department in sufficient detail that it would be issued by a federal judge (by the way, not part of the Executive branch of government).

The fact is that no one – not even members of Congress, despite their apparent belief – is above the law. The Justice Department appears to have gone to great lengths (as Byron York notes, quoting part of the warrant application here) to ensure privacy of non-relevant information – certainly more than it would go through had the target not been a member of Congress.

But that’s beside the point. The point here is simple. Representative Jefferson is accused (with some extremely solid evidence backing the accusation) of serious crimes. He was apparently hiding evidence of those crimes against the public trust he was given in an office paid for by the public, owned by the public, while being paid by the public.

Hastert is way out on a limb tring to protect Jefferson, who in no way has any more protection in this example than you or I.

Frankly, I’m surprised by Hastert’s boneheaded stance. This is perhaps the best opportunity the Republicans have been handed in ten years to make a real move toward cleaning up Congress and earning back some of the public’s trust. He just threw that chance down the commode, for reasons I can not even begin to fathom.

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Category: Political Pontifications