Sleaze You Can Believe In
We’ve already read about Eric Holder’s problems at home; now we learn that he’s bringing the Chicago Way to D.C.:
Barack Obama’s Attorney General candidate Eric Holder hires two Senate staffers, still working on the public’s dime, to guide him through the Senate nomination process — yet we haven’t heard one word of objection about the clear conflict of interest from the GOP (non)-leadership.
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Since when do current, sitting Senate staffers get to shepherd presidential nominees through the confirmation process? Where are the checks and balances on the ability of two top Senate aides to advise Holder at the same time they are expected to assist their bosses in providing independent assessments of their client’s qualifications?
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Jennifer Rubin at PJM adds:
A Capitol Hill insider had this to say:
I can’t think of another example of a current Senate staffer facilitating a nominee’s confirmation. If the Senate is really conducting an independent review of the nominee, doesn’t this arrangement undermine it? Would you ever let a judge’s legal clerk act as the lawyer for a defendant? That’s why we have conflict of interest restrictions for lawyers.
Am I alone in detecting a sense of privilege among Team Obama? They invent an office (with its own logo), they think they can hand-pick their guy’s successor, they want to move into guest digs early, they requisition Senate staffers.
The one thing you can say with absolute certainty about the Office of the President of the United States is that if you don’t know humility when you take office, you will surely learn it, and probably sooner rather than later.
Obama’s pratfall from grace should be one of the most spectacular ever witnessed.
May he not have the luck of Buster Keaton in Steamboat Bill, Jr.