New questions after testimony by Gonzales aide

Wednesday's appearance by former Justice official Monica Goodling has provided congressional Democrats with more subjects for possible investigation.

from the May 25, 2007 edition

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As to her mid-March discussion with Gonzales himself about the firings, Goodling said the attorney general began laying out his memory of how they occurred in a manner she felt at that point they should not be discussing.

Asked if she thought Gonzales was trying to shape her own recollections, Goodling said "no."

Goodling, former Justice Department liaison to the White House, was forthright about admitting that she had hired people for career-level positions because they were Republicans, while turning down Democrats.

Asked how often she had taken political considerations into account, Goodling said only that it was fewer than 50 times. Civil service rules prohibit such inquiries in regards to career professionals.

"This is extremely serious.... There is a very long tradition of nonpartisan hiring at career levels in the Justice Department," says Mr. Wittes of Brookings.

Meanwhile, internal Justice Department documents released in conjunction with Goodling's appearance provided some fresh details about the unease that arose quickly at high levels of the department after last year's firings became public.

"Looks like this is going to get messy," read a Dec. 28, 2006, e-mail from Christopher Oprison, a White House lawyer, to Goodling and Mr. Sampson as stories began to appear about the appointment of Tim Griffin as US attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

Mr. Griffin, a former aide to White House political director Karl Rove, also appeared quite upset by press articles questioning whether politics had played a role in his appointment.

"This is wrong in so many ways," fumed Griffin in a January e-mail to Justice officials that included a story about his new job.

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