Key findings of Justice watchdog

Last update: June 25, 2008 - 7:54 PM

• Two former Justice Department officials violated federal law by using partisan considerations in hiring young lawyers for nonpolitical jobs, according to a report released Tuesday by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine.

• Officials disproportionately weeded out those with liberal or Democratic credentials over those with conservative or Republican affiliations who were applying for the department's honors program and summer internships, the report found.

• The report singled out Michael Elston, who was chief of staff to the deputy attorney general, and Esther McDonald, a counsel in the associate attorney general's office. Fine concluded that the pair had committed misconduct, but he didn't find any violation of criminal law. Both resigned from the department last year.

• The inspector general also faulted other former high-level officials for not responding adequately to concerns that the selection process had been politicized.

• While Fine said he wasn't able to prove that officials intentionally singled out applicants, he said his investigators had found enough of a pattern to indicate that political or ideological affiliations were being weighed in 2002 and 2006. As a result of actions by Elston and McDonald in 2006, "many qualified candidates" were weeded out, he concluded.

• The report didn't find evidence that political considerations were used in hiring for the programs from 2003 to 2005.

WHAT'S NEXT

The inspector general is still investigating other issues related to alleged politicization of the Justice Department, including the central question of why nine U.S. attorneys were fired in late 2006. Those findings have not been made public.

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