‘Berto, Skeletor and Clay Johnson
By NoQuarter on August 27, 2007 at 2:31 PM in Current Affairs, Gonzales, Homeland Security
I’m sure you’ve all heard the news that Gonzales is resigning. (Why not remove the lightning rods well before the ‘08 election?) CNN International and a Time blog are reporting that “Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is the odds-on favorite” to replace Gonzales, and that Clay Johnson, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, will take Chertoff’s Homeland job. Other AG candidates include Solicitor General Paul Clement, Senators Orrin Hatch and John Cornyn, and former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson.
My hair stood on end when I heard Clay Johnson’s name. Here’s what I wrote about Johnson in April 2005:
Buried deep in the reams of the new budget is a “sunset” provision that will permit a small commission — it will be a commission comprised of lobbyists and corporate executives — to kill the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, even the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The arch-assassin is Bush’s longtime friend Clay Johnson, “the most influential member of Bush’s inner circle whom you’ve never heard of,” and the Director of the obscure Office of Management and Budget.
[...]
Clay Johnson is an old hand at seizing power from bureaucratic government entities:
When Bush was elected governor of Texas in 1994, he put the buddy he calls “Big Man” — Johnson is six feet four — in charge of all state appointments. Johnson, a former executive at Neiman Marcus and Frito-Lay, refers to Americans as “customers” and is partial to Chamber of Commerce bromides such as “We’re in the results business.”
He is also partial to giving corporate lobbyists a direct role in gutting regulatory protections.
One of his first acts in Texas was to remove all three members of the state environmental-protection commission and replace them with a former Monsanto executive, an official with the Texas Beef Council and a lawyer for the oil industry.
Overnight, a commission widely respected for its impartiality became a “revolving door between the industry lobby and government,” says Jim Marston, the senior attorney in Texas for the nonprofit organization Environmental Defense.
[NOTE: The photo and pullquote are from the PBS Frontline profile of Clay Johnson.]
Great. Imagine Clay Johnson in charge of the responsibilities of the Dept. of Homeland Security:
Emergency preparedness and response (for both terrorism and natural disasters), including volunteer medical, police, Emergency Management and fire personnel;
Domestic intelligence activities, largely today within the FBI;
Critical infrastructure protection;
Border security, including both land and maritime borders;
Transportation security, including aviation and maritime transportation;
Biodefense;Detection of nuclear and radiological materials;
Research on next-generation security technologies.
Imagine the audacity of it: “One of his first acts in Texas was to remove all three members of the state environmental-protection commission and replace them with a former Monsanto executive, an official with the Texas Beef Council and a lawyer for the oil industry.”
And he’d be in charge of FEMA? Might as well name a hurricane to head FEMA.
(If I have more time, I’ll search more for the specific things that Clay Johnson’s under-rated (in terms of its power) OMB has done to undermine the federal agencies under the umbrella of Homeland Security. Or if you do, please go for it. A great site to start is OMBWatch.org, an unsung but vital watch group.)
Cronyism & incompetence, a defining hallmark of these bozos.
re: gonzales. i’m glad he choose (or was told) to leave. i don’t think he would have liked dealing with congress in early september.
re: clay johnson. personnel is policy. old dc adage.
re: chertoff. does anybody know…does this guy - amongst many neocons in this administration - have dual citizenship with israel and the u.s? inquiring minds want to know.
now if bush will edge cheney out the door…due to medical reasons to save face…we could have what i call “operation clean sweep.” (rove, gonzales, & cheney…not a bad august.) bush did talk a few times about hitting the “trifecta.” consider it a “citizen’s trifecta.”
one thing i heard in washington last week is that w. is too loyal. loyal to a fault.
Wow, some people are so nice.
“I’m glad he choose to leave”
I’m upset that our impotent democracy didn’t have him and Rove frog-marched out of the WH. What are these boys and girls dying for in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Revelation 3:15-16
I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
Will this apply to the McCitizens?
My rep hears from me regularly asking for impeachment and accountability. Our Senators here are bought and paid for GOP loyalists, Cornyn and Kay Bailey Huchison. When calling them isn’t effective enough, protesting in the city isn’t effective enough, and these jackasses can walk out on their own terms….what is the use of all those great ideas of the “founding fathers”.
These little plays in the public eye are getting sickening. You can always count on the loud mouths go claim they’ll hold this admin accountable…but then the meeleymouths quibble and moan that it might be ugly, and people won’t like it. Leiberman makes an art of it. At least he was partially honest by changing his political affiliation.
What use are rights when not exercised?
What use are my eyes if I do not see, my ears if I do not hear, my legs if I do not walk or run, and my mind if I don’t think. What use is my mouth if I say nothing, or nothing of use?
So what use is there for a Constitution and an oath to it if not followed and honored?
mudkitty, downblog you made a comment about how the dems, as imperfect as they are, are the “thin membrane” between some accountability and the ongoing gop rubber stamp, party uber alles, congress.
i agree with you.
gonzales’(1) resignation this morning proves your point.
i will say that i am disgusted with the dems in congress because imj we are in a crisis, and they are not doing what i judge is needed. i think they are wrong about the policy and about the politics. (their strategy seems to be to run out the clock, a la coach dean smith of the university of north carolina tar heels 4 corner offense back in the day. memo to nancy and harry: i watched dean smith. you ain’t no dean smith.) but, to paraphrase rummy, you enter the arena with the party you have, not they party you’d like to have.
which leads me to: self-test. how many people on this blog have contacted their congresscritters this month? have helped some group/organization to get citizens to bring heat on congress? we want the results, but without doing the work. ain’t gonna happen. (insert fredrick douglas quote about power never giving up anything voluntarily.)
(friendly hint: your congresscritters are home this week. then they return to washington. call. a visit is even better.)
until the amer. people raise a ruckus…this sh*t will continue. what we need imho is nothing less than a 2nd american revolution, that starts right here, right now.
(1) not sure that is right. don’t know if there are any “apostrophe police” out there.
somewhere my english teachers are cringing.
Speaking of the thin Dem membrane, if Bush’s DOJ and DHS nominees get Congressional hearings versus recess appointments, it would be really nice if Congressional Democrats didn’t confirm Chertoff and Johnson. We can’t put Katrina Chertoff in charge of the DOJ and someone like Johnson, who has no experience with national security, in charge of DHS. This would be an opportunity for the Democrats to demand that whoever heads the DOJ cooperate with Congressional investigations and start to clean up the mess Gonzales has made.
Leslie, that’s a big point. I think you’re right that Johnson has no experience in national security. It’d be great if Larry would weigh in on this, should Bush nominate or appoint him. Johnson is, at best, a political hack and anti-government.
It’s tragic what’s happened to the DOJ. It’ll take years to restore it. The only hope is a Democrat in the White House in ‘09 who appoints a strong, highly experienced AG. Any Republican president will just continue the politicization and evisceration of the DOJ’s many branches.
We may not have to wait for a Dem president in ‘09 to start cleaning up the DOJ. Gonzo’s resignation presents an opportunity to do that now. Chertoff may not be the appointee, however. Paul Clement may be. Glenn Greenwald points out that if Bush appoints Clement as AG in the interim, that it would amount to a recess appointment and Clement could remain indefinitely without Senate confirmation. Greenwald explains how.
We may not have to wait for a Dem president in ‘09 to start cleaning up the DOJ. Gonzo’s resignation presents an opportunity to do that now. Chertoff may not be the appointee, however. Paul Clement may be. Glenn Greenwald points out that if Bush appoints Clement as AG in the interim, that it would amount to a recess appointment and Clement could remain indefinitely without Senate confirmation. Greenwald explains how.
Clement, a member of the Federalist Society, used to clerk for Scalia and Judge Silberman [wingnut behind many Clinton witchhunts]. According to TPM last April, it was Clement’s decision to keep Monica Goodling on the payroll after she’d pleaded the Fifth. And Clement’s been in charge of which documents Congress sees and which they don’t.
Musical apparatchik chairs! Wonder if this will make it easier to get answers about Gonzo’s role in all those White House political manipulations?
Why is he resigning now though? Was Congress getting too close and does Bush think replacing Gonzo will take the heat off? Ditto Rove’s resignation?
Susan, Larry,
did you catch the big thang about gonzo stepping down — congress is in recess which = ‘recess appointment’.
it’s all about ‘timing’ with this nefarious white house.
Yeah J,
I was just about to say something similar…now would be the perfect time for Bush to appoint replacements [DOJ and DHS] to avoid Congressional hearings.
Josh Marshall has been speculating all morning about the recess appointments. At first, he wasn’t so sure. But his latest remarks indicate some concern:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/051637.php
Diary about recess appointments:
(Am I the only person for whom the Link button doesn’t work? If others can’t get it to work, I’ll tell Moses. Thanks.)
That links works, but another DKos link didn’t work for me. This one about Clement. Argh, it’s not showing up in the preview. Here’s the link again: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/27/91923/3957
Does it work for anyone else?
The link button hasn’t been working for me either.
Susan, are you serious about Box Turtle Cornyn? Guess that explains why he’s out there vigorously defending Gonzo on every news channel. But I can’t imagine he’d give up his seat in the Senate while he’s up for election next year, unless he realizes it’s going to be an uphill battle for him with his current approval ratings.
I’m just quoting Time magazine’s blog. Leslie may be on to something about Clement (see her comments up further).
So Gonzo is gone. Rove is gone. This is August 2007, a full year to go before the end of Bush’s criminal adventures as President.
Let me make two important points:
1) It is just fine with Bush admin officials claiming that anyone who wants to bring our soldiers home from being maimed and killed in Bush’s illegal occupation of Iraq are “cut and runners”, are “cowards”… yet… they slink out the door and hi-tail it back to Texas the minute their crimes start getting headlines and it looks like they may pay the piper.
and..
2) Does anyone truly believe that NOW, after all of the stonewalling, missing documents, lies and perjury, that ANYONE will step forward to hold Bush, Rove, Cheney, Gonzo, or anyone else accountable within the next year… ANYONE? There will be no accountability, only new names to continue the charade until Bush and Cheney can slink out the door themselves… and guess what… that is the GOOD news.
The nightmare scenario would be that Rove and Gonzo’s departures were because there was even worse being cooked up by Cheney and they are running for cover now.
I’m all for eliminating beaurocracy, but not keeping the beaurocracy and filling it with cronies. that’s no conservatism, it’s fascism.
Good luck paving your own roads and highways.
Don’t complain if a hurricane/tornado/earthquake hits where you live.
I’m beginning to lose hope that there will be an improvement after Gonzales. I didn’t think it possible that we could have another lousy choice for AG. Bush will never learn that country comes first over his wealthy base.
Susan: Thanks for the education on possible AG candidate Johnson.
As for the previous poster’s hope “an improvement after Gonzales”–who could have any hope left after what has unfolded since the Supreme Court won Bush the presidency?
There’ll be no improvement. Thanks, Brigitte. Say, BooMan has more on Chertoff and on Clay Johnson:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2007/8/27/105535/689
In old Communist Czechoslovakia there was a popular joke:
A: “Have you heard? Czechoslovakia’s going to have a Navy.”
B: “But that’s ridiculous–we don’t have a seacoast!”
A: “So what? We’ve also got a Ministry of Justice, haven’t we?”
By the way, the name “Chertoff” means “devil’s one” in Russian LOL
No doubt Bush will try to appoint another “loyal Bushie”. I’d like to see Patrick Fitzgerald, or one of the nine attorneys fired for political reasons! Who do I contact?
great post as always, Susan… I don’t want any more cronies… none.
BTW, this picture has been going thru my head for a few weeks now… Chertoff is soooooo cute, almost as cute as Harriet Miers… can you imagine the children those two might have together??? put thier pics side by side, and it is a pretty ugly picture… I think I need a drink.
We get rid of gonzo, and it will most likely be more of the same until congress really is willing to stand up to Cheney and Bushco… They need to stop investigating and start prosecuting. There must be more than enough evidence by now. Most of us even can recite it by heart, if needed…
After reading this, I honestly believe it doesn’t matter.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/16076312/the_great_iraq_swindle
The Great Iraq Swindle shows that Bush/Cheney have no intention…..and never had….of doing anything that makes sense or would be good for the country. In fact, they have made it a point to DESTROY as much as possible of existing government, the Constitution, the rule of law, etc.
In keeping with true-blue Neo-Con philosophy and principles.
“Good luck paving your own roads and highways.”
the agencies the guy wanted to cut out: the EPA, the SEC and the FDA have nothing to do with roads or highways. they don’t have much to do with anything besides being dead weight.
“Don’t complain if a hurricane/tornado/earthquake hits where you live.”
If we learned anything from katrina it’s that the states, not the federal government should be in charge of this stuff. In fact, what this administration has taught us is that there is NOTHING the federal government is good for except starting wars and printing money for their buddies on wall street, bringing inflation on the rest of us as the dollar sinks.
people have survived hurricans for millenia without FEMA.
The states can’t handle a national, multi-state disaster. The states needed help from FEMA and FEMA wasn’t there, because Bush gutted it. That’s the lesson from Katrina. FEMA used to do an excellent job prior to the Bush administration.
Ditto the EPA, FDA and all the other government watchdog offices that are supposed to use tax-payer money to protect the public welfare, which the Bushies have been gutting, privatizing and turning over to political hacks whose only loyalty is to Bush. You want to see an example of state-government oversight of the air we breathe and the water we drink, then go to Texas…cough, wheeze. Thanks to Bush and his cronies, Texas is one of the worst states in terms of pollution.
We shouldn’t have to worry about being able to breathe when we go from one state to another. There should be Federal standards that are enforced across the country and for that you need the EPA, just as one example.
You’re right, Leslie. I’ve talked to people from Texas — they say that, environmentally, and in most other ways, it’s a hellhole these days, and the state’s in such deep debt (brought on by Junior’s reign as governor) that they can’t repair the roads, upgrade the hospitals, or fix the schools.
An old woman I met in 1999 who had lived in Texas for most of her life told me “If Bush gets elected, I’m moving to Canada. He’s turned Texas into a pile of stinking shit where nothing works and that’s just what he’ll do to the country if he’s elected president.” She was right, but I don’t know if she ever moved to Great White North.
As the late Molly Ivins said, “Next time you want to elect some boob from Texas president, listen to me first.” She knew all about Junior 12 years ago.
RS Janes, I’m hearing that the Department of Justice became dysfunctional with Gonzalez at the helm. This reminds me that while Bush was governor of the Lonestar state, the native Texan management at the IBM Plant in Austin fired most of the employees that IBM had transferred down from New York. Subsequently, when the plant being run by incompetent Bush supporters started to not produce and wasn’t making it’s numbers, IBM sent the big boys down from Armonk to close the place up and move the entire operation to Rochester, Minnesota — a nice, cold place where no native Texan could ever hope to survive. I suppose IBM just got fed up with the type of employee who would call in a Friday bomb threat so he could make it out to Lake Travis ahead of the traffic.
could we be witnessing hype plays by the bush white house once again? we have seen hype and more hype with their ‘whispers’ and ‘leaks’ and ’stuff’. could they once again be pulling one with the ‘whispers’ of chertoff replacing gonzo? does make a person wonder. there are rumblings that instead of chertoff, the real nominee of the white house will be fran townsend who is bush’s counter-terrorism/homeland security aide to the prez. could the reason that townsend may in fact become the real nominee is that both bush and cheney are both partial to fran.
fran has been dick cheney’s trusted emissary to saudi for the past year and fran has close ties to bandar bush and other top saudi officios, more than anyone else in the bush-cheney inner circle.
if fran is named as the attny gen, you can rest assured that fran will go through hell and high water to cover up the bae scandal and in particular doj’s investigation of cheney’s neck deep involvement.
fran is also more than willing to serve as a firewall for bush and cheney against the mounting doj investigations/probes of their criminality and impeachable offenses.
fran would fall on her sword for bush and cheney in particular, whereas the word is that chertoff would be less inclined to do so.
so guess we wait and see if its mikey or frannie. hmmmm….
could we be witnessing hype plays by the bush white house once again? we have seen hype and more hype with their ‘whispers’ and ‘leaks’ and ’stuff’. could they once again be pulling one with the ‘whispers’ of chertoff replacing gonzo? does make a person wonder. there are rumblings that instead of chertoff, the real nominee of the white house will be fran townsend who is bush’s counter-terrorism/homeland security aide to the prez. could the reason that townsend may in fact become the real nominee is that both bush and cheney are both partial to fran.
fran has been dick cheney’s trusted emissary to saudi for the past year and fran has close ties to bandar bush and other top saudi officios, more than anyone else in the bush-cheney inner circle.
if fran is named as the attny gen, you can rest assured that fran will go through hell and high water to cover up the bae scandal and in particular cheney’s neck deep involvement.
fran is also more than willing to serve as a firewall for bush and cheney against the mounting doj investigations/probes of their criminality and impeachable offenses.
fran would fall on her sword for bush and cheney in particular, whereas the word is that chertoff would be less inclined to do so.
so guess we wait and see if its mikey or frannie. hmmmm….
Former US Attorney David Iglesias believes that Rove and Gonzales resignations were linked and for the same reasons: Congressional investigations were getting too close to their roles in politicizing the administration, and the firings of the USA’s.
I have heard this about the Rove resignation, but I don’t understand how this will help, since it seems to me they can still be called to testify, and they can still be prosecuted. So, how is this going to take the heat off of the White House?
Former US Attorney David Iglesias believes that Rove and Gonzales resignations were linked and for the same reasons: Congressional investigations were getting too close to their roles in politicizing the administration, and the firings of the USA’s.
Link: http://rawstory.com//news/2007/Iglasias_Gonzales_halftruths_devastating_0827.html
leslie- you want to see a good example of massive pollution, and gutted agencies filled with cronies go to any communist country. government is government, it’s all the same. you might have some people who do a better job than others but they are not subject to any of the incentives a business has to do a good job. the problem in New orleans was that there was no back up plan should the government screw up, probably because under clinton it was run much better. but there will be bushes again in the future. people shoud be self sufficient on principle.
the EPA was created in the 70’s. has the air gotten significantly beter since the 70’s? better enough to justify the billions and billions we’ve put into it. money that could be spent bringing the 38 million americans living below the poverty line into the middlee class. not worth it at all.
“FDA and all the other government watchdog offices that are supposed to use tax-payer money to protect the public welfare, which the Bushies have been gutting, privatizing and turning over to political hacks whose only loyalty is to Bush.”
so the solution is to not give the government money for programs they can’t do. virtually all the programs that are poor under bush were at best mediocre before.
“Thanks to Bush and his cronies, Texas is one of the worst states in terms of pollution. ”
texas shouldn’t have elected him then!! fuck texas. they vote for pollution they can have it
Pollution doesn’t honor state boundaries.
o/t
Idaho senator pleads guilty after airport arrest.
senator larry craig, r-idaho. in minneapolis. in the men’s room. at the airport.
more gop family values in action. …and the beat goes on.
link to msnbc.com art.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20467347/
here’s the gay blogger that’s been after craig for some time. Last fall, Craig called allegations from a gay-rights activist that he’s had homosexual relationships “completely ridiculous.”
Mike Rogers, who bills himself as a gay activist blogger, published the allegations on his Web site, http://www.blogactive.com/, in October 2006.
o/t. serious news.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A police officer died Monday after crashing his motorcycle while riding in a motorcade for President Bush’s visit to the city for a fundraiser for Sen. Pete Domenici.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
leaves behind a wife and 2 kids.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20467072/
From Clay Johnson’s bio…
” Clay Johnson is the Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget. The Deputy Director for Management provides government-wide leadership to Executive Branch agencies to improve agency and program performance. Prior to this he was the Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel, responsible for the organization that identifies and recruits approximately 4000 senior officials, middle management personnel and part-time board and commission members.
From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Johnson worked with Governor George W. Bush in Austin, first as his Appointments Director, then as his Chief of Staff, and then as the Executive Director of the Bush-Cheney Transition.
Mr. Johnson has been the Chief Operating Officer for the Dallas Museum of Art and the President of the Horchow and Neiman Marcus Mail Order companies. He also has worked for Citicorp, Wilson Sporting Goods and Frito Lay.”
Now there is a set of “creds” for our next Director of DHS! Terrorists beware! Usama your days are numbered! Well look at the bright side… The decor at DHS will improve, all agents can now get their suits and outfits at a 50% discount and by mail order no less… get expanded credit cards to help increase their personal debt from Citicorp, better discounts for sports equipment and free munchies….
Prayers for DHS? How about a perpetual novena? And we worry about terrorists….Sometime we are our our worse enemy….. Thank God the National Hurricane Center has been off mark…eh..so far….
Even Michelle Malkin, guest hosting The O’Reilly Factor this evening, led off with a blistering attack on Bush cronyism. If Fox is fed up, who’s left? (Totally unintentional pun, by the way!)
leslie- so do you want to invade texas or something?
the point is virtually none of our 3 trillion dollar budget is spent on any of that stuff. it’s spent on wars, ladeling out pork for israel and saudi arabia, subsidizing things that should have been put out to pasture long ago , beaurocracy, the massive budgets and staffs of morons like bill frist and john kerry and so on.
I don’t doubt there are government programs that do an adequate job, but we are morally culpable for the wars our governments stars and the poverty their horrible policies cause. I don’t want that culpability. bulldoze the beltway. end the welfare, warfare state.
our money already pays for the police and the roads and everything else. just eliminate them middle man
What, Larry, Moe and Curly (or Shemp, for you purists) were unavailbe?