Great Minds Etc.

Hey it's weird how great minds sometimes come up with great ideas around the same time, isn't it? Like whoever independently came up with the idea of a lovable monster family sitcom, hence we had both The Munsters and The Addams Family.

Reading today's paper brought to mind those wacky 1950s monsters with hearts of gold:

Attorney General Michael Mukasey conceded Tuesday that high-ranking Justice Department officials failed to stop illegal hiring practices that favored conservatives over liberals because of what he described as a ''systemic'' problem within the department.

Two recent Justice Department watchdog reports found that department officials under Mukasey's predecessor, Alberto Gonzales, intentionally weeded out liberal-leaning applicants in favor of conservative ones for various jobs ranging from internships to prosecutor slots and immigration judgeships.

Here's a bit more detail on that lovely tale:

An internal investigation concluded last month that for nearly two years, top advisers to Gonzales discriminated against applicants for career jobs who weren't Republican or conservative loyalists.

The federal government makes a distinction between "career" and "political" appointees, and it's a violation of civil service laws and Justice Department policy to hire career employees on the basis of political affiliation or allegiance.

Yet Monica Goodling, who served as Gonzales' counselor and White House liaison, routinely asked career job applicants about politics, the report concluded.

Now Mr. Peabody, let's go back in the WABAC time machine:

A Florida Supreme Court candidate will spend this afternoon being interviewed by the same state panel he attempted to circumvent while serving as a top aide to Gov. Jeb Bush.

Frank Jimenez, who served as Bush’s assistant general counsel, is one of 50 attorneys being interviewed by the Judicial Nominating Commission to fill two openings created by the resignations of Bush appointees Raoul Cantero III and Kenneth B. Bell.

In 1999, the St. Petersburg Times reported Jimenez helped hatch a plan to recruit judicial applicants who were “ideologically compatible” with Bush.

The plan to ramp up the role of politics in the judicial selection process called for a “shadow system of ‘unofficial regional panels’ ” made up of Bush supporters to recruit people interested in becoming judges.

Recruits were not guaranteed a judicial post, but they had to be ideologically in line with Bush. The Times reported Bush seemed to like the idea and sent Jimenez a one-sentence e-mail in response: “Come by and visit with me on this.”

Jimenez, now general counsel to the U.S. Navy, did not return a call for comment by deadline. He is among the high-profile applicants for the openings as Bush’s former deputy chief of staff and brother of former Miami U.S. Attorney Marcos Jimenez, a Miami partner with Kenny Nachwalter.

At the time, Frank Jimenez said the plan was not designed to influence the JNCs.

“This was merely an attempt to bring qualified candidates to the attention of the JNCs,” Jimenez told the St. Petersburg Times in 1999. “There was never any discussion of trying to influence the JNC members.”

Naaah! What kind of idiot would think that?

Well, to be fair, it looks like maybe Frank had the idea first. And one dealt with judicial nominees, the other with Justice Department employees. So they are totally different, really.

You can read more about other great ideas attributed to Frank during the 2000 election here, here and here.